The French Approach To Healthy Eating & Enjoyment

The women may or may not get fat, but one thing seems clear: the French have a love-love relationship with food.

As an attendee of a recent educational forum in France, I got a taste of the country’s culinary culture, especially in its schools—a taste that may shed light on how to improve the health of American children.

A vivid memory I have from this trip is the image of a small family kitchen garden at nearly every house in the French countryside. Perhaps this is my takeaway message from the forum—noticing the connection in America between childhood obesity and a lack of family gardens.

Of course, it is easy to want to package one week in France and “Americanize” it. We start dreaming of national policy change and better research showing positive health outcomes for our children, but the reality is that none of us—in France or the United States—knows the perfect way to address childhood obesity.

To read the full article of the trip, download [Open a PDF file] the published story in Today's Dietitian magazine.

FOOD AFFAIR: The French Approach to Healthy Eating & Enjoyment

Spring had definitely sprung in France. Wide-open French-style windows let in the springtime sun, balmy breezes, the sounds of chirping birds, and the fragrant smell of lilac. Espresso coffee and delicious French pastries were served on a chateau terrace at umbrella café tables overlooking rose gardens and gurgling stone fountains.

A group of 16 chefs, educators, dietitians, and nutritionists recently came together in France’s Loire Valley for the 2007 International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice, and the Environment.

The forum aimed to examine the ways in which the French feed their children, explore what school food should consist of, and learn how we can create an environment in our own communities that supports children’s health and their ability to learn.

We all wondered whether the French approach to school food makes a difference in keeping obesity and related health issues in check among school-aged children.

As healthy eating advocates, our exploration was not about copying the French; rather, it was about examining the differences in our country’s approaches and discovering how we may learn from each other.

Watch a video of the trip from my ASKTHEDIETITIAN YouTube site:

Spring 2007 International Exchange Forum

Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment: Helping children make healthful food and lifestyle choices in the school, home and community environment.

April 22-27, 2007

Loire Valley & the Vendee, France

Notes From France: A School Lunch We’d All Enjoy

Jean Saunders, the school wellness director for the Healthy Schools Campaign in Chicago, ran a daily blog from France of her observations and musings during the forum.

The French education system places a priority on school lunch and its role in the school day. All school-aged children in France participate in the school lunch program, regardless of their family’s economic status. Most elementary schools devote nearly 11/2 hours to lunch and recess, which includes 30 to 40 minutes for the children to eat a leisurely lunch.

It was observed that French children drink only water with their meals instead of the flavored milk offered in many American school cafeterias. School meals are typically prepared in well-equipped kitchens by trained chefs who use mostly fresh produce and many other fresh ingredients (locally procured when possible) to prepare real food from scratch.

French schools spend more money per child—nearly three times as much—to pay for higher-quality meals, with costs shared by parents and local governments.

French school chefs prepare a wide variety of foods, including appetizers such as radicchio or fresh beets, mache, or asparagus with vinaigrette, and they view expanding children’s palettes as an important part of their job.

France banned vending machines from schools three years ago, and Peer notes that we saw no evidence of “competitive foods” in the schools we visited.

Saunders continues in her blog by describing the following “mouthwatering” school lunch meal that we all ate at the secondary school College Milcendeau in Challans:

• salad of butter lettuce with smoked duck;

• tomato and fresh mozzarella salad;

• smoked salmon with asparagus and crème fraîche;

• roasted chicken with roasted root vegetables and roasted potatoes;

• apples with sabyon;

• fresh strawberries;

• goat cheese;

• French bread; and

• water.

Saunders further explains how the butter lettuce was grown by a local farmer, the strawberries most likely in the south of France, and the chicken (also grown locally) roasted whole.

“This wonderful meal was not served in plastic airlinelike containers but on real plates with real cutlery and glassware. And the plates were warmed in a plate warmer!” says Saunders. “Needless to say, the food we ate was absolutely delicious!”

Students regularly provide input on the school food program, and some changes were made after one student said, “Today, the food is not smiley enough; it’s not reaching out to us.”

Saunders says, “If my son had a meal like I ate yesterday, I would no longer pack his lunch; he would eat a school lunch every day!”

Nurturing and Respect: Ingredients in a Healthy Food Culture

Amanda Archibald, registered dietitian and founder of Field to Plate and host of the 2007 International Exchange Forum, builds on the taste education concept by talking about the notion of respect toward food and dining in the French culture.

“Respect is observed by taking time to eat and enjoy eating, separate from any other activity,” blogs Archibald. She continues by pointing out how the French also associate food (and wine) with pleasure.

“Indeed, during a wine tasting, the wine steward actually asked us what we associated with a bottle of wine,” explains Archibald. “While many adjectives and ideas were suggested, none of us suggested ‘pleasure.’”

Archibald recalls how the idea that school lunch should be eaten in a room devoid of visual inspiration was foreign to our French counterparts. She describes how the school dining room was attractively decorated and furnished. Children sat on chairs that could be adjusted to their age and height. The ceilings were fitted with acoustic tiles to reduce noise. Walls and other surfaces were decorated with attractive artwork. Napkins reflected children’s artwork. Support staff engaged in encouraging children to try new foods. Their role was to nurture children during the meal.

“Time after time, we witnessed this intersection of respect for food, respect for each other, the pleasure of the food we were eating, and the pleasure of the company of those with whom we shared the meal,” says Archibald. “When we respect the producer, the environments that we eat in, and the people with whom we eat, we will surely begin to associate food, food choice, and dining with the equal respect and pleasure that it deserves.”

This is precisely the philosophy and principles her food education company, Field to Plate, is built on—”experiential learning”—in essence, to move food learning experiences from the ordinary to the extraordinary.

After my French adventure, as a registered dietitian, I now find it impossible to speak of the science of nutrition without the notion of culinary “love” mixed with pleasure in eating.

It has been said you can’t visit France in the spring without falling in love. Well, hopefully, all of us at the exchange forum brought home a little more love to the kitchens of our homes and schools.

And as the French say when all is said and done and the experience speaks for itself—voila!




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