What French Kids Eat For School Lunch

[Hammock Parties]

:bowdown:

I was standing inside my children’s public elementary school cafeteria, or “cantine” as the French call it, in our local town near Annecy, France. As part of my research into why French kids aren’t fat, the local city council gave me a tour of the public school’s cantine and kitchen and let me ask any question that came to mind.

There are many theories as to why the French, and French children in particular, do not suffer from weight problems, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension like their American counterparts. Eating moderate quantities of fresh and freshly prepared food at set times of the day is definitely one of the most convincing reasons why they stay lean. Daily exercise, in the form of three recess periods (two 15-minute and one 60-minute recess every day) and walking or biking to and from school, is another.

What do French kids eat?

Menus are set up two months in advance by the cantine management staff, and then sent to a certified dietitian who makes small “corrections.” The dietitian might take out a small chocolate éclair and replace it with a kiwi for dessert if she thinks there's too much sugar that week. Or she may modify suggested menus by adding more or fewer carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, or protein to keep the balance right.

Almost all foods are prepared right in the kitchen; they’re not ready-made frozen. This means mashed potatoes, most desserts, salads, soups, and certainly the main dishes are prepared daily. Treats are included — the occasional slice of tarte, a dollop of ice cream, a delicacy from the local pastry shop.

First course: Cucumber and tomato salad

Main course: Veal marinated with mushrooms, broccoli

Cheese

Dessert: Apple tart



First course: Cabbage and tomato salad

Main course: Roast beef, potatoes, baked tomatoes with herbs

Cheese

Dessert: Kiwi



First course: Tabouleh (made with bulgur)

Main course: Sausages, zucchini

Dessert: Ice cream, apple



First course: Potato and pickle salad

Main course: Breaded fish, cauliflower

Cheese

Dessert: Peach

Where does the food come from?

“All our fruits, vegetables, fish and meat are sourced locally, some of them from local farms,” according to Dany Cahuzac, the city counselor in charge of school matters, including the cantine. The local bakery delivers bread, a staple of every French meal, fresh every morning. And every two days, there is at least one organic item on the menu. Once a month, an entirely organic meal is served. The only drink offered at lunchtime is filtered tap water, served in glass pitchers.

Just as important: how the kids eat.

As the children come streaming into the cantine, they sit down at tables of four that are already set and wait for older student volunteers to bring the first course to their table. The child who sits at the designated “red” chair is the only one who is allowed to get up to fetch more water in the pitcher, extra bread for the bread basket, or to ask for extra food for the table. After finishing the first course (often a salad), volunteers bring the main course platter to the table and the children serve themselves. A cheese course follows (often a yogurt or small piece of Camembert, for example), and then dessert (more often than not, fresh fruit).

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Here's your answer as to why this would never happen in the US.

Schools = government = bureaucracy = big business

Schools would never be able to source locally and cut food distributors and manufacturers out of their multibillion-dollar government contracts. Lobbyists in DC would never allow that to happen.

Except, you know, where we're doing it (see my video about my school district).

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by NewChief

My kids were so excited this year because they added a second 15 minutes recess this year. Prior to that, it was a single 15 minute recess each day.

There's definitely a push back against all of this shit, but the problem is the pressure that schools feel to perform. I'm a firm believer (and some research shows) that kids would perform better academically if schools would reduce the amount of classroom time and increase free play and physical activity periods, but that's quite a leap of faith and counterintuitive to schools that are under the gun for their test scores (Oh hey! Let's spend LESS time preparing kids for these tests!).

Get the federal government OUT of the schools and really let the local government have control.

All of that BS goes away.

Of course, then they'd actually have to FUND themselves without a safety net and nobody in 21st century America wants to give that up...

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by NewChief

Except, you know, where we're doing it (see my video about my school district).

Of course one or two schools here and there might be able to do it. I was talking on a macro level. This will never become commonplace in the United States.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Of course one or two schools here and there might be able to do it. I was talking on a macro level. This will never become commonplace in the United States.

Yeah. And really our farm-to-table is more of a showpiece than anything right now. It's not like everything is locally sourced. They'll have a food opt
ion that is, or maybe the salad bar is locally sourced or a day of the week where everything is local. But everything everyday is not local, though they're definitely trying to evolve in that direction.

The milk is the bullshit that pisses me off. They FORCE kids to take milk and have no other options for them at elementary school. I want my kids drinking water or unsweetened tea. Not chocolate milk.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by NewChief

The milk is the bullshit that pisses me off. They FORCE kids to take milk and have no other options for them at elementary school. I want my kids drinking water or unsweetened tea. Not chocolate milk.

It's de-fatted milk too, the only calories left in it are from milk sugar. Not healthy at all.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by NewChief

Some communities (like mine) are trying to move in this direction. This video covers our farm-to-school initiative:

https://webapps.fayar.net/fps/FPSVid...choolVideo.mp4

Originally Posted by -King-

Yet people talk shit when someone tries to implement a similar school diet here in the States...
Posted via Mobile Device

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Here's your answer as to why this would never happen in the US.

Schools = government = bureaucracy = big business

Schools would never be able to source locally and cut food distributors and manufacturers out of their multibillion-dollar government contracts. Lobbyists in DC would never allow that to happen.

Jamie Oliver highlighted that on his 'run a kid's cafeteria' show. Big business has the regulations so fine tuned that nothing local and cooked like normal people cook gets in. It's either get fresh food and pay and train the staff to prepare and cook it healthy, THEN fight tooth and nail to prove it fits federal guidelines that funding [VOLUNTARY programs, I know, I know. No one is forced to comply and get back their tax money from the feds to feed their kids] is dependent on. Or toss another 10 lb bag of pre-approved chicken nuggets in the industrial over and point them to the milk cooler.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Jamie Oliver highlighted that on his 'run a kid's cafeteria' show. Big business has the regulations so fine tuned that nothing local and cooked like normal people cook gets in. It's either get fresh food and pay and train the staff to prepare and cook it healthy, THEN fight tooth and nail to prove it fits federal guidelines that funding [VOLUNTARY programs, I know, I know. No one is forced to comply and get back their tax money from the feds to feed their kids] is dependent on. Or toss another 10 lb bag of pre-approved chicken nuggets in the industrial over and point them to the milk cooler.

Yep. He's 100% correct.

We see the sham of "food safety regulation" all the time around here. They're using it as a tool to put the squeeze on our small dairy and poultry farms.

Yet they have no problem allowing another 1750-head hog confinement to be put up, even though you can't live within a few miles of it and not be sick every day from the smell...

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Get the federal government OUT of the schools and really let the local government have control.

All of that BS goes away.

Of course, then they'd actually have to FUND themselves without a safety net and nobody in 21st century America wants to give that up...

Yes. A testing-industrial complex has developed with education in the last 10 years or so.

[blaise]

School lunch issues aside I think what the kids eat at home or away from school is 100 times the problem than what they eat at school. A kid isn't getting fat on a school burger. It's not very healthy because there's issues with cancer causing ingredients, and it doesn't really teach them great eating habits when it comes to consuming vegetables, but it's not making them fat.
The McDonalds and Oreos and pop and Capn Crunch they eat at home are probably doing almost all the damage. I think schools tend to get scapegoated when it comes to childhood obesity.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by NewChief

Yes. A testing-industrial complex has developed with education in the last 10 years or so.

Those tests are voluntary too.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Yep. He's 100% correct.

We see the sham of "food safety regulation" all the time around here. They're using it as a tool to put the squeeze on our small dairy and poultry farms.

Yet they have no problem allowing another 1750-head hog confinement to be put up, even though you can't live within a few miles of it and not be sick every day from the smell...

Yup. Now they're using "organic" labeling as another way to drive out small farmers. Was a time that a good way for a smaller family farm to make it was to go organic and charge premium/organic prices for their goods. Now they're making organic certification so onerous and expensive that it's a tough pill for a lot of small farms to swallow.

[Fish]

They must really really hate the French president's wife.....

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Those tests are voluntary too.

Many government-sponsored/recommended programs are voluntary.

Using the federal speed limit is voluntary. Of course, if you don't use it, you lose funding for highway/bridge maintenance.

States are just as bureaucratically filthy as Washington and many of them can't operate financially without all the subsidies.

[blaise]

Originally Posted by NewChief

Yup. Now they're using "organic" labeling as another way to drive out small farmers. Was a time that a good way for a smaller family farm to make it was to go organic and charge premium/organic prices for their goods. Now they're making organic certification so onerous and expensive that it's a tough pill for a lot of small farms to swallow.

Yeah, but I think the organic food availability is way better than even 5 years ago. You see way more products in a lot more stores. That may be large corporations buying into it and distributing it themselves, but it's still more than it was. At least in my opinion.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Those tests are voluntary too.

You mean in the don't take federal dollars, then you don't have to test sense?

Yeah, I suppose. My main issue is with the pigs at the trough in education these days. My district just had a scandal where we had paid a consultant $900,000 over a 4 year period to assist us with our implementation of Common Core without the school board realizing that's how the money was being spent (it was being budgeted to a specific department, but they didn't know it was then being directed to an outside entity). Turns out the consultant was good friends with the superintendent (who has since left the district) and they had a longstanding relationship.

This pushing of public monies to private consulting is happening everywhere now. I contend there are a lot better ways to spend that money within a district (especially after my experiences with this particular consultant since we've now scrapped pretty much all the work she did with us over those 4 years).