Amazing French school lunch program

seemichellerun

I remember when I was in high school and everyone was excited to get a Pizza Hut Express in our cafeteria. What they offer in other countries amazes me.

http://www.grist.org/article/food-2010-10-19-the-french-serve-up-one-helluva-school-lunch

"Something in the French segment that stood out for me was the bit on Dominique Valadier, the former restaurant-chef-turned-school-lunch-cook, who works for a school system in the south of France, and serves what is, by any standard, gourmet food. Watching the person in charge of feeding school kids shopping the wholesale markets looking for the best ingredients, going on about using local products, and making everything by hand is nothing short of amazing."

igora_soma

Haha it's true! I would have amazing meals when I lived there in high school. We even had themed days where the cafeteria chefs would dress up. Lunch was always bigger than dinner.

No kidding I lost 20 lbs over the year I lived there!

AllyS7

Wow. As a high school teacher, I'd love to have meals like this in school! You should see the junk that is in the cafeteria!

godblessourhome

i love the idea of this!

here is another article on the french school lunch - http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1967060,00.html

Painten

It seems to me that that is alot of food for little ones to have for one meal. Also the secret to getting the kids to eat vegetables is to deep fry them. Oh yeah i can see why that is so admired.

seemichellerun

It seems to me that that is alot of food for little ones to have for one meal. Also the secret to getting the kids to eat vegetables is to deep fry them. Oh yeah i can see why that is so admired.

You clearly don't get it.

Painten

No i clearly don't.

Ral263

It seems to me that that is alot of food for little ones to have for one meal. Also the secret to getting the kids to eat vegetables is to deep fry them. Oh yeah i can see why that is so admired.

Lol um.....

Thing is, it might seem like a lot of food, but kids are probably getting more calories from 1 serving of chicken nuggets, fries, and milk that most lunches serve (that's probably around 900 calories, 30 g fat), where as a serving of lean meat, vegetables, and a complex carb/ and fruit probably checks in at less than 500 calories.

I wish US schools would adopt something like this. Kids spend 1/3 of their waking hours at school; that's a huge opportunity/timeframe to influence their food choices. We have to start teaching them proper nutrition early on if we don't want them to be obese later on in life.

Painten

It seems to me that that is alot of food for little ones to have for one meal. Also the secret to getting the kids to eat vegetables is to deep fry them. Oh yeah i can see why that is so admired.

Lol um.....

Thing is, it might seem like a lot of food, but kids are probably getting more calories from 1 serving of chicken nuggets, fries, and milk that most lunches serve (that's probably around 900 calories, 30 g fat), where as a serving of lean meat, vegetables, and a complex carb/ and fruit probably checks in at less than 500 calories.

I wish US schools would adopt something like this. Kids spend 1/3 of their waking hours at school; that's a huge opportunity/timeframe to influence their food choices. We have to start teaching them proper nutrition early on if we don't want them to be obese later on in life.

Even just reading the article, not only is the food in huge portions and you can see the size of the portions, it's also deep fried. So huge and fried.

I am speaking as someone in the UK and our food isn't all fried so maybe it's different but i really can't see how 5 courses of fried food is better than 2 courses of fried food.

igora_soma

As someone who experienced this system personally I can say that it is really great. Most kids don't finish all of the food if they aren't hungry. The way French people eat is actually really healthy. They give you a choice of certain foods and you are somewhat limited as to portions. They really encourage kids to eat fruit as they get TONS of dairy but not as much fruit.

I think the life style I had in a French school was 10x better than the one at home. I ate better and lost 20lbs over 9 months and I really didn't increase my exercise by much. I wish I had been influenced in school at an early age! Maybe then it would have stuck!

seemichellerun

It seems to me that that is alot of food for little ones to have for one meal. Also the secret to getting the kids to eat vegetables is to deep fry them. Oh yeah i can see why that is so admired.

Lol um.....

Thing is, it might seem like a lot of food, but kids are probably getting more calories from 1 serving of chicken nuggets, fries, and milk that most lunches serve (that's probably around 900 calories, 30 g fat), where as a serving of lean meat, vegetables, and a complex carb/ and fruit probably checks in at less than 500 calories.

I wish US schools would adopt something like this. Kids spend 1/3 of their waking hours at school; that's a huge opportunity/timeframe to influence their food choices. We have to start teaching them proper nutrition early on if we don't want them to be obese later on in life.

Even just reading the article, not only is the food in huge portions and you can see the size of the portions, it's also deep fried. So huge and fried.

I am speaking as someone in the UK and our food isn't all fried so maybe it's different but i really can't see how 5 courses of fried food is better than 2 courses of fried food.

The only thing I saw that was fried was the 3 pieces of broccoli they were giving to the kids. Fried broccoli along with a variety of foods is WAY better than a slice of pizza or chicken nuggets and fries that schools in the US serve. Also, they stress the idea of not inhaling your food and eating until you are satisfied (not until you are stuffed).

Again, clearly you don't get it.