French children don't snack

I have to wonder how much of this also has to do with rigid, set mealtimes. If you know you're going to eat at precisely certain times in the day, you don't have to snack to tide yourself over. We have so many activities and so many expectations in this country of where to be and when, but no set meal times. I wonder if people snack because they don't know when they'll be eating next. And of course, Americans tend to eat on the run. When I lived in Spain, you had a small breakfast, a big lunch in the afternoon, maybe a small snack/beer/glass of wine in the early evening and a small meal at night between 8-10pm. Society functioned around those meal times even with some Americanization that's slipping in. When there's a set meal schedule, you know you're going to eat at a specific time. You don't have to eat something "just in case" and your body trains for that schedule. Interesting discussion!

IMO there's only snacking since the advent of snack food and the relentless advertising message that people need something to 'tide them over' until the next meal.

I grew up in the UK in the 70s and even back then in my circle it was fairly uncommon to snack. By the 80s it seemed that there was more advertising around snacks - I remember "I Finger of Fudge is just enough until it's time to eat" (as though eating the chocolate wasn't actually eating) and Milky Way was "The sweet you can eat between meals". These days you'd think kids would implode without snacks which is ironic because they're probably more sedentary than kids of previous generations who weren't doing so much snacking.

My childhood was in the 90's (in Germany) and I do not recall snacking as something people did. Neither children, nor adults. In my family we were not allowed to eat anywhere but in the kitchen. No food in our bedrooms, in front of the TV, or later on the PC. I still don't feel snacking in Europe is something as common as our American MFPers describe it. Who eats in the car?! You only do that when you had to skip lunch at work and you're too famished to drive or something... that said, Germans visiting the UK often feel that the country is very "americanised". Aside from the fact that supermarkets on the scale of Tesco and Asda do not exist, the ridiculously large bags with crisps and ... THE CAKE ISLE! I live in the UK for 4 years now and I still haven't tried even 20% of the assortment.

My parents are from Haiti I grew up not snacking. I always thought it was because we were poor. Now I know it's the influence of the French.

I feel sorry for French children.

I snacked the entire time growing up. I remember a time in my teens when I drank a gallon of whole milk a day. I became overweight during a brief period in my 30s. The only things that I changed after that are how much I eat and how much I move.

The relentless comparison of national habits and diets is getting to the point of absurdity. We already know what causes obesity. We already know what a healthy diet looks like. There are many roads to Rome. Pick one.

I think the idea that French people don't snack, or don't eat large meals, is a myth. It wouldn't surprise me if the French are generally more active than Americans.

I'd tend to agree with you, though I've never lived in France so I cannot confirm my suspicion.

What I can say is that I did live in Japan for several years and pretty much everything anyone has ever written about the mysterious and super healthy Japanese diet only applies to some rural mountain villages. And while it is still difficult to find seriously overweight Japanese (even in Tokyo), the diet there is no more or less healthy than a very average American diet. What is different is that the Japanese have the good sense to eat smaller portions and to push away from the table when they're no longer hungry.

And yes, you don't see the Japanese stuffing their faces 24/7 while walking around everywhere. I'm pretty sure a calorie is a calorie whether you eat it walking or sitting though. That said their street festivals, zoos, etc. though are every bit as full of beer and fatty snacks as any carnival here. And damn, I miss takoyaki and beer!

I'll put "oooo it's snacking" right up there with "oooo, it's sugar" and "ooo it's simple carbs."

I specialize in 2nd breakfast :bigsmile:

THE CAKE ISLE! I live in the UK for 4 years now and I still haven't tried even 20% of the assortment.

AN ENTIRE CAKE ISLAND?! Please give me the coordinates.

:laugh: just kidding, just kidding.

I feel sorry for French children.

I snacked the entire time growing up. I remember a time in my teens when I drank a gallon of whole milk a day. I became overweight during a brief period in my 30s. The only things that I changed after that are how much I eat and how much I move.

The relentless comparison of national habits and diets is getting to the point of absurdity. We already know what causes obesity. We already know what a healthy diet looks like. There are many roads to Rome. Pick one.

I think the idea that French people don't snack, or don't eat large meals, is a myth. It wouldn't surprise me if the French are generally more active than Americans.

I'd tend to agree with you, though I've never lived in France so I cannot confirm my suspicion.

What I can say is that I did live in Japan for several years and pretty much everything anyone has ever written about the mysterious and super healthy Japanese diet only applies to some rural mountain villages. And while it is still difficult to find seriously overweight Japanese (even in Tokyo), the diet there is no more or less healthy than a very average American diet. What is different is that the Japanese have the good sense to eat smaller portions and to push away from the table when they're no longer hungry.

And yes, you don't see the Japanese stuffing their faces 24/7 while walking around everywhere. I'm pretty sure a calorie is a calorie whether you eat it walking or sitting though. That said their street festivals, zoos, etc. though are every bit as full of beer and fatty snacks as any carnival here. And damn, I miss takoyaki and beer!

I'll put "oooo it's snacking" right up there with "oooo, it's sugar" and "ooo it's simple carbs."

interesting perspective. I'm pretty sure I was not trying to start a 'oooo it's snacking' thread though. As far as the japanese 'not stuffing their faces 24/7 while walking around everywhere', are you saying that in your experience with the culture that snacking was not prevalent?

As far as french culture, I do have some experience and can say I found the article to be generally accurate, unless things have changed recently.

If you want my personal opinion, I agree that there may be 'many roads to rome'. And here is one of them.

I agree that learning to stop eating 24/7 is an important part of the equation for some people. I know several people, and am related to several more, who seem to never stop eating, and are always saying that they're hungry. That's not snacking though, that's simple gluttony. And the Japanese who I know snack, but they are not gluttons.

IMO there's only snacking since the advent of snack food and the relentless advertising message that people need something to 'tide them over' until the next meal.

I grew up in the UK in the 70s and even back then in my circle it was fairly uncommon to snack. By the 80s it seemed that there was more advertising around snacks - I remember "I Finger of Fudge is just enough until it's time to eat" (as though eating the chocolate wasn't actually eating) and Milky Way was "The sweet you can eat between meals". These days you'd think kids would implode without snacks which is ironic because they're probably more sedentary than kids of previous generations who weren't doing so much snacking.

My childhood was in the 90's (in Germany) and I do not recall snacking as something people did. Neither children, nor adults. In my family we were not allowed to eat anywhere but in the kitchen. No food in our bedrooms, in front of the TV, or later on the PC. I still don't feel snacking in Europe is something as common as our American MFPers describe it. Who eats in the car?! You only do that when you had to skip lunch at work and you're too famished to drive or something... that said, Germans visiting the UK often feel that the country is very "americanised". Aside from the fact that supermarkets on the scale of Tesco and Asda do not exist, the ridiculously large bags with crisps and ... THE CAKE ISLE! I live in the UK for 4 years now and I still haven't tried even 20% of the assortment.

I grew up in Germany too and my experience very much reflects yours.

I still go back regularly as my parents still live there and I always notice that people are generally slimmer and fitter than in the UK. You see far more people cycling to shops, walking, hiking.

I have French friends, this is true, for them anyway. I asked my friend why all Parisiens are slim: 'We don't eat cereal', she said.

I was once in a café in Paris, having a croissant and coffee and then I asked for another croissant. 'Another?' said the waitress, shook her head and looked at me like I was INSANE. :-D

I worked as an au pair years ago, near Avignon. The kids were 2 and 6 and they had cereal for breakfast. They also had snacks, like those mini kinder bars.

My kids are 2 and 4 and often don't snack. If they're busy playing they don't think to ask. When they do snack it's usually on a banana or some raisins. We don't eat cereal though.

I did notice when I lived in France that they don't have anywhere near the selection of junk we have in the UK. Although I used to work with a French girl who had the worst diet of anyone I knew! She said as a teenager she used to drink 2l of coke a day, eat McDonald's and chocolate etc. She was tall and skinny. B*tch lol.

When I was 14 I stayed with my French pen pal. They used to have an after school snack of brioche and Nutella!

I was raised in Canada although my parents are from France. Snacking just didn't happen since it isn't part of the culture. I would never have dreamed of going into the fridge and helping myself to something to eat between meal. I still don't go into my mother's fridge.

Meals were like this:

Breakfast: Hot chocolate and toast

Lunch (Main Meal of the day): Appetizer such as a rice salad, stuffed tomatoes or deviled eggs, Main dish was something like Sauerkraut with meats, steak and fries, roast chicken and veggies, stew, etc., and a fruit for dessert.

Dinner: Soup, Main dish was leftovers from lunch or something lighter like an omelette, then a full dessert such as pie, cake, rice pudding or other.

The 4:30 pm casse-croute was skipped because we ate around 5:30 or 6 pm rather than 8 pm as in France.

I still don't snack between meals but if you check my diary, you will find snacks on there. They tend to be something that I eat at night because I have calories left over although I never used to do this. I used to eat huge, healthy but rich meals that put the weight on. Now I simply eat less and have a snack at night if I have extra calories.

As to feeling sorry for French kids who don't have snacks, they aren't hungry so why should we be feeling sorry for them? Maybe we should feel sorry for the poor American kids who are always having food shoved down their throat.