My favorite quotes from the book are:
It’s hard to change the way our families eat. Although we know what we should be eating–more fruits and vegetables and as little processed food as possible–we don’t do it. or, even if we prepare healthy food, our children won’t eat it.
Ask my children what their favorte foods are, and the answer might surprise you (ours likes asparagus, sunny-side up eggs, and stinky blue cheese).
French adults spend twice as much time as Americans eating, and they consume foods like butter, pork, and cheese in apparently uninhibited quantities, yet are less overweight (and very rarely obeses) and have lower rates of heart disease…
French parents gently compel their children to eat healthy food. They expect their kids to eat everything they are served, uncomplainingly.
“Sophie is just like me… I hated vegetables when I was young.” “Mais non!”, I was told, “she just hasn’t tried them enought times yet. When she’s really hungry try them again. Then she’ll eat anything and everything.”
The word “education” covers a lot of ground in French… the goal is to procue a child… who is well spoken, well mannered and well behaved.
The cantine
The French think that lunch should be the biggest and most important meal of the day… (by government decree) the hcildren spent a minimum of thirty minutes at the table. The French system is a highly perfected peer-pressure-driven food diversification program.
Parents schedule meals and menus. Kids eat what adults eat: no substitutes and no short-order cooking. “If the food is delicious, why do you need a choice?” But for the French, choice doesn’t mean better quality–in fact just the opposite.”
French kids have more stamina at the table than do most North American adults.
…”once you made friends, they were truly friends for life…”
“we arrived the expected fifteen minutes after the fime for which we’d been invited (the French make a point of never arriving earlier than this on thehory that you don’t want to embarrass your hosts by arriving before they are completely ready). ”
You can approach a lot things like an art, like setting the table beautifully… good food is for everyone, rich or poor. Americans think food is just a commodity… but they usually treat eating like it is inconvenient…they are impulive eaters. They snack all the time.
Children are expected to be quiet (tranquille) in public.
Food is not a punishment, nor a reward.
