Healthy Schools Campaign

French Paradox in the School Cafeteria?

Today we have a guest entry by Shanny Peer, Director of Policy Programs at the French-American Foundation.

Physicians, researchers, and calorie-conscious American tourists have noticed for years that French people enjoy delicious, rich food over leisurely four-course meals without ever seeming to gain weight. French men and women, despite having a diet that is relatively high in saturated fats – think about all those croissants and cream-filled pastries – enjoy less coronary heart disease, lower rates of obesity, and longer lives than Americans. One theory for this “French paradox” is that drinking red wine may limit the incidence of coronary disease for those on a relatively fat-rich diet. (Apparently, this news caused red wine consumption to increase noticeably in the United States.)

Recent books such as French Women Don’t Get Fat have turned the French paradox and slimmer French physiques into self-help advice for dieting Americans.  Guess what?  French children don’t get fat either.  And it’s not because they’re drinking red wine with their school lunch. 

Okay, admittedly, this is an exaggeration.  Some French children are in fact overweight – currently about 4 percent of French children aged 7 to 11 are obese, and another 14 percent are overweight.  Obesity rates and concerns about them are rising in France as they are in every other country in Europe and North America.

But Americans still tip the scale heavily. Obesity rates are rising much more rapidly in the U.S., which has experienced the largest increase of childhood obesity in recent decades – up 60 percent - while France has experienced one of the smallest increases, of 28 percent. (For a brief historical perspective on the French response to concerns about child obesity dating back to the 1930s, when French child health educators began urging mothers to adopt the healthy norms that still prevail today, see Greg Critser’s Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the World, pages 36-37.)    

Does the French approach to school food help keep obesity and related health problems in check among school-age children in France?  Are there other important public policy measures that complement the efforts of schools in fighting back against child obesity? The French-American Foundation would like to find out, and that’s why I participated in the recent International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment, along with Jean Saunders, HSC's director of school wellness.

We are currently developing a new policy program comparing French and American approaches to school food and their potential impact on child obesity and child wellness. As with earlier policy programs at the French-American Foundation, focused on early childhood education, maternal and child health, and child care, we hope this program can have an impact on public debates and policy making in the U.S. by informing American policy makers, opinion leaders, and other stakeholders about potential lessons the French approach may offer to the U.S. 

This exploration is not about copying the French, or lifting lessons directly from their books. Rather, it is about examining the differences in our countries' approaches to see how we might learn from each other.

During the exchange forum, our visits to several school cafeterias in France highlighted some of the important differences in approach.  French children drink only water with their meals instead of the flavored milk (often whole 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.

Although some American schools are trying to move in that direction, their efforts are hampered by many things, including under-equipped kitchens, limited resources for staff development, insufficient funding, and poor quality ingredients or prepared foods.

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. 

Whereas many American schools cater to the limited (and often unhealthy) preferences considered normal for American children, offering the same fare of chicken nuggets, pizza, hamburgers, and French fries featured on children’s menus in restaurants across the country, 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.  And all the children who stay at school during the two-hour period allotted to a leisurely lunch and recess eat the same school lunch together – no lunch boxes come in from home.

One last important difference: France banned vending machines from schools by law three years ago, and we saw no evidence of “competitive foods” in the schools we visited. 

What might these differences mean for American school lunches? Would we want to examine ways that variations on these practices might be integrated into our schools? If so, what would an "American version" of the practice look like?

None of us – in France or in the U.S. – knows the perfect answer to the question of how we should address childhood obesity. But isn’t that good food for thought?

Plus: Jean Saunders, HSC's director of school wellness, will lead two Lunch & Learn discussions addressing International Perspectives on Childhood Obesity and School Food. The first will be held on Wed. May 16th in Lombard and the second on Thurs. May 24 in Chicago. For details, click here or call 312-419-1810.

 

Nurturing & Respect: Ingredients in a Healthy Food Culture

Today we have a guest entry by Amanda Archibald, RD, Founder, Field to Plate and host of 2007 International Exchange Forum.

Building on Jean's notes about her observations in France, I'd like to share more reflections on some of the food experiences in France, as we observed during the Spring 2007 International Exchange Forum.

Underlying the food experience and food choice culture in France is the notion that food and dining deserve respect. Respect is observed by taking time to eat and enjoy eating, separate from any other activity. One of the principles governing the school meal program in Vertou (close to Nantes, and visited by the group on Friday) is that meal time provides an opportunity for children to relax, to enjoy, and simply "to be." They are not distracted by anything other than themselves and a nurturing environment.

In addition to the idea of respect, 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. While many adjectives and ideas were suggested, none of us suggested "pleasure." Indeed, upon reflection, we agreed that wine should be associated with pleasure.

Beyond these ideas, at the Vertou school district, we observed that children would eat lunch in an environment that nourished not only their bodies, but also their senses.

The idea that school lunch should be eaten in a room that is devoid of visual inspiration was foreign to our French counterparts. The 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: 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. Meal times are an occasion to share, to nurture, to enjoy each other, and to indeed celebrate what food producers, artisans and culinary professionals can bring to the table.

I am a strong believer, as are so many other food professionals, that successful food and nutrition education programs should foster these same ideas of nurturing.

I also believe that inspirational food and dining environments, and a respect for those who grow, produce and prepare foods, are critical to the food and education experience.

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.

Notes from France: A School Lunch We'd All Enjoy

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Jean is attending the 2007 International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment in the Loire Valley of France. Her entries will be posted throughout the week.

Probably the best way to share with you what I've learned about school food in France is to start with the school lunch we ate Thursday:

Menu du College Milcendeau, Challans

Salad of butter lettuce with smoked duck
Tomato and fresh mozzarella salad
Smoked salmon with asparagus and creme fraiche
Roasted chicken with roasted root vegetables and roasted potatoes
Apples with sabyon
Fresh strawberries
Goat cheese
French bread
Water

A little bit of background about the ingredients and their preparation. The butter lettuce was grown by a local farmer, the strawberries were just as beautiful as those that we had with our dinner the night before and most likely were grown in the south of France, the chicken (also grown locally) was roasted whole.

And, this wonderful meal was not served in plastic airline-like containers, but on REAL plates with real cutlery and glassware. And, the plates were warmed in a plate warmer!

Needless to say, the food we ate was absolutely delicious!

OK, not everything about this meal was typical. Usually there is only one salad -- the "apples with sabyon" was something special, and they don't have strawberries every day.

But every day the food is cooked fresh, on-site, right before it is served.

We also got to peek into the kitchens -- nothing like any I have seen before during my school travels. There were separate walk-ins for the meat, the dairy products and the vegetables. Did I mention that there was mache in the veggie walk-in?

So who cooks this amazing school food? Trained chefs! We learned that every school has a chef.

Every two weeks, students get to weigh in on the school food program. According to the principal, Mme. Roux, students take note of everything. She knew that they needed to change things up a bit when she heard one student say, "Today the food is not smiley enough, it's not reaching out to us."

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.

Notes from France: A History Lesson About Food

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Jean is attending the 2007 International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment in the Loire Valley of France. Her entries will be posted throughout the week.

Let me share the history lesson we had Wednesday -- a history lesson about food.

Many say that is was the influence of Catherine de Medici (of Italy) and Anne de Brettonnne (of Brittany) during the 16th century that changed the French culture of food,  moving France from its medieval customs to customs more common to the Italian court -- that is, sparking the French food renaissance.

Prior to this time, eating among the gentry was completely communal in almost every sense; people had neither their own forks nor their own napkins. They ate with their hands and wiped those dirty hands on the table runner.

The year 1580 marked the introduction of the individual napkin -- more likely to protect the lace table cloths of that period (another Italian influence?) than for sanitary reasons.

The plates consisted of very thick slices of bread served on very thin pewter plates. At the end of the meal, the bread (now heavily soaked in sauce) went to the servants. (Someone said this sounds like it might have been better than a modern school lunch!) The servants got fed, farmers and peasants did not.

Our guide explained that the Italians living in the French court during the 16th century found the French food very heavy, so they brought fresh fruits and vegetables, including tomatoes and watermelon, along with sorbet. Perhaps there is another lesson here -- to include more fresh fruits and vegetables in school meals.

With the backdrop of the Château d'Ussé (the "Sleeping Beauty Castle") and Chenonceau, this history lesson really came to life.

Tomorrow's lesson will come from a French school, where we have been invited for lunch.

Notes from France: Engaging Our Senses and Sense of Community

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Jean is attending the 2007 International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment in the Loire Valley of France. Her entries will be posted throughout the week.

Tuesday afternoon brought more fascinating and inspiring new information, including a wonderful keynote from Deborah Madison, a multi-talented chef who founded Greens, the famous vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco.

She spoke about the importance of really experiencing food with all our senses, and the importance of giving children the opportunity to have this experience. This was quite moving, but it was a story Deborah told about children in Santa Fe that made the biggest impression on me.

Children at the elementary school she described had fresh produce at their school: peaches, pears, tomatoes and wonderful seasonal fruit. We all know how much better fruit tastes when it is fresh, in season, and just perfectly ripe. The problem at this elementary school is that the children -- although they had access to fresh food -- were never able to taste it when it was ripe.

Why? The cafeteria staff always served the produce when it was still hard and green. They were so afraid that the fruit would spoil that they refused to wait until it was ready to eat before serving it.

The USDA stipulates that food received through the Fruit and Vegetable Program must be used -- it cannot be thrown out or given away. The cafeteria staff did not feel they could risk waiting for the produce to ripen. So instead of juicy fresh peaches, the children were given dry green ones.

This school's story brings to the surface all the small ways that our best efforts can be sidetracked, but it also highlights the simple changes that could bring children the remarkable food experiences (fresh, ripe peaches!) that will shape their lifelong approach to eating.

As we think about all the senses we engage while enjoying that perfect peach, another of Deborah's stories reminds me of the extra enjoyment and value that the school community can bring to food.

One of the things I hoped to observe in France was the sense of community around the table that we so often hear flourishes in Europe. But the most moving example of this I've heard so far came from a high school Deborah told us about in the U.S., where the students have a fresh salad bar available at lunch.

"Sometimes food tastes better at school," one of the students told her, "because it tastes better when we eat it with our friends."

Notes from France: "It Takes a Community to Raise Healthy Kids"

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Jean is attending the 2007 International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment in the Loire Valley of France. Her entries will be posted throughout the week.

I have a tough assignment today -- keeping my blog post short. I have so much to tell you about the great work I've learned is going on in the U.S.

Let's start with the Marblehead Community Charter Public School (MCCPS) in Marblehead, Mass. Tom Commeret, the principal, explained how "it takes a community to raise healthy kids."

"Recognizing that children learn best in the context of community, our mission is to create partnerships among community members that assist our students in reaching their highest intellectual, social, emotional and physical potential," he said. 

The 230 students at MCCPS start their school day at 7:30 with breakfast in the community room. Students and teachers sit at round tables, eating and sharing with each other what they learned the previous day.

Tom says that he and his teachers see the students as partners -- as testers and advisors. Students love to complete surveys that ask for their thoughts on the taste, texture and appeal of the school meals, prepared by chef Bill.

As an educator, Tom sees his role as a motivator "to educate children to try alternative offerings and choose foods based on knowledge, taste and health."

The Mystery of the Missing Menus

Today we have a guest entry by Kate Adamick, president of Food Systems Solutions LLC, a New York City-based consulting service that specializes in institutional meal reform. Kate is a speaker at the 2007 International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment.

Tours, France
22 Avril 2007

Jean Saunders and I arrived in Tours yesterday each traveling alone, sans children, pets, partners and most possessions. We walked the beautiful cobblestone streets taking in the sights and sounds, chatting with the friendly locals and stopping at countless cafes and bistros to examine the myriad menus handwritten in white chalk on blackboards.

We are in France to explore the ways in which the French feed their children, so it wasn't long before I noticed a glaring omission: Where were the children's menus?

What? No children's menus? How, then, do the children of Tours eat in restaurants? Perhaps, I thought to myself, they simply do not. Perhaps children in Tours are fed only at home. After all, they can't possibly be expected to eat in restaurants that don't serve hot dogs, spaghetti and chicken fingers.  Can they?

By dinner time, the bistros and restaurants began to fill with clientele. To my astonishment, many couples were accompanied by children who appeared to range in age from 2 to 12 years. These young customers sat down politely and, if old enough to read, ordered from the same menu as their parents. The younger children were fed directly from their parents' plates.

Without exception, the children all ate "adult" foods such as salads, fresh fish, roasted chicken, quiche and fresh vegetables. Not once did I hear a child ask for a children's menu, and not once did I hear an alarmed parent proclaim, "My child won't eat that."

How could this be? In America, every successful family restaurant has a children's menu. In fact, every successful family restaurant in America has the same children's menu as every other successful family restaurant in America.

My curiosity quickly became concern. "What's to become of France?" I wondered silently. "How can the French society survive if deprived of 'kid friendly foods?'  Aren't the French concerned that their children will go hungry? That they'll develop eating disorders?  That they'll whine and throw public tantrums?"

As we continue on our journey this week through this beautiful country filled with beautiful people, I hope they'll be able to help us answers these questions.

Greetings from France and the Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

Jean is attending the 2007 International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment in the Loire Valley of France. Her entries will be posted throughout the week.

Nous sommes arrivées! (We have arrived!)

Greetings from France –- where spring has sprung! The trees are in flower, the fields are bright green and yellow (the canola is blooming) and the outdoor café season is definitely in full swing.

My first day in France began with an orientation –- espresso at an outdoor cafe while waiting for the train to Tours at Gare Montparnasse.

I knew the trip was off to a good start when moments after meeting, Kate Adamick, one of the forum speakers, and I jumped right into an intense conversation about school food in the United States. Our discussion about lunch reimbursement rates barely missed a beat as we walked through the winding streets of the old part of Tours. I know you'll enjoy reading Kate's blog describing her impressions of the Tours café scene.

When we met up with the other U.S. delegates on Sunday afternoon, the idea and information exchange began in earnest. And, without much of a sales pitch, I've been able to convince fellow forum participants to make contributions to the blog.

Can't wait to tell you more after our meeting tomorrow morning!

A bientôt!

Leaving for France and the Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment

by Jean Saunders, HSC School Wellness Director

I'm leaving for France soon and, in just a few days, I'll start sending updates from the 2007 International Exchange Forum on Children, Obesity, Food Choice and the Environment in the Loire Valley.

Though I'm not exactly sure what to expect, I am optimistic about the types of questions this forum will help us to answer. And I'm confident that the remarkable experiences and company -- including fellow Kendall grad Kate Adamick -- will give us new ideas that I can't even begin to imagine from where I'm sitting right now.

This forum is about coming together and recognizing that our current system for school food is not the only option. But rather than hand out specific solutions to complicated, culturally specific questions, it promises discussions about big ideas and different ways of thinking.

Perhaps by thinking differently about what school food should be and how we can create it in our own communities, we'll be closer to creating a food experience that truly supports children's health and their ability to learn.

Stay tuned for news from France!