French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon

Author:Karen Le Billon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins US
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

French Food Rule #7:

Limit snacks, ideally one per day (two maximum), and not within one hour of meals.

Understanding this rule requires some explanation. Feeding children in France often feels like taking a train in Switzerland: it’s always on schedule. In their daily routine, French children, like their parents, eat at the correctly scheduled time. (For special days and restaurant outings, this rule may be set aside, which is perhaps why some Americans have the impression that the French are so relaxed about eating times.) Just as important, French children do not eat at nonscheduled times. But scheduling meals does not mean (and is not viewed as) deprivation. The French anticipate eating. They have mastered the art of making delicious food of all kinds, and they themselves regularly indulge in it. The same is true with the goûter, which is associated with many cozy rituals (sort of like the traditional British afternoon tea). Milk and fresh fruit are often offered, but foods that Americans would recognize as snacks are usually the focus. Tartines (fresh baguette with butter and a sweet topping such as jam, honey, or chocolate spread) were the mainstay in my husband’s house when he was growing up. They are still his ultimate comfort food. After a couple of thick slices of fresh baguette with creamed honey, it is hard to feel deprived, even if it’s the only snack you’ll get all day.

We’ll just have to have really delicious snacks, I thought. Suddenly, this didn’t seem like such a bad idea after all.

I proudly pointed out the new rule to Philippe when he wandered into the kitchen later that day. Thoughtful, he studied it for a while.

“That’s good,” he said. “But not good enough. We have to change their minds about feeling like they need to snack all of the time. It’s not that we are preventing them from snacking impulsively. They have to learn new habits so that they don’t want to snack.” With that, he picked up a marker, and added a line:

In between meals, it’s okay to feel hungry.

At meals, eat until you’re satisfied rather than full.

This is likely to seem the cruelest rule to non-French readers. It certainly seemed cruel to me. Not feeding your children when they’re hungry? Really? My first impulse was to cross out this rule and cancel the snack-scheduling experiment. But I decided to hear him out.

“Of course I don’t believe that children should be hungry,” he started. “And nobody else in France does either! I’m saying it’s okay to feel hungry,” he added. “That way, kids get used to the feeling of an empty stomach, which is normal and healthy.”

This is why French parents don’t mind if their children feel hungry before meals. They believe that it is better to wait longer, and to eat a larger, healthier meal at regular intervals. The French even have proverb that expresses their attitude to hunger: “Bon repas doit commencer par la faim.” This proverb (literally, a good meal must start with hunger) means something like “hunger is the best seasoning.

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