I am a big fan of the CBS Sunday Morning program on Television and I try to catch it when I can, it's slow, they tell the whole story-slowly, it's not hype, it's calm and well thought out, it's not always bad news and very often it's just the GOOD news... who needs that, I DO!! (I miss Charles Kuralt, but I won't go there now) I happened to miss this program from Sunday, September 26th about school lunches in France, but it was just sent to me by a friend and I was ASTOUNDED! This could be a reason the French schools are so much better, the kids have a better lunch, and therefore they are smarter!
click here to watch!
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Funny enough I was recently thinking about the idea kids going home for lunch as they do in Italy, what if American kids came home for lunch??... most of those kids would be alone as so many American families have two working parents! It seems that the French also use this curriculum, you have two hours for lunch, in which time you can go home and have lunch with your family (because if the working counterpart in the family works close-by they will also come home for lunch!) and then go back to school or work (and NO they do not work until 8pm, they still work until 6 or even 5pm). This is the norm in Italy and as I gather from this news spot, it's the same in France.
But the real story here is the school lunch in France, it looks delicious doesn't it!? What I love about it, far from the fact that it is made from scratch, is that they are not particularly fed what kids like, yet they are fed a meal that is lunch and not chicken nuggets because that is all you think your kids will eat. And notice that they are told to EAT. Not... "ooh honey what would you LIKE to eat and let me get that for you?"...
Just think if, in my store I only sold what you like now, not what I think you may like, a new trend, or interesting colors or a fun new shape, just that red t-shirt I know you love... BORING! It's the same way with food... If your kids keep getting squash to try, they see everyone else eating it without a problem, you don't make a big deal about getting them something else, one day, they will be hungry and just eat it! viola!... end of story, they are over not liking squash, it's just that easy. Another tangent here, back to the story...
Cooked from scratch school lunch! If you notice how the kitchen is run it's not about buying sterilized, radiated and processed food, it's about WASHING the ingredients before you cook them and having a clean kitchen! It's about making a healthy lunch with all the food groups... THIS is the story here... This is not impossible and if school lunches were able to be cooked from scratch, think of the Chefs this would create! Move over Jamie Oliver!
I see some jobs opening up here... someone call Mr. Obama. I think this could be what Mrs. Obama is talking about... hey!?
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| french school lunch menu |
