Give Me A French School Lunch Anytime

I recently dined at Bo Beau in Point Loma, one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego.  I love French food, and while enjoying escargots, beef bourginion and a sampling of wonderful French wines, I started to think about a recent blog I had written on school lunches.  I wondered what the French serve their children at school for lunch.  I knew their meals would be different than ours, but I couldn't imagine how different.

I went to the website  www.karenlebillon.com to get the facts.  Karen is a Francophile, foodie and writer of all things French.  She writes a blog, and each week she posts the lunch menus at a typical French school.  You'll be drooling when you see what these kids eat each day.  First, 70% of the food served is organic, with their goal to be 100% organic by 2014.  Second, most of the food is locally bought and prepared, no frozen meals for these kids.  Finally, the cost per child runs between $1-$5 (not euros) per meal.  Here are two meals from the village of St. Etienne: 1.  organic beets with shallot sauce, roast chicken with organic lentils, cheese (soft cheese similar to brie), seasonal organic fruit. 2.  organic fusili salad, organic omelette and organice steamed spinach, plain yogurt (no sugar added), organic fruit.  Each meal is accompanied by a baguette and a bottle of water.  (no milk or sugary fruit drinks).  These meals make me want to go back to school! 

By contrast, our American school lunches serve 1% milk, most of it flavored and filled with sugar, only 50% of our schools offer fresh fruit, the rest have canned fruit cocktail or the equivalent, very few schools offer  a salad bar, only 10% of American schools serve legumes, most bread and grains are from refined white flour, only 5% of bread served is whole grain.  Finally, potatoes are considered a vegetable, and 50% of the lunches include french fries. 

This was quite an eye opener for me.  I had no idea the villages of France served their children such healthy, varied meals.  Regardless of your opinion of the French, one thing we can all agree on is their ability to produce great meals.  It's wonderful that they're teaching their young people to enjoy well prepared, healthy meals.