So over the past year or so I've had a love hate thing going with food writing. It started innocently enough when I read Omnivore's Dilema by Michael Pollan. "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants". Now that sounded reasonable. Then I moved on to The Kind Diet and Eating Animals. Well, my husband and I agreed, vegan seemed the way to go. It was healthier, better for the environment and wouldn't have us supporting the truly horrific conditions that conventionally farmed animals live in. Plus, learning that fecal contamination is officially considered a "cosmetic blemish" by the FDA pretty much put me off poultry. Then Baby S's eczema showed up. I started excluding other things from our diet-- gluten, dairy, soy. I read about the Paleo Diet, the GAPS Diet, the Alkaline Diet. I didn't know if I should be basing our meals around whole grains or completely eradicating them from my diet. Baby S started slipping down the growth chart, my average sized baby was now in the 4th percentile. Did he just need a big bowl of grass-fed beef broth? Or some more adzuki beans? I was beginning to think of food as my nemesis. Finally I swore off reading anything else about food. Publicly. On Facebook.
So when the library hold I'd placed on Karen Le Billon's book, French Kids Eat Everything, came in I almost sent it back. But I didn't and I really enjoyed this combination memoir parenting guide about a Canadian family who moves to a French village where they encounter very different ideas around how and what to teach children about food. In France kids are taught less about what to eat and more about how to eat, namely at a table with friends and family where food can be savored. Food is not merely fuel. It is not a distraction or a bribe. Food is not medicine. Meals are not something to be squeezed in between soccer practice and bath time; they are events to be looked forward to. And snacking between meals is nearly unheard of. French parents believe eating well is something that must be learned. Children are taught not only table manners, but how to describe and enjoy different flavors. And when I say taught I mean instructed; every day schools serve their students a 3 course meal complete with flatware and cloth napkins. Schools also have an annual "tasting week" where chefs come into the classroom and the kids get to cook and taste new foods.
Le Billon writes about moving into this culture with her young daughters who are picky, snack constantly and are used to eating lunch in 10 minutes. Needless to say, it doesn't go well. Finally Le Billon begins analyzing what makes the French kids such good eaters. She comes up with a list of 10 "Food Rules" that French families follow and a plan for implementing them with her family. The book describes her successes and set backs. I felt a bit of a kinship with the author at this point. I too come up with grand ideas for my improving my family's habits, have a husband who listens skeptically to my plans and a tendency to wallow in dejection when things don't go as expected. But I am not a Rhodes Scholar or one of Canada's top 40 under 40, so that's pretty much where the similarities end.
Our family already follows (or tries to follow) many of the rules in the book. We eat together, I don't cook separate meals for the kids and at meals we eat mostly real food. But my kids often fill up on snacks and eat little at mealtimes. Since they aren't hungry, getting them to sit at the table is difficult. My boys eat a decent variety of foods, but I'd still like to see them increase the number of fruits and vegetables they'll accept. There are several tactics that I'm taking away from this book. First and foremost I'm trying to reduce our snacking and I've been making liberal use of Le Billon's phrase "It's okay to feel hungry between meals." I'm also trying to make our meals something to look forward to. Of course I always strive to cook things that taste good, but I'll admit there was the steamed greens and adzuki bean stew phase that was a bit of a hard sell. We're having dessert more often, even if it's just orange slices (which I called "oranges au sirop" in my terrible French accent). I've started asking my 4 year old to taste everything and describe the flavors without using "good" or "bad". If he doesn't like it I reply that he just hasn't learned to like it yet and that he'll like it when he is older. Sometimes we play a game where everyone at the table has to guess the ingredients in a dish. I try not to rush us through the meal, even when it is already 8pm and M has school the next day.
These changes have not cured all of our food issues. Baby S still rummages through the pantry 5 times a day shouting "cracker!" and this week M told me that he does not like melons, apricots or bell peppers. But M did taste all of those foods before declaring his dislike and for all his shouting Baby S only got crackers once today. (Okay twice. I am a work in process.)
