Children gather in the playground of a school in Vincennes, near Paris, in March 2009
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In his book Food Rules, Michael Pollan states in rule No. 58, "Do all your eating at a table." French children quickly learn that they won't be fed anywhere else. Snack and soda machines are banned from school buildings in France--a battle that is raging across the U.S. And France's lunch programs are well funded. While the country is cutting public spending and civil-service jobs to try to slash a debt of about $2.1 trillion, no one has dared mention touching the money spent on school lunches.
Public schools in France are overcrowded, rigid and hierarchical. And parents, who are never addressed by their first names, are strongly discouraged from entering school buildings, let alone classrooms. I cannot tell you what my child learns, paints or builds on any given school day. But I do know that on Feb. 4, he ate hake in Basque sauce, mashed pumpkin, cracked rice, Edam cheese and organic fruits for lunch. That meant stuffed marrows and apples for dinner. The city of Paris said so.
Global Dispatch
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