Food Bytes

I spent a summer working in France and my main observation was the fact they eat their largest meal at midday and had only a small meal at dinner.
I was also impressed with the quality of the food that they ate in moderate quantities. The family I lived with was of modest means but they went out of their way to get the freshest and best food they could afford and seemed to spend less on junk and useless gadgets than North Americans seem to want to spend money on.
If you look at the portion of income that Europeans spend on their food vs. Canadians it's quite a bit more.
Quality vs. Quantity.

I agree with everything you wrote in this article and would add one more item: the French tend to eat real (not processed) food. Yes, you can get it, but like soda--if it is consumed, it is consumed in much smaller quantities. It falls in line with making eating an event.

I went to Paris this past Oct & 4 observations, 1) you walked if you wanted to do anything or go anywhere; 2)food was always fresh & no processed stuff; 3) your home was tiny, so you spent the majority of your time drinking coffee at the local bistro or out in the parks enjoying the community events; 4) I really missed my car while I was in Paris. Go Calgary Sprawl!

I believe Mr Yarr has explained the phenomena.

I live on the top storey of a typical Montréal triplex, have never owned a car, walk, cycle or take public transport everywhere. I was raised by old-fashioned Europeans and cook almost all my food from scratch - certainly as much as my friends in France and Italy do. My dinner plates are an old British model (Athena) and I usually use the luncheon plates or tapas dishes when supping alone.

And yet, I always drop a good couple of kg when on a stay in Europe, though I'm certainly not dieting and probably drink more wine than at home (I don't touch fizzy soft drinks, or beer). There is more to this than your points.

By the way Ali, for shame. Calgary-style sprawl is killing the planet, and it is not very aesthetic.

very good points,
i did not expect to enjoy this article.

thank you

I have never been to Paris but my parents were from Europe. One distiction that I noticed you didn't mention(albeit alluded to) was that mealtime was just that - you didn't watch TV; read a book; or whatever. We sat at the table, had enjoyable conversations, and took our time eating. I do believe that this helps the digestion of food and also you don't eat as much.
Enjoyed your views.

Maria: Maybe there's a correlation between growth hormones used in North America and weight gain?

Linda, you may have a point, I believe the EU has very strict restrictions against use of pesticides and growth hormones in the food.

I've often speculated on the correlation between smoking and thin-ness. The French are notorious smokers; and I know people on this side of the ocean who use smoking as a weight-control technique.

Its not magic or complex at all. Eat moderate amounts of wholesome foods and exercise. Its quite simple really.

I read over your bio- you eat lcally and in season must mean you dont eat much for 8 months of the year in pei!!!
fyi, fellow islander here...

Did we not see a comment/article once about French having much fewer heart problems because they drink red wine regularly, which acts as anti-oxydant in the body? Would it not also act as a weight control practice if it is consumed with moderation. Iwould believe so.

I remember reading once too that Europeans can get a chocolate fix with a small square of high-quality chocolate... and they are rather disgusted by our habits of shovelling handfuls of M&Ms or a whole Snickers bar into our mouths... as we do.

Having been to France a few times and also spent a bit of time in Canada and the US I had come to simlar conclusions - in France (and here in London) we walk more. In France they also eat less fast or prepared food, they snack less, consume a lot less in the way of cips and soda and their portions are often smaller.

Whether that will go on in the future is another matter MacDonalds is doing just fine in France and I note that many of the portions served in UK pubs are now becoming "North American" - we are chasing you in fatness - will the French, even with their food culture, follow the same way in due course? I wonder

Thank you for this article. I would like to add a few more ideas - unprocessed and fresh food that is cooked with attention to detail tends to have more flavour and is more satisfying. My theory is you tend to eat less because your palate is satisfied. I am also not a fan of the north american dinner hour that resembles a road race from hell - nothing good ever happens with five minutes of prep time!

Thank you for this article. I would like to add a few more ideas - unprocessed and fresh food that is cooked with attention to detail tends to have more flavour and is more satisfying. My theory is you tend to eat less because your palate is satisfied. I am also not a fan of the north american dinner hour that resembles a road race from hell - nothing good ever happens with five minutes of prep time!

Having been to France recently, I agree that the French walk more and faster, and eat far less junk food, another large facter is the the French are BIG SMOKERS which diminishes appetite.

I noticed the exact same in Japan. It is clearly a society based on mass transit and walking rather than driving. I also found that the meal portions are significantly smaller in Japan. In addition, no one eats or drinks anything while walking and there are no food courts. I saw very few 'chubby' people except tourists. In fact it seemed that almost everyone was quite fit (no beer bellies).

A another observation was that although there are no street garbage bins, there is virtually no street litter. There are no cigarette butts on the ground nor any gum. I asked a native what they did with any trash and he replied that it was always taken home for disposal! Think about that you guys who routinely toss fast food bags out the car window as you drive through my neighbourhood! (There are periodic 'smoking' stations on the street where smokers congregate, madly puff away, deposit their butts in a bin and then hustle off.)

In pseudo-science, a paradox is when real-world observations do not match up with ones theory. In real science, when observations do not match the theory, then the theory is crap. The french eat more fat and less carbs, especially refined and processed carbs than in the US. Less refined sugars and less high fructose corn syrup. More real animal fats like lard, tallow, goose, duck and chicken fat. they eat real fresh foods. Made from scratch. Real food. The crap that is passed off as food in glossy printed boxes is refined and processed crap. Eat more real animal fats and you will lose weight. Try it. I've been eating mostly animal sourced foods with fresh veggies for 10 year s now. Real butter, real lard, real tallow, real chicken fat. I am at my target weight and my cholesterol and blood pressure is perfect.