School Food in France and Bringing up Bebe Book Review

While we in America argue whether to include "pink slime" in our beef products, the French are preparing truly farm-fresh organic produce for their children with in-school chef's and a real kitchen.

They use real utensils and real plates (highly sustainable) and are served at their round tables to facilitate discussion.  And, they get adequate time to enjoy their food and socialize compared to the typical American school kids 20 minute lunch with which to scarf down whatever processed food he or she can.

I thought we were the country with the most resources?

I finished reading Pamela Druckerman's (She's a American raising her family is Paris) book, "Bringing Up Bebe", and was impressed with the level of service French parents receive when raising a child.  Particularly of interest was the three days of menu options Pamela shared in her book at the French daycare for her three-year-old.

She writes of the meals, "An in-house cook at each creche (day care)  prepares lunch from scratch each day.  A truck arrives several times a week with seasonal, fresh, sometimes even organic ingredients.  Aside from the occasional can of tomato paste, nothing is processed or precooked.  A few vegetables are frozen, but never precooked."

So here are the menus (served in four courses of salad, main meal, cheese and dessert) she observed.  And remember, this is a daycare/preschool:

Day 1 (Page 112):
Course 1:  Bright-red tomato salad in vinaigrette
Course 2:  Flaky white fish in a light butter sauce and a side dish of peas, carrots and onions
Course 3:  Crumbled blue cheese
Course 4:  Whole apples slices at the table

Day 2 (Page 112):
Course 1:  Hearts of palm and tomato salad
Course 2:  Sliced turkey with rice in a Provencal cream sauce
Course 3:  St. Nectaire cheese with a slice of fresh baguette
Course 4:  Fresh Kiwi

Day 3 (Page 204):
Course 1:  Shredded red cabbage salad and fromage blanc
Course 2:  White fish in dill sauce and a side of organic potatoes
Course 3:  Coulommiers cheese
Course 4:  Baked organic apple

The French have a commission where parents can provide meaningful input into their children's menu.  They stress visual and textural variety along with nutrition and suggest offerings such as mousse of sardines in cream sauce, duck mousse, spinach, green beans, smoked pork, monk fish, tuna fish, salmon, yogurt cake with carrots, etc.  The parent food meeting Pamela attended lasted more than two hours.

I found this documentary from CBS (below) that highlights some of the French school cooking.  They manage to do it for $2.50 per student, about what many of our schools pay for mostly processed trash.

So I wonder, what would our school lunch program look like if each school got to create its own menus with parent-driven input and the kid actually had the time to enjoy their meal and have conversation during their day?  Our kids deserve so much better than our schools are giving them.

As an additional resource, check out the movie "Food Beware:  The French Organic Revolution" on Netflix or buy at Amazon.com.

Bare Fruit

Our family loves fruit in all its forms, including dried.

My struggle with buying dried fruit is that it often has added sugar and preservatives.

Short of drying fruit ourselves (which we do sometimes), our only option was preservative laced dried fruit -- until now.

I came across Bare Fruit the other day and it is nothing but bake-dried organic fruit.  No added sugar or preservatives.

We bought the dried mangos, but the Washington based company also sells dried cherries, pears and Fuji, Granny Smith and cinnamon apples from Washington State.

The taste is fantastic and you can feel good knowing that only organic fruits are entering your body.  Find them at a grocery store near you or on Amazon.com.

Why You Need a Butter Keeper

Real butter will tear apart any soft slice of bread if you try to spread it straight from the refrigerator.

The solution for those like me who forget to bring butter to room temperature an hour ahead of a meal is a butter keeper.

Essentially, it is a container that holds the equivalent of one stick of butter that is flipped upside down into a small jar of water.  The jar is light-proof and the water* keeps air from spoiling the butter.  Butter stored this way on the counter can last a week or two and is always ready and easy to spread.

There are many brands with slight variation in size, but a lot of it comes down to personal choice in appearance.  We chose this one ($7.69) from Norpro and are very happy with it, but a friend really likes hers from King Arthur Flour ($14.99).

Keep real butter around and enjoy it on your timing by using a butter keeper.

*Replace the water every other day.

Toasted Hemp Seeds

My kids expressed their hunger while shopping at our health food store and I came across a small bag of toasted hemp seeds.

$1.29 later, they (and I) were happily munching on tiny crunchy and slightly salted hemp seeds -- a first for them and me.  We chose the "Cousin Mary Jane" brand.

I was impressed.  For all the misconceptions of industrial hemp (it's a close cousin to Marijuana), the plant has a lot to offer in the form of food and fiber for clothing and building materials.  Additionally, it is easily grown without the use of chemicals.

Unfortunately, it is only legal to be grown in North Dakota and Vermont, though movements in Kentucky, Michigan and other States are increasing.  In many ways its a perfect crop.

The seeds are high in protein and all nine essential amino acids, high in fatty acids and vitamin E and have a balanced ratio of Omega 3 & 6 acids for heart health.

Plus, they're just plain tasty.  Now if only I could get my kids to stop calling them "hump seeds".

Gordon Food Service and Pink Slime

Now that Jamie Oliver and others have exposed our meat industry and the addition of "pink slime" to our ground beef, some have taken steps to ensure their ground beef is slime free (and thereby admitting the addition).

See a previous post I wrote for more details on the infamous pink slime here.

Most notable among those companies who have recently eliminated the slime from their products are McDonald's and Meijer grocery stores.  But one hold out is Gordon Food Service.  I was surprised to read a news article this morning that said the company would take a "wait-and-see attitude" and  hear from the customers.

Here is there link for writing and sharing about your support or concern over there product.

I like Gordon Foods and they play an important role in the food supply of the United States and Canada, supplying many many food companies with the ingredients that hundreds of thousands consume daily.  And that is why I am most bothered by their stance.

Most consumers are unaware of what they eat, how it was raised or grown, and from where it is derived.  Perhaps it is the consumers' responsibility, but we live in a culture where blind faith rules, and where people have too little time to research what they put in their mouth (or most anything else for that matter, but that's for somebody else to analyze).

Companies need to do what it best for their end consumer and the planet.  The health of the consumer and environment should be of higher consideration than the earning of a few extra pennies.

I, for one, hope they reconsider.  I believe that doing the right thing will always be rewarded in the end.

www.stoppinkslime.org is an additional great resource on this issue.