Food is Culture

Country Watch: France
http://www.schoolfoodpolicy.com/2009/05/04/country-watch-france/

Here’s what students in one Paris school district ate for lunch last Tuesday: cucumbers with garlic and fine herbs; Basque chicken thigh with herbs, red and green bell peppers and olive oil; couscous; organic yogurt and an apple. For snack, they had organic bread, butter, hot chocolate and fruit.

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Wow. I know some Americans that had not tried some of the constituent items in that menu until well into their thirties. I have known Americans that would only eat junk food like potato chips. I have known Americans that ate only meat. What I rarely perceived was any sense of variety or true culture in what they were eating. They ate what they liked and that to which they had grown accustomed.

In all reality, I wish that I ate like that more regularly. I hate to admit that despite my own excellent palate I often eat far below my self-imposed standards.