Do French Kids Get Fat?

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Take heart this Monday morning. The childhood obesity epidemic (just as the rest of the world faces higher food prices and famine) is not limited to the US. Even the French are starting to wake up to the fact that 16 per cent of five to 11-year-olds are obese. The culprits are the same: fast food, no time to cook, and a sedentary lifestyle. One French chef – the press calls him the Jamie Oliver of France - is leading the way to getting school children to eat right. Dominique Valadier, a trained chef who worked in restaurants on the Riviera, is cooking daily meals for the cafeteria of L'Emperi school in Salon-de-Provence. He told the UK's Telegraph: "If we want to fight obesity, we need to think about a different kind of society," said Didier, pointing to the thousands of children who "heat up a pizza, then eat in front of the TV with a packet of chips". His meals are not only tasty, made from scratch daily, but also reasonably priced. He charges just €2.20 ($3.42) per student meal, and €3 $4.67) for teachers – at least 50 per cent cheaper than school dinners in other parts of the country according to the press. To keep down costs, he buys what is in season, uses scraps and leftover to reduce waste, and makes meals kids will eat. The day journalists from the Telegraph and AFP were visiting, he and his assistants prepared turnips with honey, carrots and artichokes in sauce, followed by either slow roasted pork loin or fish in a white wine, lemon and olive oil sauce. Would American students eat Didier's menus? Super Chef is not suggesting chefs quit their restaurant jobs for low paying cafeteria work. But American chefs need to find a way to influence the kind and quality of food served in the nation's school cafeterias. A few chefs have tried to make a difference, but more needs to be done. Who will be the American Jamie Oliver? Previous articles: Christopher Kimball: Parents Against Junk Food Jamie Oliver: Junk Food Be Cursed! Jamie Oliver Betters British School Food FOOD PIX: Jamie Oliver Fat Suit Eric Schlosser: Chew On This Nora Sands: Nora's Dinners Common Threads' World Festival Jamie Oliver: School Lunch Alice Waters: Ms. Smith Goes to Washington Smithsonian Folklife Festival: Food Culture USA [Chefs & Politics - complete] Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging --> back to Super Chef