photo credit: EvelynGiggles
Hi again! Welcome to Day 8 for a comparison between two school lunch menus from two different countries: America and France. In America, we look at Toms River, New Jersey and in France a similar sized school district; Pau, France. Here is the menu for September 24, 2010. See my previous posts if you want to follow back from Day 1 to see the other menus.
Toms River, NJ
Choice of 1 main dish, 2 sides and served with a half pint of milk
Domino’s Pizza or Tossed Salad with Tuna
Green Peppers with Ranch Dip, Rosati Italian Ice
Pau, France
Served with slices of baguette and water
Wheat Grain Salad
Fish Gratin, Vichy Carrots (carrots cooked in mineral water and glazed with butter)
Flan
Here again are the links to Toms River, New Jersey school lunch menus, and Pau, France menus. Every Friday is pizza day in the Toms River school lunch program, with the same weekly menu: Domino’s Pizza and Rosati Italian Ice. As I mentioned yesterday, what is also interesting between the two systems is the WAY the food is served to the children. First, the schools in France are much smaller than in America. The school where my children go has 240 children, starting from 2 years old up to 11 years old. This is common in France, some village schools there are even fewer children! Also, school starts between 2-3 years old, when a child is potty trained and if there is space. The menus you see for France are also the menus served to very young children. There are no food substitutions for age! Finally, because there are fewer children served, the food is brought over to the table and someone serves the children rather than the children going over or passing through a serving area. There are three courses in France; the first course is served separately from the main course and dessert. This is the same at French homes, thus a continuum at school. I found the French menu quite interesting for today: does anyone else know wheat grain salad? It is good, resembles tabouli. And the Vichy carrots, also yummy! I have made those for my kids, simple yet delicious! They love them and eat them up like candy! Here is a link to a recipe if you are interested in trying them too. But keep tuning in and leaving me your comments…we are only halfway through our one month of comparing French to American school lunch menus. Still lots to see and comment on! Have any of you tried Vichy carrots? The mineral water that is usually used to cook the carrots comes from Vichy, a place in France known for its delicious water!
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About Mary Brighton
Mary Brighton, MS, RD is a registered dietitian and website developer. Living in Europe for the last 11 years including the last 9 years in France offers an international and European perspective on food, health, nutrition and European living. In addition to researching and writing on healthy living, nutrition and cuisine, Mary has nearly 20 years of experience counseling and serving clients in dietetics through private practice, clinical, outpatient and rehabilitation centers.
I looked at the Mantua School district(NJ) I could not believe that a school with such a high reputation would be serving “fast food”.
Thursday, September 23
All day
Meatball Sandwich
All day
Small Pretzel
All day
Vegetable
Friday, September 24
All day
French Bread Pizza
All day
Small Salad
Monday, September 27
All day
Bacon Cheeseburger
All day
French Fries
Tuesday, September 28
All day
Hash Brown
All day
Juice
All day
Pancakes
All day
Sausage
Wednesday, September 29
All day
Cheese & Turkey
All day
Hoagie
THAT IS HORRIBLE!!!!!
[Reply]
mbrighton Reply:
October 1st, 2010 at 10:00
Thanks for sharing the menus in your school district. Certaintly does look like fast food. Why are they serving pancakes for lunch? That seems a bit strange… There are some healthy options: some vegetables and a salad for the week. Where is the fruit? Is this the high school menu or elementary? Thanks for your input…I may try to expand and look at menus from other school districts in America and France, could be interesting to see what is served in different parts of each country. Mary
[Reply]
Thank you for sharing this. I saw a clip off a news program last night about how the French don’t serve ketchup in schools. It actually blew my mind more than the kids were drinking water and eating lentils. I’m an American with a 3 year who is deeply concerned about what is being pass off as food here.
[Reply]
mbrighton Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 10:05
http://brightonyourhealth.com/health-tips-infant-child/changes-to-french-school-lunch-program-will-french-kids-eat-better (article on new French laws for school lunch changes)
Dear John, You should be concerned about American school lunches! While there has been improvement lately to provide healthier school lunches in America, there is a still a long way to go. Interesting the program you watched on how French don’t serve ketchup in schools…. This is only half true. Since September 30, 2011 the new laws for French school cantines include only serving ketchup with meals that “should” go with ketchup. See this link to an article above on these new laws.
Ketchup continues to be served with french fries, as an example. So if there are french fries on the menu, there is ketchup available for the children to have with the fries. With the new law, french fries cannot be served more than once a week in French school lunch program. Prior to September 30th, ketchup was available everyday. French kids love ketchup though, I have seen kids putting ketchup on everything, including pasta!
Water is always available at the French cantine and yes, lentils too. I believe the key is to encourage and help your child to taste different foods. Kudos to you and all parents too if healthy eating is a real priority at your house by providing well balanced meals at home. These great habits can only help them when they are going to school and are faced with the school lunch choices. As an example, on a typical Friday at school in Toms River, NJ. the menu choices for lunch are: Domino’s Pizza or Green Salad with Tuna. What would most children pick? Maybe if your child likes good healthy food they would sometimes pick the tuna salad…Good luck with your child’s food development choices! Keep reading all the pages on school lunches on the blog in regards to children’s taste and nutrition. Thanks much for commenting!
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