Analysis Of French Food

Based on the observations and analyses completed by Walton, Hannon, and Flynn it was concluded that the packed lunches were essentially the least nutritious meal of the children’s day. On average, lunch was the lowest in macronutrients and the highest in sugars and salts. On the other hand, breakfast food and dinner contributed positively to the children’s dietary nutrition. The most nutrient dense meal, as found from the study, was consumed before school and the meal with the most dietary fiber was consumed after school. The article claims that the nutritional value of the meals eaten by children at school needs to be altered to improve the overall quality of the school-day diet. This source relates to my research question because it explains

She discusses the French food culture and why it is the way it is now. This article did the best job in answering my research question because it addresses every aspect of food culture and the school environment in France and effectively compares everything back to the United States. Bakker introduces the French food culture by stating how the average French adult consumes higher amounts of fat and spend two times the amount of time eating compared to Americans. However, research shows how the French still have a miniscule obesity and heart disease rate. So the question Bakker asks is, why? One part of the answer she gives is France’s Common Agricultural Policy. This policy “supports the domestic production of fresh fruits and vegetables to a greater degree than the Farm Bill” (34). Farm Bill is America’s version of agricultural policy. It is seen that money is granted to produce foods that are damaging to human health such as high-fructose corn syrup. Bakker claims that these forms of subsidies contribute to America’s national obesity epidemic. Furthermore, she asks what if America viewed food as a properly political topic and a standard for socio-environmental justice (38)? Maybe then America would learn how to properly “eat their

She explains the way that school lunch programs are designed in the United States and further describes how they are neglected systems. It is stated that the National School Lunch Program prioritizes processed foods than they do fruits and vegetables. This program does so because the profit the food industry makes is valued more greatly than the educational and public health goals. Bakker goes on to show how polar opposite this is to the food culture of French schools. First of all, the group that controls the policies of school lunches is named the French Ministry of Education. The article then goes into explanation of the specific policy that school lunches follow when serving food for the children. Fruits and vegetables are served every day, unhealthy options such as fried foods and sweets are served no more than once a week, vending machines are banned, and lastly bringing packed lunched from home is highly discouraged. Recall back to the Irish school systems where children needed to bring packed lunches because school lunches are not provided. The statistics of obesity are significantly different compared to those of these French