BrittanyMakes

I wish I could say I’m one of those people who loves to read.  I mean, I like to read, I used to be a big book worm in grade school, and I definitely love a good series and will usually pick up a well recommended book, but I don’t love to read.   It’s probably an excuse but I feel like I just don’t have enough time to read.  Does anyone else feel this way? I read a lot of blogs, does that count as reading?

A couple months ago I stumbled on Joanna’s Motherhood Mondays series – if you haven’t read this series, you MUST, it’s a virtual page turner! Specifically her articles on parenting around the world, places like Norway, Japan, Dubai and more – I’m not kidding, these interviews will blow your mind! Anyway, as I stumbled on her series I read her post about a book she read called French Kids Eat Everything, by Karen Le Billon.  I’m about half way through, and no joke, this book has completely changed my life.

OK, that sounds a little dramatic, but seriously, I’ve found Le Billon’s reflections on American food culture and how she compares it to French food culture straight up riveting.  She is so spot on in the way she distinguishes between the two cultures, all the while sharing her story as an American woman living in a French coastal city (in Brittany actually!) with her French husband, and how she learned to cure her kids of their picky American eating habits.

What’s most interesting so far is learning through Le Billon about what French food culture actually MEANS.  It’s not like, ‘oh the French love to eat weird stinky foods but they walk a lot so they’re always skinny,’ or ‘the Italians love to eat pasta and have big obscene dinners with every family member every single night’, or whatever misconceptions we carry about other food cultures.  What’s eye-opening for me in reading this book is learning how French food culture is literally engrained in all things in France.  It’s in their education system, it’s in their daily routine, it’s in peer pressure and social influence.  It’s unspoken, yet everywhere.

Le Billon does a great job summarizing the unspoken “rules” of French food culture, 10 rules to be exact.  She explains how these rules can be applied so that we as parents/parents-to-be can overcome our current food-related habits, which happen to be the root cause of so many food related issues that Americans face.

You’re probably asking yourself, is this book a food Bible? No.  Will you fail as a human if you don’t memorize every single word and change everything about what you know about food? No.  But it is crazy eye-opening, and really gets you thinking about how your “normal” food habits might be influencing your children.

In short, I recommend reading this book.  You’ll love it, I promise.