School Lunch...French Style

Eating lunch at school is supposed to be somewhat of a Russian roulette, right? At least, that's how I think of 'hot lunch.' (Now I am showing my age. Do they still call it that?)

I apologize in advance to any of you who work so hard to provide nutritious lunches in American schools. I was a 'bring your lunch from home' kid, and when I had the rare joy of eating hot lunch at my little school in southeast Iowa, I was always disappointed. Sorely disappointed.

(I do believe they have improved school lunches since I was a kid, but my kids definitely had their list of things they would NEVER eat at their school in Minnesota.)

But, here in France, school lunch is a VERY different story. (Here's an old photo I took of the preschool cafeteria. Just to give you a mental image for this blog. The elementary cafeteria looks exactly the same, just bigger tables and chairs.)


First of all, there's no 'bring our lunch from home' option here; at least not in our kids' school. It's either eat lunch at school (which is what 90% of the students do), or parents come to take kids home for the lunch hour. We opted for the later option last year since we were new in town.

But, this year we have signed our kids up for school lunch one day per week - FRIDAYS. Ah, we, the parents, have come to love, love, love, love Fridays.

But, these Friday lunches have produced some great laughs in our home (mostly for Mark and I, I must admit.)

As you can imagine, our kids were DREADING the first day! I guess it makes sense, since the whole experience would be new for them.

And, they had HEARD things about the food. Plus, it's French food!!!! UGH!!! We heard a lot of, "What will they make us eat!" and " You know, they serve FISH at school."

(I must confess that I never cook fish at home, so I have done a terrible job of preparing my children for this experience.)

All we as parents did was giggle.

Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee.

And, then we, the loving parents, began to have our weekly "date lunch" after our team prayer meetings on Friday mornings....while our kids suffered at school learning what the French REALLY eat!

(In defense of ourselves, we haven't had a regular "date lunch" or "date night" for about 10 years. We are loving this new arrangement!)

Well, there have been some surprises, and then one or two things that are the same as the good ol' USA.

Yes, they do serve fish. Actually, they serve it on a very regular basis. But, we are not talking fish sticks here. Oh, no. This is real fish of many varieties and cooked in many different ways.

And, there is a lunch lady. She's watching and correcting as needed. I'm beginning to think that this is a universal job.

Our kids have learned that you MUST eat the main dish first.

You have to try the vegetables (even when they are beets!).

You are strongly encouraged to eat your food and not let it be wasted. They station 'people' in the room where you deposit your tray when you are done. Our kids don't know why those 'people' are there, but their presence is working like a charm to intimidate our kids into eating (or at least try) the food on their plates. Even when it is some mysterious pureed thing.

You are allowed to get seconds if you like at NO EXTRA CHARGE. But, you are NOT allowed to take seconds of dessert.

And, there is always good ol' fabulous French bread at every lunch. Lots of it. You can eat as much as you want. I think Todd makes a meal out of French bread and dessert when the main dish is fish. Oh, how I wish I could be a fly on the wall sometimes!

Now, would you like to see a menu? Here are a few menus, with the translations in parenthesis, from the month of November.

Potage poireaux, pommes de terre et croutons (Leek & potato soup with croutons)

Sauté de dinde sauce moutarde (Sautéed turkey with mustard sauce)

Printanière de legumes (Spring vegetables)

Liégeois au chocolat (Iced coffee with chocolate)

Liégeois à la vanille (Iced coffee with vanilla)

Champignons émincés (Mushrooms sliced thinly)

Salade verte et noix (Green salad with nuts)

Rôti lapin farci forestière (Stuffed roast rabbit in a forest style? Not sure what this means.)

PDT au jus au thym (No idea what this is!)

Fromage blanc BIO et crème de marrons (White cheese with chestnut crème)

Fromage blanc BIO et miel (White cheese with honey)

Saumon sauce nantura (Salmon with some special sauce)

Haricots beurre persillés (Beans with parsley butter)

Petit suisse nature et sucre (A Swiss kind of yogurt with sugar)

Petit suisse aux fruits (A Swiss kind of yogurt with fruit)

Gâteau au chocolat maison et crème anglaise (Chocolate cake with English crème)

Tarte au fromage (Cheese tart)

Tarte au poireaux (Leek tart)

Escalope de poulet au jus (Scalloped chicken in juice)

Petits pois extra fins au jus (Extra fine peas in juice)

Fruits de saison (Fruits of the season)

Concombre à la ciboulette (Cucumbers with chives)

Salade de tomate au basilic (Salad with tomato and basil)

Filet de roussette sauce lombarde (Roussette fish with some special sauce)

Macaronis BIO et emental rape (Macaroni noodles with shredded emmental cheese)

Crème au chocolat (Chocolate crème)

Crème à la vanille (Vanilla crème)

Carottes râpées et emmental (Shredded carrots and emmental cheese)

Céleri à la remoulade et mimolette (Celery in sauce with mimolette cheese)

Rôti de porc à la dijonnaise (Roast pork with Dijon and mayonnais)

Rôti de dinde à la dijonnaise (Roast turkey with Dijon and Mayonnais)

Lentilles BIO (Lentils)

Ananas au sirop et noix de coco râpée (Pineapple in syrup with shredded coconut)

Pêche au sirop et amandes grilles (Peches in syrup with grilled almonds)

Laitue iceberg et dés de mimolette (Iceberg lettuce with mimolette cheese)

Endives au bleu (Endive with blue cheese, I presume)

Poulet rôti (Roast chicken)

Purée de carottes (Pureed carottes)

Abricots au sirop (Apricots in syrup)

Compote pomme cassis (Apple and black currant compote)

Macédoine mayonnaise (Macedonian mayonnaise)

Salad de betteraves (Beet salad)

Saucisses de Francfort (Francfort sausages)

Saucisses Fracfort volaille (Poultry sausages)

Fromage blanc et sucre (White cheese with sugar)

Fromage blanc et miel) White cheese with honey)

Sauté de dinde au curry (Curry sautéed turkey)

Chou-fleur persillé (Cauliflower with parsley)

Gouda (Cheese)

Comté (White cheese - closest thing we've found to cheddar cheese)

Fruits de saison (Fruits of the season)

So, as you can see, our kids are certainly suffering, huh! As I have been working on this blog, I have been trying to decide whether I should even mention that they serve rabbit from time to time at school! I think their fear of fish is enough for them right now. :-)

Actually, they have come home many times saying, "Did you try the vegetables? They were really, really good!" Or some such comment.

It has become clear to us that the food of the school cafeteria MUST rate as good as the food a French parent would serve on their own table at home. The parents demand it. We've heard there are groups of parents who come in to "check on" the school to make sure the food is measuring up to their satisfaction, or there will be heads rolling! It's pretty clear that it's a whole different world in the school cafeteria here!

Ah, but Mark and I will enjoy the stories of our children (who also really enjoy Fridays because they get a long lunch time to play with their friends) and we'll continue our date lunches... without a moment of reservation.

Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee.