The Traveling Pantry
That never leaves the kitchen.
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Can you say that your grocery list is well-traveled? That it can provide you with a wide variety of flavor, dining, and experiences? I could not a week ago. I ate what I knew and shopped the same food and produce that I always do. But then, I challenged myself to broaden my diet and learn how my diet could improve with a more universal perspective. For a week, I researched about, adopted and abided by the diet of a culture foreign to me—France. Hopefully my research and experience encourage you to explore new diets, too.
The French Paradox
Imagine that every day, you eat butter and bread and cheese and all things delicious. In America we do exactly that, and as a nation, we have high obesity and heart disease risk.
France does exactly that, and they experience half of the risks. Why is this?
“The ‘French Paradox’ is a term that was coined in the 1980s and results from the observation that although French people tend to eat a rich diet, relatively high in saturated fats, they also tend to have a lower incidence of obesity and heart disease,” according to Kristen Smith’s The “French Paradox”: French Eating Patterns Have Been Associated with Certain Health Benefits.
Are the French just built different (or built Ford tough)? Really, they are just consuming an abundant and balanced diet. The French consumption is high in saturated fats, as is the American diet, but instead of the fats deriving from hydrogenated vegetable oils, the fats in French cuisine are naturally occurring animal fats. The way people in France experience their food can also be considered a healthy habit.
Social Habits
The French also eat mindfully and without distraction. They create a sensory experience with every meal, which increases the sense of being satiated with less intake.
“Meals have a defined structure,” Madeleine Nowak states in The Influence of Culture and Environment on Food Intake.
The French breakfast is sweet and quick. This meal requires the littlest preparation and fuss. A piece of toast or some sweet pastry with coffee or tea is all the fuel they need to start the day.
Lunch and dinner are much more structured. The expectation is to consume your food in courses, not with an entrée and side together as Americans often do. The French have at least three courses, with an alcoholic drink preceding dinner; the entrée will most likely be a soup, salad or vegetable medley, the main course with meat and starches and a dessert or cheese or yogurt course. Dinner does not begin until late in the evening, around 9 o’clock, so everyone can eat together. People will not be found in front of the T.V. or on their phones, because socializing is a part of the French dining experience.
Cooking at home is encouraged but eating out does not have to be reserved for a cheat day, because French menus are carefully curated and provide balanced meals. But, if you are American, staying away from restaurants is the safest bet.
While the French do indulge in cheese and fat and bread, they also have variety in their diet. “The portions are smaller in France,” blogger dietician, Emily Laurence, writes, and these smaller portions allow for the variety in every meal. Snacks are also omitted from daily intake. And the snacks are fruit or pastry with a cup of coffee. They also live very active lives, walking just about everywhere—to work, to a friend’s house or to the market.
And the French go to the market several times a week.
Grocery List
The French grocery list must have a variety of organic, whole and hearty foods and produce, which is outlined in Dietary Guidelines from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Despite the large variety, the French do not shop in large quantities; they often shop for a day or two’s worth of food. Everything is fresh and not processed. Because of this practice, you will often open a pantry or fridge in France and only see in-season produce. There will also be real dairy products, not oat or almond milk, but straight from the udders. The meat is also very fresh and will be locally sourced. The French diet includes the regular consumption of fish, nuts and plant oils like olive oil, not canola or processed spray oils. Pasta, potatoes, bread and all sorts of starches will also need to be on the grocery list. The grocery list for a French diet should spare no expense for quality food.
Unfortunately for me, I can’t afford that. What college student can?
France in my Kitchen
I spent a week shopping and dining as the French do so I could experience the benefits or insufficiencies of this diet. At first, I was excited because I could eat lots of cheese and bread—that’s basically pizza! However, I actually found a lot of aspects of the French diet to be inconvenient.
While I believe I benefitted nutritionally from the variety in the diet, my bank account suffered. My grocery total was doubled compared to my typical trip and purchasing a day’s worth of anything in an American grocery store is nearly impossible, because American portions are so large, they last for at least a week for an individual.
The process of eating in courses is also not accommodating to the schedule of a college student. The duration of lunch alone was an hour, since everything had to be made fresh and “experienced,” which means laying the fork on the plate until I finish each bite. This time eating and experiencing would have been spent studying or cleaning or planning for the coming days. I also missed the social aspect, considering my roommates and friends are also college students, and none of us have a schedule alignment to eat together.
I discovered something about myself while abiding to the French diet. My personality is fueled by my ability to have a snack. From noon to 9 o’clock, I was the least interesting person on the planet. My brain crashed and I had very little energy to be my normal, witty self. I did not actually feel hungry without snacking, but the mental toll was noted. If I continued the no-snacking pattern past a week, I am sure my brain would have adjusted. Like the French, I do walk just about everywhere, since parking is impossible and gas is expensive, so that was probably the most accurate part of my week of immersion.
The French diet did allow me to appreciate balance in my meals and to slow down and experience the process of becoming satiated. I set my phone down and focused on each meal and how it looked, smelled and tasted. The diet is anything but convenient, and not suitable for my lifestyle as a full-time studier or my bank account.
But if we can learn anything from the French diet, we can learn that food should be experienced, not merely consumed.