France bans ketchup from schools and colleges to promote healthy eating and preserve food culture.

reply to post by snowspirit


That picture was taken by a young girl in school who'd had enough. There was a thread on ats a while back about it. The school banned her from taking any more pics.
Slightly off topic, but thats why we've seen so much hate concerning thatcher, she started what led to schools being so deprived.

When I was at school (many many years ago) we were given proper good quality meals. I remember when I was five and first started school I asked my parents if I could have school dinners, they were so good. In the mornings you could smell them cooking and by mid day you'd have one hell of an appetite . In the afternoon break time we'd all rush to the back of the canteen because any leftovers would be handed out to anyone who wanted some.
They used to bake the BEST shortbread I've ever had

reply to post by VoidHawk


I understand the French not wanting ketchup poured all over their food. There's a culture built around their cuisine.
There's a reason French women don't get fat.

In the UK though, you'd almost be requiring ketchup for its minimal nutritional value
Proper food is an important item in the health of a country, and when there's national healthcare, the population should have good dietary habits. Like big salads.

I wonder
Do they call French fries frites, or French fries.
They're better with gravy....

They should adopt the french Canadian way of garnishing fries known as Poutine. No ketchup involved but lots of gravy and cheese curds. Definitely not healthier but so much better on the palate.

Originally posted by snowspirit
reply to post by VoidHawk

 

I understand the French not wanting ketchup poured all over their food. There's a culture built around their cuisine.
There's a reason French women don't get fat.

In the UK though, you'd almost be requiring ketchup for its minimal nutritional value

Proper food is an important item in the health of a country, and when there's national healthcare, the population should have good dietary habits. Like big salads.

I wonder
Do they call French fries frites, or French fries.

They're better with gravy....

French fries over here in France are quite simply called Frites

Kindest respects

Rodinus

Originally posted by Rocker2013

Originally posted by mypan
Wouldn't they be a better if these ideas are instill onto those students about healthy foods through good parenting and education rather that through blatant enforcement ? We need youngsters who can make their own informed decisions instead of nannying them around into hating themselves through young adulthood that they weren't allowed to eat this and that because the state said so.

I agree, but what do you do when this has clearly failed?
This is the way it has been for decades, with parents being left to educate on specific issues such as society, health, morality etc, and these are clearly things that are not being taught in many cases.

It should be the job of the parent, but the parent thinks it's the job of the education system. So there is no one to teach these kids about these VITAL aspects of life.

I included both of these quotes (mods please don't delete this for having too many quotes! ) because they both pertain to what I'd like to address.

This is where it becomes very sticky business, judging the choices of another culture and peoples!

The french culture and values are so different- for them, no, your kids are not just yours. They are the next generation of that society, they are the ones who will be running it one day. How they are raised and formed is important to EVERYONE (in their minds).

So already, a kid is not just taught to obey their parent only. They are not taught to distrust other adults. It is not uncommon to have a stranger correct or reprimand your child in public.
There is strong cultural cohesion, and less focus on individuality- there are values expressed not as "I prefer this over that", but "this is better than that".... as if they are universal truths (and everyone pretty much agrees).

So you have children that are taught to respect and obey their teachers and the adults in charge of caring for them while in their care, and a lot of effort is made to be sure that parents and teachers are on the same page, so the kid has the same rules at home as at school.

In a french home, they do not put ketchup on the table at each meal, so it should not be the same at school.

And though they are given it with fries (frites) and with hamburgers (for it is considered an american sauce, made for american food, the way a curry is considered for use with indian food), it is not served with blanquette de veau .

I am having trouble expressing what I am trying to say, but to put the ketchup out on the table,
is the same thing as telling the kids they should put it on their food,
because the children are obedient and respectful of the adult authorities present.

The attitude is different. Adults are not the "friends" of kids, like in the US. This makes everyone carry a sense of responsibility, whether they have children or not. What you do matters, because our next generaion is watching and following. And it is too confusing for the kids if everyone has a different view!

Hard for me (an american) to describe, because I grew up in such a different way.

But anyway, this isn't a "law", it was a decree, that the school system decided to put into effect. It is the same as making a statement of what you intend to do, publicly, just so that you can be held to it by others.

reply to post by Cabin


i like that idea.. ketchup/tomato sauce is crap..

Originally posted by Cabin
I came across this old newspiece from 2011. I thought it would be an interesting share here, as I did not find any other thread about it.

I sincerely hope this is the right subforum for it

I though quite a bit where to put it as it is an older newspiece, although after consulting in chat, I decided to go with education as culture/healthy eating promotion in schools can considered to be a part of education

The French government announced that starting this week, ketchup will no longer be allowed in any school or university cafeteria in an effort to promote healthy eating, as well as protect the country’s distinguished gourmet cuisine from disappearing beneath the American-conceived product—in both the literal and metaphoric sense.

"We have to stop children from being able to serve those sauces,” said Christophe Hebert, chairman of the National Association of Directors of Collective Restaurants and the man behind the ketchup ban. “Children have a tendency to use them to mask the taste of whatever they are eating.”

Hebert fears that the use of ketchup (and other condiments) desensitizes children from the gourmet essence of French cuisine, jeopardizing the future of the country’s classic recipes.

"Canteens have a public health mission and also an educative mission. We have to ensure that children become familiar with French recipes so that they can hand them down to the following generation," he told

"France must be an example to the world in the quality of its food, starting with its children," said Bruno Le Maire, the agriculture and food minister.

"Six million children eat in canteens every day, but 1 in 2 of them is still hungry when they leave," he said. "Nutritional rules are neither applied or controlled. We are making them obligatory and we will be keeping an eye on the menus."

Le Maire said the changes were introduced because common sense rules on nutrition have not been followed in the nation's schools.

Requiring cafeteria food to be served ketchup-free isn’t the only change students will experience at lunchtime. The new regulations also require schools to offer four to five different dishes each day, which includes a starter dish, main course, at least one dairy product (such as yogurt or cheesedessert, and healthy sides such as broccoli or spinach. There will be no limitations on bread, however, as baguettes must be available in an unlimited supply.

The rules leave young ketchup lovers here little choice. French schoolchildren are not allowed to bring home-prepared lunches to school and must either eat in the cafeteria or go home for lunch.

"They need to know that in France food means conviviality, sharing and having a good time at the table," Hebert said. “We absolutely have to stop children from being able to serve those sorts of sauces to themselves with every meal.”

But not all meals have to remain "sans ketchup." There is one exception: Students are allowed to eat ketchup once a week with—of all foods—French fries, which are also served only once per week.

articles.latimes.com...
www.neontommy.com...
www.telegraph.co.uk...

www.nydailynews.com...

I personally like such law and would like something like that also introduced here. When I was in school, I remember kids eating everything with ketchup. It kills the sense of taste in foods.

The French people I know are very proud over their cuisines - after all French are known to be a gourmet nation.

The government is also doing good job in that area

After that particular law also mayonnaise, salad dressings were banned from schools. Sugary drinks and sodas are also taxed.

edit on 14-4-2013 by Cabin because: (no reason given)

Yet they eat fritz covered in mustard mayonize and onions, French Fries!! Stupid

Hi Chapter, I quote you here :

"Yet they eat fritz covered in mustard mayonize and onions, French Fries!! Stupid"

Could you inform us as to where you found this information please... very interesting... 25 years i have been in France and never seen this wonderful exotic mixture served with "Frites"?

Kindest respects

Rodinus

Originally posted by chapterhouse
Yet they eat fritz covered in mustard mayonize and onions, French Fries!! Stupid

You must be thinking of another country. They are never eaten like that in France.

They are served either simply with meat, to soak up the juices from the meat,
or with ketchup. Never with mustard mayonnaise or onions.

mmm, forbidden saaaauzzz, mmm forbidden.


Thats just lame, if a person with no class wants to eat ranch on their salad, LET THEM I SAY!

Never ceases to amaze me how the mind works. A $250 dinner loaded with fat, salt, sugar etc. will always be just fine though. Especially if there is a waiter at your beck and call. Wash it down with $75 bottle of wine and everything is spectacular.

A 75 cent bagel with butter is worse than a baked potato with butter because the bagel came in a brown paper bag.

I sit here and swallow my saliva all day long but once i spit it into clean glass and drink it and people
want to barf. Not that i do that, just was thinking how odd that seems.

Originally posted by mideast
I have made a thread about porno industry.

In that thread , some people said that banning porno industry is going to hurt their freedom

I wonder how banning ketchup is not hurting the freedom.

This thread

You're confusing adults with children, which is a dangerous thing to do.
The porn industry is not hurting anyone. It's a fantasy. It's media, just like any other. Would you be on a campaign to ban romantic comedy, or action films, or horror films? Why should YOU get to tell other people what they can watch?

The ban on Ketchup is to improve the health of children, and the protection of children is a requirement under law. Kids do not have the capacity to make decisions when it comes to these things, and parents and other adults are responsible for them.

What part of this are people not getting? You, as an adult with the ability to make decisions for yourself, can eat what you like. You can eat dirt for all the state cares. But adults have a DUTY OF CARE to the young who are not able to make those choices.

Liberty of the individual is one thing, but forcing such liberty on children who are not capable of making the correct decisions for their own health is just plain stupid. And if so many adults here think their kids should have that choice themselves, perhaps that explains why America is in the mess it is in?

No wonder obesity in the US is so incredible, if this thread is anything to go by adults have almost completely given up their RESPONSIBILITY of caring for and protecting their own children - from themselves.

Originally posted by Rocker2013

Originally posted by mideast
I have made a thread about porno industry.

In that thread , some people said that banning porno industry is going to hurt their freedom

I wonder how banning ketchup is not hurting the freedom.

This thread

You're confusing adults with children, which is a dangerous thing to do.
The porn industry is not hurting anyone. It's a fantasy. It's media, just like any other. Would you be on a campaign to ban romantic comedy, or action films, or horror films? Why should YOU get to tell other people what they can watch?

The ban on Ketchup is to improve the health of children, and the protection of children is a requirement under law. Kids do not have the capacity to make decisions when it comes to these things, and parents and other adults are responsible for them.

What part of this are people not getting? You, as an adult with the ability to make decisions for yourself, can eat what you like. You can eat dirt for all the state cares. But adults have a DUTY OF CARE to the young who are not able to make those choices.

Liberty of the individual is one thing, but forcing such liberty on children who are not capable of making the correct decisions for their own health is just plain stupid. And if so many adults here think their kids should have that choice themselves, perhaps that explains why America is in the mess it is in?

No wonder obesity in the US is so incredible, if this thread is anything to go by adults have almost completely given up their RESPONSIBILITY of caring for and protecting their own children - from themselves.

I brought similar reasons about health and psychological problems , but they were arguing freedom

Strange....They do realize that ketchup is high in vitamin c and a and is loaded up on lycopene an antioxident that helps lower ones risk for cardiovascular disease. They do have low sugar/sodium brands that they could buy.

Or they could just take a few minutes and make their own some tomatoes and seasonings and they could make even healthier ketchup for the children to eat but I dont really believe it's about keeping kids healthy at all.

Originally posted by brandiwine14
Strange....They do realize that ketchup is high in vitamin c and a and is loaded up on lycopene an antioxident that helps lower ones risk for cardiovascular disease. They do have low sugar/sodium brands that they could buy.

Or they could just take a few minutes and make their own some tomatoes and seasonings and they could make even healthier ketchup for the children to eat but I dont really believe it's about keeping kids healthy at all.

The problem is that the french consider that taste is a sense that needs to be developed, educated.
One learns to tell the difference between different types of tomatoes, or lettuces; to be able to tell by taste whether a peice of meat is fresh, how young the animal was when butchered, and what region a wine grape was grown in.

When you get in the habit of covering foods with sauces like ketchup, (mustard, mayo, salsa) etc.) your sense of taste loses the ability to pick up on the subtilities. Besides considering that as losing class, (class being intertwined with highly tuned senses) that leaves a person to eating larger amounts, and wanting lower quality food. Those habits lead to bad eating.

This is the secret behind the small portions they eat- when you are very taken with savoring the subtle tones of flavor in one forkfull, you take more time and eat less. When you stop paying attention to the flavors, you gulp and keep going until your stomach is full. I've been through the process, and learned that is absolutely true!