Gourmet Dining at Age 3? Bien Sur!
By Jane Weston Wilson
In the March 15 issue of Time Magazine, writer Vivienne Wait sent her global dispatch Postcard: Paris! The photograph shows low oval tables for 10 with 3- and 4-year-old boys and girls sitting in small chairs, silverware in hand eating lunch and talking to each other. Her son is 3. Not only do all French school children have this 5-course midday meal at school, which includes a hors d’oeuvre, salad, main course, cheese plate and dessert course, the brochure given to parents includes suggestions for what the parents might serve for dinner.
"If he ate hake in Basque sauce, mashed; pumpkin cracked rice Edam cheese and organic fruit for lunch that means stuffed marrons and apples for dinner."
Ah. I see, as I approached my bookshelf to pull out my copy of Why French Women Don’t Get Fatby Mirelle Guiliano KnopfBorzoi Books,which came out in 2005 and sold millions of copies. In Chapter 12 Life Stages the first from 0 to 7 we see that as early as the age of 3 “French women start shaping their children’s taste.”
Here indeed is the connection. While we are grinding our teeth as we watch the French eating fois gras, Beef Bourgogne, rich desserts, wine and cheese (how many French movies have we seen lunch or dinner ending over wine, cheese, pears to slice and good talk). And there is almost no chance of gaining weight because food is eaten in season, in portions that are small; there is variety and balance, all of which French children start learning at 3.
Throughout her book Madame Guiliano with either wine or champagne at hand at lunch and at dinner, she exhort us, with humor and laugher, to stop thinking about the latest diet du jour, and instead consider the lifestyle where the pleasure of eating is paramount.
Madame Guiliano came to America as an exchange student in Massachusetts where she learned to love chocolate chip cookies and brownies, and very quickly gained 20 pounds. When she returned to France "looking like a sack of potatoes", her father said, she had to return to the French culture centuries proven way of eating,
Her recovery came through her family’s physician, Dr. Meyer as he presented the French way; to build a rapprochement between our two selves, the one that wants to be slim and healthy and the one that wants something else; pleasures a plenty and now.
Following Dr. Myer's advice she sets out her plan for not getting fat. It is not unlike the good advice we are continually urged to follow; eat in moderation, drink plenty of water, exercise. But she is after more than that. She is for a lighter touch, a joie de vie approach. And she speaks to that in every phase of women’s lives right up to ages 55 to 77 and beyond.
Here are just a few of her two pages of principles: "French women drink water all day long, French women think that dining in is as sexy as dining out, French women will dress to take the garbage out, French women avoid anything that demands too much effort for too little pleasure.”
Good advice? Here are two recipes from her book, an appetizer and a dessert.
Why French Women Don’t Get Fat Recipes
I thought two very simple but very elegant recipes are in order. An hors D’oeurve and a dessert.
Fingerlings and Caviar
Maybe some of us are even growing these tiny potatoes in our gardens they are, of course, at our greenmarkets. As for Caviar, Madame Guiliano agrees it is pricey and suggests substituting salmon roe, domestic caviar or simply minced chives.
4 Fingerling potatoes
6 ounces crème fraiche
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
4 oz Caviar or substitute
Procedure:
1. Rinse the potatoes thoroughly, and cook in lightly salted water until cooked but not mushy.
2. Drain and cut in 1-inch slices.
3. Season the Crème Fraiche to taste with with salt and pepper and dab each potato slice.
4. Garnish with Caviar.
5. Serve immediately.
Grilled Peaches with Lemon Thyme
Serves 4
“Even if they are a little hard, cooking will tenderize them and release juices and flavor.”
Ingredients:
4 peaches
2 Tab olive oil
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 sprigs lemon thyme, chopped coarsely
Procedure:
1. Rinse the peaches, pat dry, cut in half, remove pits, place the peaches in a baking dish.
2. Mix together olive oil, honey, vanilla extract and pour over peaches.
3. Sprinkle with lemon thyme.
4. Marinate for 20 minutes turning over once and basting.
5. Broil or grill on the barbeque for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Or until the peaches are tender but not soft.
6. Serve immediately alone or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or a dollop of Crème Fraiche.
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