to be irritated by the premise of "French Children don't Throw Food"

[OhdearNigel]

Was in the local children's bookshop and the owner had a proof copy of this
www.amazon.co.uk/French-Children-Dont-Throw-Food/dp/0385617615/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322218169&sr=1-1
sent to her.

I freely admit that I haven't read any of it but I am irritated by it already. France is not some bloody paragon of sophistication and wonder. I have seen plenty of very badly behaved French children. I love France but the woman are not all Coco Chanel, gourmet, sexy glamourpusses. In fact walk down any street in France and you are unlikely to see such a creature.
My best friend in childhood was French and the most exotic dinner her Mum made was chopped cheese and pepper mixed with salad cream and then grilled on toast. Hardly the Ritz.

French kids push in at Disneyland
ImE

Lol

"My best friend in childhood was French and the most exotic dinner her Mum made was chopped cheese and pepper mixed with salad cream and then grilled on toast. Hardly the Ritz."

Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones talking but that sounds fucking delicious...

We have a couple of french schools where I live and when frequenting the nearbly park when my DS was smaller a lot of the french children were total little bloody horrors.

Went to Paris a while back and found it one of the most unfriendliest places I have ever been to. Found no one to be sophisticated just arrogant.

So no, YANBU

Desperately, that's exactly what I thought.

Maybe you should read it and then come back

It could be an ironic title

My niece and nephew are French and they throw food. Well they did when they were babies and toddlers.

Tbh I have never seen a child throw food in a restaurant in Paris except DD

And Parisian women do dress better than British women (generally speaking, of course).

But, yeah, huge generalisation about all French children being well behaved.

Northern Irish children don't throw food either, should I write a book about it?

I'll consider advances of £100,000 upwards.

Well I guess it's in the tradition of 'French Women Don't Get Fat' -- i.e., obviously not literally true, but pointing toward some cultural trends. Some French women are fat but generally speaking French women tend to be more petite.

Obviously French children throw food sometimes but having lived in France the last six months I'm actually a little creeped out by how well behaved most kids seem to be. Especially with eating, French table manners are generally a lot more strict.

So YANBU to be irritated by the title but the actual book might be interesting!

But that's undoubtably a capital city thing. London is a lot more fashion-forward than Exeter and I would say that women in the more upscale areas of London compete with their Parisian counterparts.

I'm going to ask her to borrow the proof copy when she's read it :)

Not sure about the children but I agree about the women. They mostly look like ..us.

I went to stay for a couple of months with a boyfriend's family, and was surprised to learn how to make the following soup:

1 chicken stock cube dissolved in water
a handful of vermicelli
grated gruyere.

Cook the vermicelli in the "stock" then allow the cheese to melt in it. "Soupe de fromage." It's not in Larousse Gastronomique.

I also got bitten really badly by a golden-ringleted toddler.

desperately - it was delicious lol ! Particularly if you spread it on a halved petit pain and then grill

Devonian women are gorgeous, Nigel. Elegant, sleek, cool, witty, illiterate.

I've never got the French women dress better thing. I always think they have questionnable fashion sense (massive generalisation alert). Bt in particular, if you compare like for like than I don't think Parisienne women dress better than British women - ie you can't compare a French woman on the Champs Elysee with a British woman on Byker high street.

OP - I love the affronted tone of your last sentence but to be fair that is a better effort than most Engligh Cheese on Toast offerings

I was in an upscale area of Paris At weekend - the whinging /screaming from kids on next table was deafening.

Maybe kids are marginally better behaved when in Paris than here but sounds a bit of a generalization (ESP when you go to eurodisney).

when I went on the french exchange at school I was revolted by the fact they used UHT milk kept in the cupboard for their cereal. Bleurgh

"My best friend in childhood was French and the most exotic dinner her Mum made was chopped cheese and pepper mixed with salad cream and then grilled on toast. Hardly the Ritz."

Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones talking but that sounds fucking delicious...

Nothing to do with being pg, Desperately, it's got my saliva flowing too and if I've got the same hormones as you are talking about there's a miracle about to happen!

One of the many lovely things about being in France is eating out. Not, particularly for the food but for the fact that it's civilised.

Nobody shouting, screaming, yelling. Children behaving as children should in public.

Everywhere else in the world everyone cringes when English women and American women go out for dinner. WHY ARE THEY SO BLOODY LOUD?

I shall have to update my friend's mum that her "California Bread" is sweeping the nation :grin: she would find that hilarious

Hmm. I still think Parisian women dress better when compared to their London equivalent. Sorry.

Fair enough - "well dressed" is very much a matter of personal taste :)

French women may not be fat or badly dressed and their kids may be impeccably behaved but they are the rudest, most arrogant people I have ever met

On the dressing style -- it's not about comparing best to best, but worst to worst.

You don't really see many French women wearing track suit bottoms to the shop, or walking around in dirty trainers (not that there's anything wrong with that!) Even when casually dressed they still seem a bit more put together.