AIBU to think this is a daft way to eat "healthily"?

[workwoes123]

I live in France. Like many French workplaces, mine has a cantine offering a freshly-cooked, 3/4 course, lunch which is absolutely standard here. Examples of the menu on offer:

Small plate of salad starter: carrot / beetroot / green beans in vinaigrette, mixed bean salad, boiled eggs, rice salad, green salad, tomato salad etc.

Main course of protein plus veg and carbs: beef casserole, grains and courgette gratin: roast chicken leg, potatoes, green beans; fish in lemon sauce, rice, spinach etc.

Dairy: small portion of cheese, or a yoghurt

Dessert: fruit puree, fromage blanc with rasberry coulis; small piece of cake; fruit salad.

The food quality is not quite restaurant standard, but it's healthy, cheap (€4,50 for 4 courses) and mostly cooked on site from actual ingredients. All courses are optional, no one's forced to eat anything.

At a social event with some US colleagues one of them said he's really struggling with the food at the cantine as 'he doesn't know what's in it'. Instead he goes out at lunchtime and buys a processed meal / salad / packaged sandwiches because they have a barcode on them: he can apparently scan this using his phone and it tells him the fat /sugar / calorie content of what he's eating. He claims that this is 'healthier' than eating actual food at the cantine.

It seems mad to me to actively increase the amount of processed food at the expense of fresh ingredients, and claim this is 'healthier'? I can just about see the point of this when comparing one processed food with another - but dismissing freshly-cooked food because it doesn't come with a barcode? Seems crazy to me!

That is a lot of good to eat at lunch

Food

For any potential pedants twitching nervously I believe 'cantine' is the French word for 'canteen'

This is why I never got on with MFP - I eat very little prepackaged barcoded food and although I tried to program in the ingredients for one of my freshly cooked home made meals it was just so arduous.

Haven't RTFT and I imagine someone's already said it, but you only have to look at French people (adults and children) who eat these lunches to know that they're getting it right.

The entire attitude to food is different. Even the school kids eat lunches like this while our school kids in the UK are having meals made with lower quality ingredients and additives replacing fat/sugar to meet some misguided rules made by people at the top who don't understand nutrition at all.

Unless they are on a restricted diet where the relative contents in protein, fat and carbs are very strictly controlled, then it's silly.

Plus, there's the packaging on the ready made - barcoded food.

That food sounds heavenly and your colleague is a prize idiot.

YANBU and a classic example of why the French are so healthy and have less issues with obesity.

However I have issues with food and I need to know the exact nutritional info and number of calories in everything so I understand where he’s coming from and it’s not easy to break away from that thought process.

@INeedNewShoes

We used to live in NZ and a “healthy eating” programme was introduced at DHs workplace. A reduced-salt meat pie got a “healthy heart” sticker on it, while an apple got nothing 😂

He might be calorie counting. I used MyFitnessPal and managed ok calculating calories for home cooked meals but had to measure almost everything (big calorie difference between 1tbsp of oil vs 2tbsp) but restaurants were harder. Initially I avoided eating out while I got used to dieting. It was only after a few months that I felt comfortable enough to take a wild stab by searching for a meal (eg veg biryani) and choosing an entry with a middle amount of calories.

The canteen food sounds more nutritious but when counting calories you need to be able to...well...count the calories.

@Lampzade

That is a lot of good to eat at lunch

It really isn't. If it's your main meal of the day, which is better to have at lunchtime, it's perfect.

Plus as long as you eat sensible portion sizes and don't eat until you are stuffed, there's no need to calorie count for that type of food anyway because it has lots of veg, is quite low carb and is well balanced.

If I had access to a cantine like that I'd definitely eat there every day, just have something light in the evening and probably be a lot healthier and slimmer too.

It's obvious from looking at the health and weight of the French population as a whole that their way of doing things is a lot better than the US or the UK.

My daughters BF did this the other day. I made a lasagne, but he bought a ready meal one to have instead so he could scan it. I’m sure it wasn’t anything to do with my cooking😜😜

@Jng1

For any potential pedants twitching nervously I believe 'cantine' is the French word for 'canteen'

It is.

@CounsellorTroi

I once visited the UN in Geneva with DH who wanted to look in their archives for stuff to do with his work. We had lunch in their canteen several times and it was great. Wonderful salads, there was even wine and beer available. This was about 20 years ago, would be interested to know if that’s still the case!

I worked at the UN for a couple of years a few decades ago and still remember the canteen fondly. As far as I'm aware, from old friends, that canteen is still serving wonderful food, especially those lovely green salads.

It's obvious from looking at the health and weight of the French population as a whole that their way of doing things is a lot better than the US or the UK.
Amen to this.

I like to know what's in my food.
Does the canteen give a list of allergens that are in the food such as sulphites?
I'd rather processed packaged shite food with a label anyway tbh. I'd trust it more iyswim.

Your cantine sounds superbe!
Are there any vacancies?! I did A level French many years ago...

Why is it your concern? Let your colleague eat what he wants.

Also, there are plenty of countries where people generally eat healthy but you don't see many really buff guys. So the French, for example, are generally slimmer than the Brits/US but you don't see many Tom Hardy or Jason Momoa types in France. There are a lot more effeminate looking men on mopeds like in Italy.

There's a difference between eating fresh food for general health and eating stuff where you can track protein to get your gram of protein per lb bodyweight.

Your canteen does sound lovely and cheap.

It's rather rude to comment on the nationality of your colleague and what they are or aren't eating though. It's their business, not yours.

I can't imagine what you say about Indian colleagues who have masala or sambhar for lunch.

Maybe he just doesn’t like the food- just because you do it doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. You eat what you want and let him do the same.

Your canteen sounds amazing but I’d be scared by not knowing about the amount of oil/butter/cream etc in things. I suppose I could have the salad and the fruit salad

I think that is really sad. Nobody should be scared of food.

@INeedNewShoes

I can confirm that the school meals are very similar. The head chef at my kids school used to cook for the French navy submariners so he’s pretty good at what he does. IIRC they had roast guinea fowl for their Christmas menu last year. Sample menu for next week :

Starters: Hardboiled eggs with dressing , pâté, shredded carrot in lemon vinaigrette, melon, grapefruit
Mains: duck in orange sauce, Toulouse sausage (free range), vegetarian chill.
Sides: rice from the Camargue, organic green beans
Dairy: Brie / Comté cheese, natural or fruit yoghurt
Dessert: banana, fresh pineapple, apple or pear.

Only water on offer to drink. I think they get chips maybe once a term. No tuck shops, no snacks, no vending machines etc.

That's quite sad actually.

People know very little about real food it seems.