It's true what they say about French school lunch.
Because so many asked to see the lunch menus from the kids' schools.
In French schools, the children have the option of going home from 12-2 for lunch or eating in the cantine. The school lunch is not free, but it’s relatively inexpensive, I think it’s 4€ in the public elementary and maybe 6€ at the private middle school.
Each meal starts with a salad/veggie appetizer, then a main course, then a small dairy (a cheese or yogurt,) and either a fruit dessert or 1/2x a week a prepared dessert like a flan or a chocolate tarte, etc. There is also a self-serve pitcher of water on every table, fresh baguette, and real silverware and stoneware dishes. In the two schools our kids’ attend they claim to have a chef on staff who prepares the food.
For picky eaters or those with religious dietary restrictions my children report that there are alternatives available. My kids say that, for the most part, the students do seem to eat all of the things they are served apart from a few infamous picky eaters in the class.
My own little one has been working through her picky phase but has been dutifully tasting everything (we *may* have told her that the lunch attendants in France report to the parents if a food is not at least tasted 😉) and this seems to be effective in the sense that she’s tasting the egg and cheese dishes which she would typically avoid. (Yes, I have a child who doesn’t like cheese… I know!)
The kids both agree that the food in French school is much healthier and higher quality, though they both admit to missing the fast food vibe from the (free since covid) hot lunches at their American school (pizza! Nuggets! Etc.)
The French do seem to be making a conscious effort to educate the children in terms of what makes a healthy meal, and how to taste foods that most American kids would swoon at the sight of.
The teachers and administrators eat the same food in the cantine with the children. I get it! I would love to have a nice lunch like this everyday for 6€ 😂