November 12, 2004

• I've been on the foie gras-butter-truffles diet for years. Hasn't worked yet. Maybe I need prettier undies.
• There seems to be less of a pride in oneself in the UK. This can be seen not only in your approach to diet, but also in alcohol consumption. In France, there's no culture of going out to get drunk. That's some pretty haughty stuff right there. Hope she blows up like a parade float in the near future. And is it true there's no "Hey, let's go get plastered" ritual in France? How very sad.
• Next thing you know, you're doing the French Mistake.
• actual real food There's the answer right there. Heck, I was only in Paris for a week last year and I lost weight.
• Interesting story, Fes. I think there may actually be something to this. Some, although I don't know if it's the whole answer. If you look at yourself in your undies or less and don't like what you see, what better and more cleverly subconscious incentive to diet and exercise? Instead, here in the U.S. we have sweat pants, loose jeans, SUVs, and other hiding places for ourselves. The slower eating thing makes a bit of sense too, after all, you don't win one of those kooky eating contests by going slow! In France, there's no culture of going out to get drunk. There was an interesting article in the current issue of "The Atlantic" magazine that says that the U.S. is 26th or so in terms of annual alcohol consumption. The #1, if memory serves, is Luxembourg with over 3 gallons/years/person, and France isn't far behind. So it would have to have more to do with the exact pattern of alcohol consumption, or the specific types of drinking. (The article is only available online to subscribers, unfortunately.) Or is it the "Freedom Paradox"? Sorry, couldn't resist!
• I'm sure the 1-2 pack a day smoking habit described by many of these people (and the revealing comment that french women "smoke instead of eat") has nothing to do with it.
• Ohhh... I've had it all backwards. I've been wearing lunch and eating underclothes.
• I'm looking forward to my frozen pizza and cheap lager when I get in. Yey for being British!
• Wish I could find it, but there was a NYT Magazine article some months back about the corn industry and how nearly everything about this country's agriculture and food industries was centered around it, from feeding chickens to making corn syrup, corn chips, tortilla, cereal, corn starch, etc. to feed humans. And apparently corn syrup is a major contributor to why USans are so *(%$ fat.
• Alex is right. It's our culture. For example, there's a TV commericial that airs about every 20 minutes for Taco Bell. In it, people scream out joyously "I'm full!" after they eat at said restaurant. Taco Bell is just perpetuating the notion that you have to stuff yourself at every meal.
• Alex, are you sure it wasn't a Harper's article?
• NTI, I saw that ad as some way of admitting that their food was normally cruddy and unsatisfying... but it works either way. ...and HFCS? yeah. It's scary. I still wish we would run our cars on the damn stuff and stop eating it all, but there's not much chance of that. Or at the very least, find some healthful way to use all that freakin' corn; it IS a vegetable originally. Technically. But the thing is, US culture overdoes everything. There is nothing in moderation. Basically...ever. It's overdone, or it's not done at all. Overdoing things probably helped when we (well, not MY ancestors, but somebody's) were trying to survive the prairie winters or suchlike, but it's not all that adaptive when resources are adequate. It's a double-edged butter knife. Never doing anything in moderation is probably what I'd blame, faster than HFCS or laziness or anything else you want to throw. Seriously.
• That article made me both hungry and horny. Now I don't know what to do.
• admitting that their food was normally cruddy and unsatisfying Yeah, I can definitely see that. Especially the "unsatisfying" part. But I must confess that I love Taco Bell, despite their ads.
• France also has a culture of walking. And smoking, as musingmelpomene points out. And really, drinking wine with evey meal after 10am will do wonders to extend your meal times. So eat real food, but also sip wine and smoke, and stumble back to work.
• Actually, yen, that is damn close to my consumption habits. And it takes quite an effort for me to gain weight. You might be on to something here. Maybe call it The South Bistro Diet? Sorry...
• Don't ignore labor laws that prevent a majority of people from getting fired from their jobs in France. One interesting example of contrast, is where Burger King was losing a lot of money around the world, and so their strategy was to lay off workers in the US. They couldn't do the same in Europe because of the regulations that prevent quick firings. Thus, even more BK workers in the US were laid off. I'm not saying this is either good or bad, but just observing that there is a lot less pressure to raise worker productivity by enforcing shorter lunches or breaks. And France is very easygoing in comparison with the US. Personally speaking, the Calvinist attitude to work in the US might contribute a lot to stress on the mind and body. We don't value free time in this country. We don't value eating good food (healthy or otherwise). We don't value ourselves very well. I mean, just look at who we voted into power, right?
• I (French) agree with many things in this article. Eating is a social event in France and we do take our time - I remember meals at my grandparents' where we would start at 1200 then have lunch till 1500-1600, slowly do the washing-up, have coffee and biscuits and start again for supper. And that was just great ! I'm living in England now but have sandwichs for lunch only very occasionaly. I did try (when in Rome...) but I couldn't stand it and had to stop after a few days. Sandwich is simply not a proper meal. I need to sit down and have a plate in front of me. Also, we don't have a snack culture. I can't believe the number of people here eating crisps all day long. That can't be healthy. Don't get me wrong: I love England and English people but it's just that food doesn't seem to be their thing. I know they can appreciate a good meal every now and again but I'm thinking of everyday food here.
• I lived in England for 9 months in 1991-92, and have to agree that the food is bad. But that's okay, because the beer makes up for it. Plus you can get excellent Indian food just about everywhere. I do miss the sausages and beans for breakfast, though.
• Oh, I'd kill for one of their quesadillas every now and then. But then I drink soda and have terrible taste in music, so I don't claim to be any arbiter of taste and I am getting off topic. ...oh right, and walking. Another good point. Not that it's hard-core crosstraining exercise, but it is a constant level of something.
• this guy says I just have to drink green tea instead of coffee in the morning and I'll lose weight. What do the french have to say to that?
• My French friend says most of the coffee in Canada tastes like dishwashing water. He likes really good café au lait. But then, he's not exactly thin. Come to think of it, amongst the French people I know, thinness isn't the norm. Having decent mass transit and intercity trains has a lot to do with a walking culture, both as cause and causation. That and very dense population: New Yorkers walk a lot too. Also, my understanding of French agriculture is that it's still dominated by small family-owned farms, and that it helps promote a sense of pride in it. I think that most of the land in the UK is owned by a few, so it's all leased or industrial. And the US is already dominated by industrial farming.
• And I've been hearing for years that the best exercise program is the one you keep up with, however small it is.
• el_hombre: It's the binge drinking, which seems to be common to most Anglo-Saxon counties. A couple of glasses of wine a day - quite a high consumption of alcholol overall - does far less damage to your system than a forthnightly binge of half the equivalent in one night. Richer: Depends. The pattern I noticed amongst French New Caledonians, for example, was stunningly trim women (30 something, three kids in tow, body of an 18 year old not being atypical), with chubby husbands. Paris was more of a mix, but I simply didn't see anyone as grossly obese as I did in the UK (where I worked with two guys who had perfect, egg-like bodies with tiny little arms and legs. Their arms were like a T-Rex's). It does, though, come down to culture to a large extent. I've heard foreing women who've been in France talk about the social expectation of, eg maintaining a certain standard of dress and so on compared to places like Australia. One does not let oneself go. OTOH, if you're in places like, say, the US, suggesting morbid obesity is not good for you will get a bunch of people comparing you to the Klu Klux Klan.
• That article made me both hungry and horny. Now I don't know what to do. Edible underwear.
• Oh, on the actual real food: I'm always amazed at how many people I've run into on teh intarweb in the States consider it odd/unusual to cook for themselves. I generally eat at cafes for lunch, but very rarely eat out, and dinner is generally prepared almost from scratch (I can't be arsed making my own pasta), including stuff pulled out of the garden (yay for silverbeet). Finally, sports participation: Britain seems to have bugger all amongst adults. Lots of people follow sports, but very few seem to play as adults. I contract amongst programmers, testers, and the general apparatus of software development. The DBAs all run at lunchtime, and do marathons and triathalons for fun. People slip out at lunchtime for netball, volleyball, or indoor soccer. Lots of people keep playing rugby at club level into their 30s (and no, not "club rugby" in the English social grade sense - actual, competitive, win or get hurt rugby). I don't think anyone I worked with in Britian had played a sport since high school. Both places are IT shops for banks. The US seems to me to be much the same.
• Edible underwear. Secret history of edible panties technology.
• It pretty well is. Though I have to say there are two problems with slipping out for sports during lunch in the US. For one thing, I've never had a job that allowed me enough time, and it's probably the same for the vast majority of workers. Most jobs I've worked barely gave me enough time to eat and give my food a few minutes to digest. But secondly, even if I did have time to run out and play a quick pickup game, I don't know that I'd relish the idea of getting all skanked up and then having to put a dress shirt and tie back on. YMMV, of course.
• Edible underwear. No one in France needs the underpants.
• That weebls thing scarred me for life when I first saw it. I was so not prepared for that. Fresh food is definitely not the norm in the States. Though that depends on class/culture, too. I made an effort to cut way, way back on prepared/convenience food, and my family is still a little mystified at how I manage to do it. It's kind of scary that they think that way, in retrospect. Cooking something from scratch is common, but it's not an everyday thing. (stereotype watch: On the other hand, there are people who are 100% fresh-off-the-vine-vegan-cooked-two-minutes-ago-with-wooden-utensils purists, so it's not literally everyone.)
• mct: Well, the place I currently contract at has showers and stuff, an hour for lunch is normal, but no-one will mind if you take a little longer, so long as you make up the hours.
• Ah. Yeah, my wife had a good arrangement like that when she wrote for a fairly large daily paper. They had on-site gym facilities, showers, even aerobics and martial arts classes. I'm still struggling to find a job that actually requires the college degree I spent so much money on. Damn the man.
• In France, there's no culture of going out to get drunk. Partially true, although idealised. Plenty of going out to drink goes on.