“la parole exportée”

I dedicate this post to my American friend who said this: “I read that book. Ate lots of the leek soup she recommended. Hmm. Maybe you must be French for it to work. “

I’ve just read Mireille Guiliano’s best-seller, “French Women Don’t Get Fat.” I bought the French version of the book because I wanted a quick read. It is a delight, exquisitely written and full of sensible eating ideas.

A friend of mine got me onto this. She and I need to lose a few kilos, enough to boost our morale. So she bought her leeks and I bought my leeks. I haven’t seen or talked to her since, but with the book’s help, I’ve lost about 200 grammes in 2 weeks. The leek broth was delicious, by the way. The good thing about the book is that it encourages you to be in charge: eat less, more regularly, fresher food, one square of chocolate every other day, drink plenty of water.

So as a manifesto for food and healthy habits, the book is perfect.

Admittedly, there was something about it, a soft mantra that got me to google the author and then I knew: over and over in the press, on TV, “We French women do this”, “I as a French woman…”

photo credit: TanjaN1

Hmmm… in other words, we French women are so good at keeping fit and slim. The power of the myth. I understand that another book is being published and from what I read in an interview, we French women are always very well dressed and let me guess… we decorate our French houses with style and taste and our French table manners are impeccable.

One interview in particular left me speechless, and feeling terribly cheated:

“French women don’t have to discipline themselves about walking up the stairs or not having seconds at dinner. It is natural for them. It is part of their culture. They are not enforcing any special rules. So, developing and embracing a healthy lifestyle means developing good habits as part of your culture.”

Please, take me to that perfect country. I want to be that self-disciplined woman. Oh, but wait… I’m living in it right now, and I am a French woman!

Maybe I don’t deserve my citizenship: I am lazy sometimes, and I eat at McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. But I also eat at Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Indian and other restaurants. If there is an elevator anywhere, walking up the stairs doesn’t come naturally to me. I only take the stairs when the elevator is out of order, or if I make myself walk up the stairs, or if it is definitely quicker to take the stairs.

Not all French women are slim. I took a short break at a vacation center once, and was utterly shocked at the size of fairly young mothers in their swimsuits, revealing months and months of unhealthy eating habits. I was shocked only a couple of years ago to discover that I had a better shape (with very little, well, with no exercise) than many adolescent girls.

French women are diverse, like everywhere else. There are those who are overweight, those who are slim not by choice but because Nature was kinder on them, those who are lazy and those who can eat cakes and not put on one gramme.

Making it exclusively cultural is not fair. It’s not fair on the French, and it’s not fair on the foreigners. There is no such thing as a unified French culture, although there are generally-recognized traditions. Each social group has its culture, not everyone likes Champagne (I do!).

This entry was posted on Friday, March 14th, 2008 at 12:30 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.