Description

French Kids Eat Everything is a wonderfully wry account of how Karen Le Billon was able to alter her children’s deep-rooted, decidedly unhealthy North American eating habits while they were all living in France.

At once a memoir, a cookbook, a how-to handbook, and a delightful exploration of how the French manage to feed children without endless battles and struggles with pickiness, French Kids Eat Everything features recipes, practical tips, and ten easy-to-follow rules for raising happy and healthy young eaters—a sort of French Women Don’t Get Fat meets
Food Rules.

About the Author

Karen Bakker Le Billon is a professor at the University of British Columbia, and was named one of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 in 2011. A Rhodes Scholar with a Ph.D. from Oxford, she has published five academic books and Getting To Yum, a guide and cookbook on taste training for kids. She and her family divide their time between Canada and France. Her website was named a Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Blog of the Month.

Praise For…

“It takes a brave couple to move two picky–eater kids into a French small town and convert them to foodie omnivores. We have much to learn from European food traditions, and the contrast between French and North American school lunches is a striking example. A must–read for teachers and parents.” — Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University and author of What to Eat

“Humorous as well as instructive, this culinary adventure will change the lives of parents and children alike. . . . Karen Le Billon and her children learn that it’s okay to feel hungry between meals, turn to mindful eating, and learn the importance of enjoying one’s food.” — Patricia Wells, author of The Provence Cookbook

“This book is not only about how to teach children (and yourself) to eat well and happily for life, it’s a book about how to help build and maintain the foundations of any civilized society. I loved it. Essential reading, whether you have children or not.” — Laura Calder, author of Dinner Chez Moi and host of French Food at Home

“A wonderful—and important—book. One family’s topsy-turvy culinary transformation becomes an in-depth exploration of the habits that have kept French kids loving food (and eating spinach) for centuries.” — Elizabeth Bard, author of Lunch in Paris

“A fascinating and valuable read.” — Lynne Rossetto Kasper

“A breezy but practical volume for hurried parents looking to keep their kids well-fed. . . . [The] tone is straightforward, generous, and gentle. That Le Billon concludes with a small collection of kid-friendly recipes makes this foodie manifesto all the more accessible.” — Publishers Weekly

“Le Billon . . . strategically identified questions she faced while living abroad: Why were French kids tidier eaters? Why did they sit quietly at restaurants? Why did her daughter’s teacher suggest she see a therapist when she wanted to pack her school lunch?” — BonAppetit.com

“Portrays the stark contrast between French foodways— valuing communal meals, diverse foods and good taste— and Americans’ round-the-clock snacking and narrow, market-driven tastes…We now have the occasional course that lets us glimpse the soul nourishment that marks the French approach to food.” — Portland Press Herald