Hannah Ridley
5 October 2015
Food in the United States for women is confusing. Am I allowed to eat a burger or should I just stick with my kale juice? And if I do decide to go for the burger, do I have to feel guilty and ashamed of myself after eating the burger? We are bombarded with diet plans, new diet foods or pills, and new workout proposals every time we turn on the television. As young girls in the United States, whether our mothers taught us consciously or not, we learned about calories and carbs and fats and scales. Our culture is obsessed with being skinny; our worth being measured by our weight. But what does it mean to grow up in France, where the stereotype is that French women do not get fat? This is the place where the entire world imagines French women as effortlessly chic, stylish and most of all—exceptionally thin. Is food as confusing for women in France as it is in America? Are young girls taught to fear food or to diet or to skip meals like their American counterparts?
This notion that French women don’t become fat seems true on the surface, especially based on my observations in Angers. Realistically, there must be some fat women in France, but I have yet to see one in public. But what does this type of pressure do to young women? In the BBC article “The Perils of Being Fat, Female and French,” Joanna Robertson explores what the stigma of being fat or just even a little overweight means in French culture, claiming that “most of the pressure French women feel to be thin comes from other French women and a society that has zero tolerance for fat” (Robertson). Sonia Feertchak, editor-in-chief of L’Encyclo des Filles, is quoted as saying that “some [women] will even starve themselves because… to be a fat female is to be a failure… [they] are seen as stupid” (Robertson). This attitude coupled with the notion that all French citizens continue to eat the traditional French cuisine is absurd. How can French women continue to drink red wine, eat baguettes, cheese, butter and foie gras but still must attempt to maintain the build of a prepubescent girl? According to Mireille Guiliano, the author of French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure, claims that the secret in achieving the slim and, often startlingly slim frame, of French women is simple—you can eat anything you want like bread, wine, cheese and chocolate but only in moderation and very slowly. Guiliano also states that the food should only be eaten if it is the highest caliber and quality. But, this leaves room for interpretation and extremism. Are you allowed to eat at McDonalds or even Starbucks if you are hungry or in hurry or should you just go hungry until five-star cuisine becomes available? This idea that the food should only be eaten if it is the highest quality also leaves room for excessive dieting or an extremely easy way to hide an eating disorder.
According to Kate Taylor in “French Women Do Too Get Fat,” anorexia and bulimia are typically seen as issues that plague America. But, the rates of eating disorders are “equally prevalent in France…[with] an estimated 1 percent to 3 percent are anorexic; 5 percent are bulimic; and 11 percent have compulsive eating behaviors” (Taylor). These statistics should be taken with some cynicism because I could find no official documentation of eating disorder rates in France. Either there are no eating disorders in France or there is a problem with eating disorders but there isn’t a dialogue about the problem. While there are no definitive statistics published by a credible source, the French government is attempting to manage and address eating disorders within the fashion industry, which is at least a start in the right direction. In a Times article “France Just Banned Ultra Thin Models” France has become the newest European country to ban models with a body mass index or BMI under eighteen. While this doesn’t necessarily address eating disorders in a direct manner, the French health minister claims “this is an important message to young women who see these models as an aesthetic example” (Stampler). While the ban on skinny models seems like a great idea in theory, in reality it hasn’t been implemented. Paris Fashion Week finished a few days ago and the models didn’t look any different in size and weight than they have in previous years. If the model aesthetic is what French and American aspire to resemble, then how does this ban on skinny models affect women’s diets and eating patterns? In the United States, eating disorder rates are relatively similar to the suspected statistics of France. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “1 in 5 women struggle with an eating disorder or disordered eating” (National Institute of Mental Health). Both countries have an obsession with being skinny, but differ in diet habits and type of food eaten.
Food in France is good. I mean really good. But, French food is high in fat and high calories. And, as I previously addressed, French women are really thin. With the exclusion of the extreme cases like eating disorders, how do the French women stay so thin? Culturally, the attitude towards food is different in France than it is in the United States. Taylor claims in “French Women Do Too Get Fat” that in the book French Women Don’t Get Fat: The Secret of Eating for Pleasure, Guiliano promotes “that women can trick themselves into experiencing what is actually self-denial as a kind of pleasure” (Taylor). This kind of denial is “something that the French generally value. They think of themselves as an old culture, skilled in the arts of irony, hypocrisy, and nuance” (Taylor). So, according to Guiliano, who is from France, French women have become masters at self-denial, and that translate into being thin by “the following of a golden mean, the avoidance of excess and extravagance” (The Food of France). The French have become masters at eating the delicious cuisine, but seem to have an intrinsic understanding of balance and moderation. While the French have mastered this balance, I still believe that notion that French don’t get fat is a false and harmful stereotype. According to the OCED, “about 1 in 10 people is obese in France and almost 40% are overweight” (Fit Not Fat: France Key Facts). And the rates are expected to keep rising. So the obesity rates are rising, but there is still the idea that French women don’t get fat and that people are still eating traditional French cuisine.
During my time in Angers, I have noticed that there are plenty of kebab and burger places, but very few traditional French restaurants. There are bakeries on every corner but they are filled with breads and rich pastries. Balance and moderation can only play so far into keeping French women thin and svelte, there has to be a component that American culture is missing in our search to be thin. While I have noticed that I tend to eat less here, which could be from a subconscious feeling of being ‘fat’ compared to French girls or that I am attempting to master the art of balance and moderation. I think that the desire for women to extremely thin in France affects portions and meal times as well. It is interesting that while the United States is obsessed with thinness, it has not affected our portion sizes and meal times. From my observations of Angers, I think smoking plays a large role in diet for females. Cigarettes can act as an appetite suppressant, which could also explain why nearly half the country smokes. From my perspective, French women don’t necessarily exercise either, which is completely opposite from the United States. So while balance and moderation do play a key into the French diet and French figure, I think that French women are taught from a young age the art of self-denial and the art to ‘diet’ while technically not being on a diet. Both cultures favor women who are thin, but our approaches in terms of a relationship with food are completely different; however, both breed disordered eating habits and a constant desire to lose weight. Food should be enjoyed, but the relationship that develops, especially in regards to women and food, doesn’t allow food to be enjoyed. It may seem like French women enjoy all the pastries and wine anyone could want, but smoking a pack of cigarettes and denying myself food when I’m hungry doesn’t seem like a good relationship with food either. Food and diet are a tricky and often confusing problem for women, especially across different cultures and customs. Women’s relationship with food is not often discussed, but can be observed.
Bibliography
“Adult Obesity Facts.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention, 21 Sept. 2015. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html>.
“Eating Disorder Statistics.” Eating Disorders Statistics. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/>.
“Eating Disorder Statistics.” Www.ndsu.edu. Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness, n.d. Web. 3 Oct. 2015. <https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/counseling/Eating_Disorder_Statistics.pdf>.
Guiliano, Mireille. French Women Don’t Get Fat. New York: Knopf, 2005. Print.
“Obesity and the Economics of Prevention: France Key Facts.” Www.oecd.org. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devleopment, n.d. Web. <http://www.oecd.org/els/health systems/obesityandtheeconomicsofpreventionfitnotfat-francekeyfacts.htm>.
“Preliminary Study of Eating Disorders among French Female Adolescents and Young Adults.” National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7833965>.
Robertson, Joanna. “The Perils of Being Fat, Female and French.” Www.bbc.com. BBC, 25 Dec. 2013. Web. 5 Oct. 2015. <http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25215641>
Root, Waverley. The Food of France. New York: Random House, 1958. Print.
Stampler, Laura. “France Just Banned Ultra-Thin Models.” Time. Time, 3 Apr. 2015. Web. 4 Oct. 2015. <http://time.com/3770696/france-banned-ultra-thin-models/>.
Taylor, Kate. “French Women Do Too Get Fat.” Www.slate.com. Slate, n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2015. <http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2005/02/french_women_do_too_get_fat.html>.