Review of "French Kids Eat Everything" by Karen Le Billon

I stumbled upon this book while searching for a different book on Amazon and was drawn in straight away by the title, and then again by the reviews - so it went straight in my cart and I eagerly awaited it's arrival.  This book feels like the book I've been looking for, with information I've always wanted but didn't know it! I absolutely devoured every bit of it and could barely put it down. This book contained so many solutions and answers, things I had forgotten or done as a child and never realized the significance of, just so much - for me this book is a treasure.

I feel like after reading it I have gone through a shift for sure.  I've always been the kind of person that hates eating as it takes up precious time so my goal has always been just fill the gap and go, as fast as possible.  This book stopped me in my tracks and revolutionized my thinking and first of all made me wonder 'Why do I have this attitude to food when I have to eat three times a day?  Why shouldn't it be a relaxed, fun, social time that isn't stressful in the way that the French do it".

As a quick summary the book is about a Canadian married to a Frenchman who decided to move back to his family in a small village in France for a year.  It really contrasts the thinking of French vs Americans in relation to food and self discipline and really highlights the short fallings of the culture of 'snacking' that now pervades American culture and how damaging it really is.

She noticed fairly quickly how well French children eat without fuss and that they eat all sorts of things in comparison to her children and most others in North America who survive on pasta, pizza, crackers etc.  It was so interesting to hear her recount her experiences and what the French solutions were and see how they really worked and how it worked fairly quickly with her own children also.
I am excited about this book and hope it gets into the hands of every parent out there who can have an open mind to look critically at how things are and how they could be with not that much more effort.

The whole concept appeals to me so much and just feels like this is how it is supposed to be - we should all be sitting together eating and talking and sharing at the meal table each day - with no media - giving each other 100% attention, joking, laughing.  The table adorned with a tablecloth and food presented nicely to add to the 'appetite' of the experience.  I've started using a tablecloth and love it! Even my 2 year old gets excited when he sees me setting the table for meal times since I've been instituting a few of the changes as a result of reading the book.   It's also resulted in me trying to be more mindful in general in my lifestyle and I must say it feels good just to stop and relax and be in the moment at the dinner table. Eating standing is forbidden and I have been guilty of that most of my life - so this is my new standard and again it feels good.

For me this book is revolutionary and I really want to find out even more about this whole culture of eating and even more recipes.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and would highly recommend it!