I started following Karen Le Billon on Twitter before I even knew she had a book called, “French Kids Eat Everything”. Her tweets about kids’ eating habits and food info made her someone I was interested in and was like-minded in the idea of simple home-cooking not only for physical sustainability, but in teaching kids about food and cooking basics. Also, Karen and I are both Jamie Oliver, Food Revolution advocates.
Karen Le Billon is a Canadian-born author and teacher who is married to a Frenchman. Her book is a memoir about her experience living in her husband’s hometown, Brittany in France.
Quickly after moving to France, Karen learned how picky her girls were in their food choices versus French kids. Her book chronicles what she and her family have learned about the way the French eat in comparison to the way we eat in North America.
French Kids Eat Everything explores the differences in food education and upbringing in France versus our side of the world, as well as topic of ”taste training”; how to introduce new foods and flavors to your young ones. The book also dives into the school lunch system and all that we are NOT doing for our children. Did you know that French school-children only have 10 minutes for lunch? That’s 5 minutes less than our kids, yet the kids do not see not one frozen or prepackaged item! You’ll have to read the book to read about it! 
I also love that the book includes some great and simple French Recipes for Kids. To many, attempting to cook French food can sound so intimating and complex. But like so many other amazing cultural cooking, it is made with the simplest (and some of the cheapest) ingredients – just my style of cooking. Recipes like Lentil Apricot Soup, Gratin de Choufleur (Cauliflower Casserole), Zesty Orange Salad and Le Pommes au Four (Spiced Baked Apples), only sound like food you would find in a restaurant, much less for kids!
This book is entertaining, educational and will encourage and challenge you to stand up for real food and get cooking for your kids!
GIVEAWAY RULES: (2 BOOKS TO GIVEAWAY!!!)
Comment on this post about what you do to get your kids away from “kid food” and eat REAL food.
**Contest ends on Friday, 4/20/12 at 12:00 a.m. CST. Two winners will be randomly chosen and contacted on Saturday 4/21/12. Winner must leave email address.
If the chosen winner(s) does not respond, a new winner(s) will be chosen. *US RESIDENTS ONLY
*All photos are courtesy of KarenLeBillon.com
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Oh, I’d love this! For us, we try not to let our kids order from the kids menu when we go out to eat, and we prefer all kinds of restaurants- sushi, Chinese, places that do NOT have a kid menu! And sometimes if we do let them get a burger and fries, we’ll also order a fun appetizer for them to try. So often it becomes their new favorite food and is added to our staple to make at home!
I also love bringing them to the Farmer’s Market with me to pick out a veggie or fruit to eat. They always will!
Steph
Sounds like a good book except that I have one kid who eats everything and one who won’t even try new foods, so it isn’t always how they are raised.
Lisa ~ You won a copy of French Kids Eat Everthing!! Please check your email for details. Thank you so much for participating!
When our daughter turned 2 we shifted her bedtime a little later so we could all eat together. We sit down for family dinner every night. Myhusband and I prepare food from a wide range of cuisines. We give her the main dish and any sides if there are any (often we make on dish, like a casserole, that has veggies, protein and grain all together), and if there aren’t any we will find a couple things to give her as sides, like olives or peas. That way she gets to see us eating delicious healthy food, she gets to try it for herself without asking and she has other options if she doesn’t like the new food the first time around. We don’t allow any dinnertime requests. We have one stand-by option she can always have – rice cake with peanut butter. If she is truly hungry she will eat it happily. So if she really doesn’t like dinner or asks for snacks we offer her that. Usually she has a treat in mind and turns down the rice cake. But a few times she has eaten it.
I don’t have kids yet, but I used to be a French kids and I do eat everything
my parents always ate such wonderful foud and they always made me feel like I was missing out on amazing things if I didn’t partake… always picked my curiosity, make me want to eat the same thing they did…
Looking for ways to introduce new foods to my 2 yr old, and this book sounds like it could be just the thing.
Thanks Johanna
My son is pretty good about trying new things. Over the years we’ve come up with great names for foods that magically make them more likely to be eaten. For example, baked beans are now called ‘rocket beans’. I have no idea why but it works,lol.
I’d love to read this! I don’t offer alternate meals to my “picky eaters.” I figure if they’re hungry enough, they’ll eat it. At first I felt bad when they would hardly touch their food and go off to bed, but I don’t want to encourage unhealthy eating habits.
I am almost embarrassed at how well my kids eat. I just keep trying new dishes and my kids keep eating them! What does make a difference for us is that they only get a “treat” after supper if they finish what is on their plates. Even if they don’t care for something, they eat it so they can have that “reward” at the end of the meal…
I so want to read this, no matter how much we try with our 6yo at home there is always the (mostly junk) “Child’s Menu” lurking at restaurants that takes away from good healthy meals…
GJ ~ You won a copy of French Kids Eat Everthing!! Please check your email for details. Thank you so much for participating!
I’d love this book for my own interests! I’m not a mother (yet) but my parents used to do very clever things to get us to eat REAL food–and I couldn’t be MORE grateful today!
Example: My mother didn’t like to eat “cooked” carrots but WE had no idea. Why? she’d approach her own cooked carrots on her plate and look at us and say “who’s wants more cooked carrots?’; my sister and I would fight over it thinking they were a “treat” of some kind!
I am currently reading “Bringing Up Bebe” which is also about French parenting. It is so interesting to learn about the way French parents do things differently. I have a picky eater, so I could use some pointers on how to get her to try new things (short of making her sit there for 30 minutes before she tries something!)
To get my kids away from the “kid food” and to eat REAL food is simple, I don’t give the kid food. Don’t get me wrong, I do give in once or twice a month but only as a treat. However, even then I find them opting for healthier and better choices.
BTW, great article. I hope I win the book, if not I’m going to go out and get it..
I have a “five tries” rule. You have to try a food on five different occasions before saying you don’t like it. Maybe you like it better prepared one way versus another. Maybe it wasn’t prepared as well as it could have been. After five tries the taste is no longer “weird” and you can more accurately say whether or not you truly dislike it. Chances are it has grown on you and is no longer a big deal to just eat it.
Just don’t buy it. If it’s not around, then it’s not available for consumption. My son loves eating organic…and even asks for it at his grandparent’s houses. He’s also a label reader and is grossed out by unpronounceable ingredients. lol foodjustsayin at gmail dot com
This is not news to me, but I’d love to read the book anyway! My sister and I were raised in a home where our mom always said “Just taste it.” I have two sons and my sister has three kids. I’ve taught my boys that whatever is cooked for dinner is what they’re eating. Somehow my sister didn’t stick to this rule in her house and her kids are VERY picky eaters.