Liberty, equality, obesity

One of the joys of taking holidays in France used to be the chance to escape the rampant Americanisation engulfing the rest of the world. But while it is still possible to find French shops closed for lunch and people wilfully enjoying a cigarette, it is getting harder to avoid that classic sign of l'influence Americaine: the lard-arse.

According to official statistics, over 40 per cent of the French are now overweight. They still have some way to go before reaching our rate of 60-odd per cent overweight, but they're getting there. If current trends continue, by 2020 France will have the same rate of obesity as - quelle horreur - America.

Whatever happened to the pencil-thin Parisian women and the so-called French Paradox, which allowed them to scoff huge quantities of fatty food with no ill-effects? They still exist; it's just that both are being

American food culture is turning the French
into fatties, says
robert matthews

utterly undermined by the Americanisation of the French meal.

The reason why all those shops shut until at least 2.30pm was because neither their proprietors nor their customers believed anything was more important than taking time to savour the wonders of French food and wine. The concept of a lunch hour made no arithmetical sense, while the idea of wolfing down a sandwich while still at work was simply anathema.

But now that grand tradition is breaking down. Back in the eighties, studies showed that the French took around one-and-a-half hours over a meal; today it’s all over in barely 40 minutes. What they are eating is also changing. Home-cooked, fresh produce has given way to ready meals and takeaways. France is now home to the most profitable Macdonald's franchise on earth.

And the result can be seen

page 1 of 2