We’ve been hearing for years that in France the women are thinner, despite the croissants, buttery dishes and other saturated fats. A whole book entitled “French Women Don’t Get Fat,” explained that the ladies savour their food calmly, abstain from snacking, and eat small portions.

Alas, no more. Turns out that the American food McCulture has successfully rooted itself in the cradle of modern gastronomy. A recent study found that:

15.1 percent of France’s women are classed as clinically obese, while a further 26 percent are overweight.

The survey, conducted by TNS Sofres Healthcare and Swiss pharmaceuticals company Roche, also pointed to similar trends among the male population, with 13.9 percent of Frenchmen obese and 38.5 percent overweight.

The researchers largely blame the modern, urban lifestyle – sedentary jobs, little physical activity, and food everywhere.  On a consolatory note, Doctor Marie-Aline Charles, one of the researchers, said that other countries, especially the United States, were faring much worse:

We’re currently seeing in France the same levels of obesity as in the United States in the 1970s, so we’re about 40 years behind.”

In the US, adult obesity levels are over 30%, and another 30% are classified overweight.

What you need to know:

It’s not just France. Japan, China, Greece, and just about every country that has industrialized its food system is marching down the same, dare we say inevitable, path to obesity. At an age where convenience trumps all, the Big Mac, Coke, and Frozen TV Dinner are creating for the first time in history, more fat people that hungry people.

By the way, the term French Paradox is linked more specifically to the low rates of coronary disease in France compared to the US. In 1991, a study attributed this to drinking red wine. Overnight, sales of red wine skyrocketed in the US. Researchers think that resveratrol, an antioxidant found in red wine, may be the answer.

What to do at the supermarket:

You can try to reverse the trend in your family by going back in time to the day when people actually prepared and ate real food. But you’ll have to invest time and effort. Luckily there are countless resources both online and off that can help you master a few basic dishes in very little time.

Making homemade soup is a cinch, and so is a basic tomato pasta sauce. Even meat and potatoes don’t take more than 15 minutes of work once you’ve gotten the hang of it.

Buy more fruits, vegetables and staples and pull up your sleeves…

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Some eye-popping food-safety stats from the Economist:

1. There are 26,000 food poisoning cases per 100,000 Americans, every year!

2. Compare that to only 3,400 cases in the UK, and just 1,200 in France (about one tenth, and one twentieth, compared to the US).

3. Every year 76 million Americans become ill with food poisoning. That’s 25% chance each one of us will get sick this year.

4. Of those contracting some ailment, 325,000 end up in a hospital, while most others get over it in a day or 2.

5. However, five thousand Americans die every year from food poisoning.

6. Insufficient food safety is a $35 Billion drag on the US economy.

Why is the US a tenfold more dangerous place to eat than Europe?

Some of the reasons offered in the article are “less eating out, less prepared meals, and less hamburgers” in the UK, but the real reason may lie elsewhere.

This is because the top products involved in food poisoning are actually leafy greens and several other unprocessed foods consumed at home.

There is hope, both on the regulatory and the entrepreneurial fronts. The FDA may soon be empowered by Congress to perform more routine checkups on producers and packers. And companies like Yottamark and FoodLogiq are creating barcodes that enable consumers to trace the route of their spinach all the way back to the farm where it was originally grown.

What to do at the supermarket:

Always thoroughly wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly before serving. If you prepare meats often, invest in a food thermometer to make sure your cut gets hot enough at the center before serving.

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Cow’s milk is an amazing liquid with many compounds that can be processed into endless products such as butter, yogurt, and cheese. But how does milk become cheese? What is processed cheese? And what exactly do we get when we eat the very popular Kraft Singles?

Read our three part miniseries to learn more.

part 1 – Thirteen Cheese Facts [you are here]
part 2 – What is Processed Cheese?
part 3 – Inside the Label – Kraft Singles

Read more…

1. Mustard is made from the ground seeds of a mustard plant, water, vinegar, and optionally some flavorings and spices.

2. The Romans mixed unfermented grape juice, known as must, with ground mustard seeds (called sinapis) to make “burning must”, mustum ardens. That’s the source of the name “must ard”.

3. Cooking food with mustard dramatically decreases the condiment’s pungency.

4. Yellow mustard (a.k.a. regular mustard) is the most commonly used mustard in the US. The rest of the world calls it American mustard. It is a very mild mustard colored bright yellow due to the use of turmeric. It was introduced over 100 years ago in 1904 by George T. French who bet that Americans would prefer milder tasting mustard than what was available at the time.

5. Dijon mustard uses white wine in addition to vinegar. Although Dijon mustard originated in Dijon, France, there is no limitation on the use of “Dijon” for mustard manufactured in the US as well.

6. Honey mustard is simply a blend of mustard and honey, used as a sandwich topping, dip, marinade, or in salad dressings.

7. The Mustard Museum of Mount Horeb, Wisconsin features a collection of over 5,000 jars of mustard from all 50 states and 60 countries. National Mustard Day is celebrated annually at the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum on the first Saturday in August.

8. Per capita consumption of mustard in the US is about 12 oz. annually.

9. Mustard sales are $300 million annually. French’s is the top brand with a third of the market. Private labels are second with around 20%. Kraft’s Grey Poupon has 15% for third place.

10. French’s website aggressively encourages people to opt for mustard as the condiment of choice because mayonaisse is full of fat, and ketchup is full of sugar.

11. Grey Poupon became a popular mustard in the late 1970s and 1980s as American tastes broadened from the conventional American yellow mustards.

12. The ingredients of French’s Yellow Mustard, Classic -
Distilled Vinegar, Water, No. 1 Grade Mustard Seed, Salt, Contains Less than 2% of Turmeric, Paprika, Spice, Natural Flavor, Garlic Power.
We wonder what “Spice” and “Natural Flavors” are.

13. Nutrition-wise, a serving of mustard (1 teaspoon) has less than 20 calories, no sugar, no fat, and only 55mg of sodium.

14. Mustard may cause allergic reactions in some people. Since November 2005, products in the European Union must be labeled as such if they contain mustard.

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