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French and Russian undergraduate student, trying my hand at the real world.

Saturday 30 March 2013

French Women Don't Get Fat, and other stories

Hello again, dorogiye chitateli (dear readers)

In England we certainly have a romanticised version of the French woman, as well as of the French lifestyle. We love France, as English people. The Guardian article I referenced in my previous post quotes a figure of 150,000 British expats, and the fact that the expatriate population tend to have a higher overall happiness level than the resident French themselves. Even this side of the channel, we cultivate a certain myth about the French lifestyle, where we purchase books entitled "French Women Don't Get Fat" and "French Children Don't Throw Food", in the hope of recreating a little slice of this fantastical lifestyle for ourselves. 

These publications are not even the most recent example of this - we can draw on the quite brilliant Rachel Khoo as our most current propagator of this French "myth". (I have a massive "girl-crush" on the lady, this is in no way a criticism). The fact is, her work is well constructed, she presents herself well and makes for a very credible TV personality as the girl next door. She is the well-brought up, articulate and intelligent one on the street whose wardrobe you wish you had, the one who, at school, maybe went to a redbrick and played the violin (stereotypes, but not bad ones).  But as Brits, we are a very receptive audience to this Parisienne mode de vie. Two to tango, or something like that. A concept only works if there is a market for it.

So then, French women. Here's one for you, there are actually some fat French women, but fewer of them. Culturally, they eat better, but in smaller quantities. French women eat cake. They eat big old cheese and ham baguettes at lunch with (god forbid) BUTTER in them. They know what they like and they eat it - but here's the thing- they don't supersize their portions or eat a whole bag of cookies in one sitting washed down by a MILKSHAKE. Self control, girls. Have that milkshake but don't over do it - save some for later - double the enjoyment, right? My female French flatmates are excellent examples of this - they have a croque monsieur for dinner and fry it for goodness' sake - but they stick to ONE, and STOP when they are full. The normal ones don't starve themselves or going on stupid diets (It's called the South Beach Fat Flush and all you drink is cranberry juice for 72 hours - Mean Girls).

What the French beanpoles do instead is chain smoke until their lungs are black and drink about a litre of coffee a day - both of which are appetite suppressants. I suspect this is in part deliberate, as there is a pressure to be thin here, more so than in the UK. This is perhaps where the stereotype comes from, as well as the lesser popularity of fast food (there's only one McDonald's here). But you know, I wouldn't fancy a madeleine (or six) either if all I could taste was tobacco and coffee. I like coffee, but I think smoking is one of the most stupid things you can do to yourself. Just sayin'. I'll take "squishy" over "terminal lung cancer" any day. I get looked at for not having beanpole proportions, though goodness knows I am not a big 'un. There are so many smokers here, it's quite scary. People do it so flippantly as if they didn't already have a smokers' cough, and half of them are only late adolescents. I'm not one of those militant anti-smokers who makes a point of coughing in affected fashion whenever someone lights up - those people are actually so annoying I'd start myself just to play games with them. (Don't worry - it's not worth the five minutes of enjoyment I'd get from it). I keep my opinions to myself (except on here, obviously). So yeah, society, stare at me for not being a size six and enjoy your cigarette - but you know that smoking causes irreversible premature ageing of the skin, right? And no, I don't have a light.


That turned a bit catty towards the end, sorry about that. You could say, and have a point, that I am bitter but frankly, I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Chocolate, anyone?





1 comment:

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