Today I want to talk a bit about lunches, and look at Europeans, especially the people in places like France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and what their approach is to lunch meals. Then we’ll think about the United States and how they do things differently.
We’ll also think about our health. I’ve been thinking a lot about what can contribute to poor health, to aging, and to metabolic syndrome, and one of the biggest things is stress and eating too fast. I’ve been aware of that, so my husband and I are trying to eat more slowly, especially him – he’s prone to rush because he’s so focused on the work he has to do.
We’re blessed that most of the time, we can sit down as a family and eat together, because my husband works from home most days and our kids are homeschooled, although my oldest will be starting work soon, so we’ll see how that goes. Most of us sit down for the meal at lunchtime, and we try to eat as a family, but it’s still quite rushed because there’s lots to do before and after – lunch is in the middle of all our things.
It’s interesting to think about because I think that a much healthier approach to eating is the way the Europeans do it. I think it’s important to take time out for our meals and to really enjoy them. It’s good to let ourselves eat a good variety of food, to be aware of what we are eating, and to have good conversation and fellowship with others while we are eating. Then we can have good digestion, and we can take the nutrients in and absorb them.
It’s not just the food; it’s all about how we feel after the meal. We should be feeling satisfied, feeling energized, and feeling like we’ve had good conversation and connection with somebody. Those things are all linked, and they all contribute to our wellbeing. So, what do they do in places like France and Germany, et cetera?
Lunch is often a significant time for them, usually lasting for one to two hours. That seems crazy to me because I wonder how they fit everything in, but they obviously compensate with the times before and after that. I know that many businesses and schools in those countries close or have a pause between 12:00 and 2:00 to accommodate the lunch gap. The French value their lunches as a leisurely meal. It’s a time for social connection. It’s a time for relaxation. It’s a time to reset so that you don’t have that exhaustion in the afternoon because of not being properly nourished and refreshed. Instead, you’ve had a break, and you’re ready for the afternoon’s work.
In the USA and many other places, like here in South Africa, lunch lasts for thirty minutes, and it’s often not even eaten at the table. It’s just a quick bite to eat at the desk – a sandwich or a lunchbox. While they’re on the computer, people barely even stop to have lunch. They’re convenience driven and they eat quickly. When they’re in corporate settings, they’ll eat things like fast food sandwiches or takeout, and there won’t really be any fresh ingredients. There’ll barely be hot food, and there won’t be multi-course meals. Lunchtime is often seen as a functional break – it’s just something that has to be done, not something to be enjoyed and focused on.
In France, however, and often in Germany, lunch is a multi-course affair. Even on the weekdays, a typical lunch would include an appetizer, a main course, perhaps a dessert or a cheese platter, and coffee. The meals would also almost always be made of or include fresh ingredients, fresh from the market; high quality, nutritious food. They would be served in an elegant way.
It’s a social time, a time to connect with friends and other people at the table. It’s a time to really focus on being nourished and refreshed by home cooked meals. Sometimes the meals are cooked at the place people work by the company, but either way, it would always be something really high quality.
It’s the same at schools. We’ve talked about that before – how children at schools set aside the time for lunch. They sit at a table together with real cutlery and crockery, and they have their real three-course meal, including fish or meat, vegetables, cheese or yogurt, greens, and some kind of fruit dessert. These are really healthy things.
We’ve been led to believe that we need to eat fewer calories; to have less substance in our meals, but I think it’s more that we need to eat the right things. Eating those hearty meals with things like good cooked meat or fish, good vegetables or salady things, good fruit, and even dessert is so nourishing.
Because of the way it’s eaten, it’s twice as nourishing. We get so much more from food when we’re not in a hurry; when we’re relaxed, focused on the meal, and eating slowly. Our bodies know that it’s time to eat, to rest, to digest, and to enjoy the food. In Spain and some other places, they even have a siesta – a rest time after the meal for about half an hour to let the food digest. In France, they go for a walk. Walking helps with digestion and energy, and it’s really easy to start work again after that.
In Germany, they’ll often have warm dishes for lunch, especially in the colder months. This will be things like schnitzel, which is crumbed, fried meat, or sausages, potatoes, or stews, paired with bread or a side salad.
In France, they always have a baguette with the food. They also have some kind of simple starter, like a green salad, or crudités, which are raw vegetables with a dip. The dip will be something like hummus, an avocado dip, or a pâté like duck liver or chicken liver pâté .
Their main course could be something like Coq au Vin, which is chicken and a wine sauce, or it could be something like quiche or a stew. Sometimes they have grilled fish with roasted vegetables, or even pasta. They have sides like potatoes, rice, ratatouille, and green beans. For dessert, they might have a fresh fruit, some yogurt, a small pastry, or a crème brûlée as a treat now and then.
At restaurants or cafes, they’ll often have a daily set menu with two or three courses. They could have salade niçoise, which is tuna with eggs, olives, and vegetables, they could have a soup like leek soup, or they could have charcuterie, which is cured meats with fruit. Maybe there’d be beef bourguignon, which is beef stew, steak frites, which is steak and fries, et cetera. Then there’d be a chocolate mousse dessert or a cheese plate.
For lighter meals they have things like croque monsieur, which is a grilled ham and cheese sandwich with béchamel sauce on top. Maybe they’ll have a vegetable soup, or crepes with fillings like ham, cheese, et cetera. At workplaces like the canteen, there’ll often be prepared meals with things like roast chicken, fish, starch, vegetables, and a dessert like fruit or yogurt.
So, it’s all very well thinking about these things and being inspired by them, but it’s pretty hard, right? When we’re busy, then things are just “Go, go, go!” and there’s lots of work to be done. How on earth do they manage to do these things? I think a good way to see how looking at lunches from other countries can help or benefit us is to look at some ideas and principles, and then some practical tips, just to help us move a little bit in the direction of a healthy lunch.
What kind of principles are we going for? One important thing is finding a variety of food, and I think what helps is to do small courses somehow. It sounds more complicated, but I always find that in practice it’s less work, because we’re not trying to make one big, messy thing in a big casserole dish. Also with a casserole, a lot of it is just chopping.
So, if we think about variety, we should try to think of some kind of protein, some kind of vegetable starch, and a small dessert, fruit, or yogurt. Think fresh and simple. Think of some kind of fruit. You can have some kind of salad or a vegetable that’s easy to do, and some kind of protein. It doesn’t have to be a cooked protein. It could be tuna, or it could be some yogurt or something like that. Maybe it could even be shrimp in a cocktail. Remember to have small portions, and to eat mindfully – even if it’s quick, it should be thoughtful.
The best thing is to think in advance. Maybe have a page with four columns, and think what you can put under the headings “healthy starch”, “healthy protein”, “vegetable or salad”, and “small dessert or fruit”. Planning ahead is important. Like I’ve said before, batch preparation is really helpful. Maybe this would be things like chopping vegetables or fruit, cooking your grain in advance, roasting your proteins, or having your chicken ready in the fridge.
We just made some Greek grilled chicken yesterday. My son marinated it in herbs and olive oil and then cooked it on the grill. Then today, it was ready to warm just a little bit and eat with wraps. We added some cooked roasted red peppers and some haloumi cheese.
So, it’s useful to have pre-made components; things like boiled eggs, pre-washed greens, and sliced cucumber or carrot. Those are also quite quick to do at the last minute, though, if your kids get involved. There are a few dips you can buy if you can’t make them, like a feta dip or a hummus dip. You could make your own avocado dip quite quickly by just mashing an avocado and adding some seasonings – ask one of your kids to do that.
If we get used to the idea of not having to either have a whole big casserole meal, or just sandwiches for lunch – those are the two extremes – but we can use simple, healthy, fresh ingredients, then we’re halfway there. It’s great if your kids get used to each of them doing one of the things to prepare the meal – one kid chops a fruit, one kid does the salad or vegetable chopping or slicing, one kid helps you to prepare the protein, and another does the table setting. Of course, this depends on how many children you have.
A small salad or a small amount of mixed greens is very simple. You just buy a bag of mixed greens and add olive oil, balsamic, and a little salt. Also, as I said, you can do raw vegetable sticks or crudités with a dip. You can prepare those in advance.
Of course, all of this takes into account that you eat together, which I know is not always possible. It may be possible for homeschool families, although maybe dad will be out. It might be possible for him, though, to take some of these in a divided container to lunch, and then sit outside and eat them slowly.
So, your main course could be grilled chicken, tuna, or some kind of lentils. You could do some bread, pasta, or potatoes, although those are always nice hot. Then there’s also your berries, apples, or yogurts. Doing pre-portioned fruit cups is always helpful if you use berries. Pre-portioned cups of nuts are always nice.
Using something like rotisserie chicken can be really helpful because you don’t have to cook it; you just have to shred it at the time. Cheese is quick to chop, and it adds some good protein, some vitamin K2, and some healthy fat, and it helps to fill you up. It’s great to have a little portion or side dish of cheese, or you can have cheese and baguette, or cheese and some small crackers as part of your meal. You can even add a few olives on there.
If you’re going to be doing some small courses or some separated portions, then you don’t need to have as big of a main course. Anyway, often lunches are like that in a lunchbox – there’ll be a little bit of cheese, a few berries, and a little bit of bread or sandwich. If you’re at home, it’s nice to separate a meal like that into courses. If you aren’t at home, it’s nice to separate it in your lunchbox.
Even if you’re a mom at home, you’re struggling to get enough healthy food and the time to eat it, and you’ve got little ones at home, then how about packing your lunch boxes, including one for yourself, and then sitting outside under the trees? Then you each have your little box, and you specifically remember to eat nutritious food. You have the time – you’re sitting with your little ones outside. You have your berries, your cheese, your little portion of meat, maybe tuna or chicken mayonnaise salad. You have your dip and your crudités; they’re all there, and you can take your time eating them.
Somehow I find doing that helps me to eat more slowly and more intentionally. It’s very simple, and there’s not a lot of dishes. It’s kind of like a French picnic – kids can get excited about that. A salad would work well in that situation. So, you take ten or fifteen minutes to prepare together, using your lunchboxes that you’ve set out. Because we have less time, it’s kind of impossible to spend two hours on lunch, as far as I know anyway. I find being outside is a huge help because you enjoy the outdoors, and it somehow refreshes you in spite of anything else you do. Having that pre-pack meal helps you to sit down and enjoy it.
Sometimes we’ll have croissants with sliced ham and cheese, a few berries, and some carrots outside. There are lots of simple things you can have for lunch. It doesn’t have to be a fancy three course meal, but it should be something you enjoy, something that’s nutritious, and something that you can eat in a relaxed way. I really think that’s one of the biggest things – eating in a relaxed way, eating in a way so that you’re present, you’re enjoying the food, you’re with your family or your kids, and it’s a time of separation from chores and busyness and the rest of life. If nothing else, try to do it in a relaxed way when you’re not in a hurry.
Eating outdoors is a good thing, but even if it’s very hot, you can go sit in your lounge or your living room with your little lunch boxes. If you’re at the table, make it a little special. Put out a couple of different dishes for the different courses. First have your steamed broccoli together, and then have your fish that you grilled, perhaps with some rice, and then have some little cheese cubes and a slice of apple to end with – anything simple. As soon as you add little extras or extra courses, it rounds out the meal. It adds to the nutrition, and it helps you to slow down and enjoy the meal.
Presentation can be really helpful if it’s intentional. You don’t always have to do it, but somehow a small bowl or plate for each course is very helpful, especially if your dishwasher is working – ours isn’t at the moment. A nice cloth napkin or a pretty glass – those are very nice and helpful in helping you slow down and enjoy your meal like they do in French schools for lunch.
So, here are a few quick ideas. For the first course, you can have cucumber slices with a little salt, or a small green salad with a vinegarette. Then you can have a sandwich with ham and cheese or butter, with some cherry tomatoes on the side. For dessert, you can do sliced pear.
In a different meal, you could start with carrot sticks or baby carrots with hummus or tzatziki dip. After that, you could have a salad with feta or goat’s cheese, and some whole grain bread or baguette. The third course could be some yogurts with a little honey and some berries. That meal seems small, but somehow it fills you up, and it’s got good protein in the salad and in the yogurt.
You could do an appetizer of mixed greens, maybe with some radishes and salt, and then you could have store-bought or pre-made mini quiches with ham and mushroom. You just have to warm them up, and you could have some grapes and dark chocolate on the side.
Here are a few last things that might be helpful. It’s good to cut up your salad ingredients or crudités in advance. As I mentioned before, try to have things in the freezer like small quiches that you freeze in a plastic bag and bring out the morning of the day you want to eat them. You can have roasted veggies or grains in the fridge, or pre-portioned little desserts that you can have ready. Anything that you can make on the weekend, and quickly pop into some containers in the fridge or freezer, to just pull out and eat, is really helpful for lunches during the week. Bake some potatoes and keep them in the fridge for quick grabbing, because those tend to take a while to cook, and they’re healthy if you reheat them.
Sauces and vinaigrettes are always great. You can make a sauce to mix with shrimp for a shrimp cocktail using mainly mayonnaise, with a couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce, and a little bit of lemon juice and salt. That’s a delicious one to have over potato and tuna, or over shrimp cocktail.
The main thing to do is to be aware that we want to slow down and enjoy lunch. We don’t want it to be rushed. We want to help our bodies to absorb what we are eating. We want to have highly nutritious food, and we want to have a good variety of simple things so that it’s not boring, but it’s a good variety of nutrients, it takes us a while to eat, and it’s really simple. There shouldn’t be too much preparation in advance, and not too many dishes afterwards. Happy planning, chopping, and cooking! Also, don’t be overwhelmed. Just try and make small changes one at a time, or try little things that inspire you.
