The French Secret

Here’s another article about Mirelle Guiliano, this one from U.S.A. Today

When French-born Mireille Guiliano was walking through Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport a few weeks ago, she looked at all the people who were eating and tried to find some who were enjoying their food.What she observed were people gulping down hamburgers and fries while typing on their laptops, talking on their cell phones or reading the newspaper.

“I couldn’t see anyone eating with pleasure,” says Guiliano, 58, CEO of Clicquot Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Champagne Veuve Clicquot. “Food is one of the best pleasures in life. We should not eat like we’re robots or on autopilot. It’s not like eating. It’s like stuffing yourself.”

And that, she says, is the difference between the way the French and Americans view food. And it explains in part why Americans struggle more with their weight than the French do. Perhaps it’s time for the French women’s diet.

I don’t know about you, but I when I’m in the airport, I find that it’s awfully hard to locate a nice little bistro, one that serves a crusty baguette, a runny cheese and a glass of fine wine.

Nonetheless, I suspose that the point is well taken. Part of this french diet is built on the savoring of smaller portions of good quality food, rather than substituting quantity for quality as too many Americans already do.