Having just read the best-selling French parenting book "Bringing up Bebe," I launched into a more focused examination of French gastronomie and its impact on their children's eating habits with "French Kids Eat Everything." Le Billon describes (in an admittedly much too long book) her daughters' remarkable transformation from typical North American picky eaters to enthusiasic mini gourmets after her family's move from Vancouver to Brittany. Le Billon translates most of what she learned from living in France into ten food rules, including no snacking, eating less processed food and strict parental authority over meal selection.

The author discovers however how difficult it can be to implement these rules upon her family's return to North America. For the French, eating is a way of life, a proud symbol of national culture, and educating a child to enjoy a diverse and healthy diet is a primary concern of both French parents and their central government. I found learning about the French way of life when it comes to diet to be the most fascinating part of this book. As an example of the cultural emphasis on healthy eating, the main meal of a child's day, for those attending the state-run cantines (day cares), is their impressive version of a school lunch - a multi course selection of freshly prepared local artistan cheeses, meats and fruits/veggies, sometimes even created by on-site school chefs. The French believe in a "democratization" of good eating that reaches all social classes in the country, but this worthy goal is not without its drawbacks, namely in terms of a lack of parental control and individual choices.

We live in a culture of increasing obesity rates, in which we celebrate with food, reward with food, and even punish with food - and making changes without an encompassing societal ethos to back parents up is a challenge. For example, I have tried to limit snacking only to find that my daughter's piano teacher rewarded her end-of-year class with cupcakes at 4:45 pm, just a half hour before our family dinner. My kids' preschool offers a daily mid morning snack, and it's nearly impossible to attend a playdate that doesn't involve a snack for the kids (to us, this is good manners on the part of the host). Despite the difficulties a typical American family would have fully adopting the French way of eating, this book remains a thought-provoking look at a society that has successfully assisted parents in raising healthy, happy and adventurous eaters - and an important rallying cry for our country to make some much-needed cultural changes.