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MP calls for veggie meals in all French schools

A French MP has started a petition calling for vegetarian meals to be introduced to all French school canteens.

MP calls for veggie meals in all French schools
The minister wants vegetarian options to be obligatory in all French schools. Photo: AFP

Yves Jégo, an MP for the centre-right Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI), on Friday launched the petition, which calls for “an obligatory vegetarian alternative in school canteens”, Le Figaro reported.

Jégo has also announced that he will be proposing a bill to this effect at the beginning of the French school term.

The day after his announcement, Cécile Duflot, an MP for the Green party and former Minister of Housing in the Ayrault government of the Hollande presidency, expressed her support for the petition. Duflot said that “an alternative vegetarian menu in canteens would be ideal” and said that she would happily give her support to such a bill should it be proposed.

Mayor Gilles Platret announced in March that pupils in his town of Chalon-sur-Saone near Dijon in eastern France would no longer be guaranteed a non-pork option at lunchtime from the start of the next school year in September.

The decision sparked outrage across France, including within his Republican party, led by former president Nicolas Sarkozy.

This isn’t the first time that vegetarian menus have been proposed in French schools.

Jégo thinks that the menu will allow “those who do not want meat or fish, for whatever reason, to feed themselves in a balanced way.”

He added: “There are many numerous culinary possibilities to ensure that the necessary dose of proteins for each meal is included in vegetarian menus which respect health, taste and family practices.”

By midday on Monday the petition had 11,652 signatures, just a few thousand short of its target of 15,000.

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FOOD AND DRINK

Cheese in numbers: France’s obsession with fromage

From cheese types to the amount eaten per year, via cheese favourites - here's a look at how France really feels about fromage.

Cheese in numbers: France’s obsession with fromage

March 27th is the Journée nationale du fromage in France – so here are a few facts about the delicious dairy delicacy.

246

Charles de Gaulle famously once asked of governing France: “How can anyone govern a country with 246 varieties of cheese?”.

His numbers were wrong. Producers in France make closer to 1,000 varieties of cheese – and some have estimated that figure could be pushed up as high as 1,600.

8

The number of cheese ‘families’ in France. A good cheeseboard in France is generally considered to consist of at least three ‘families’ – a soft cheese, a hard cheese and either a blue or a goat’s cheese. Remember, too, an odd number of fromages on a platter is better than an even number, according from cheese etiquettists

READ ALSO France Facts: There are eight cheese families in France

2.5

About how long – in years – it would take you to try every cheese made in France, if you tried a new variety every day. Life goals. 

95

The percentage of people in France who say they eat cheese at least once a week, spending seven percent of their weekly food bill on it.

READ ALSO Best Briehaviour: Your guide to French cheese etiquette

40

Two-fifths of French people say they eat cheese every day

57

The amount of cheese produced, in kilogrammes, in France every second, according to this website, which has a counter to show you how fast that really is. It’s estimated that 1.8 million tonnes of cheese are produced in France every year.

27

The French consume, on average, a whopping 27 kilogrammes of cheese per person per year.

READ ALSO Fonduegate: Why customer service is different in France

3

The three most popular cheeses in France, based on sales, are Emmental, Camembert, and Raclette – followed by mozzarella, goat’s cheese, Comté and Coulommiers.

63

Some 63 cheeses have been awarded the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée status, which means they can only be produced in a certain region.

1

France has – or at least soon will have – one dedicated cheese museum. 

READ ALSO Three things to know about the new Paris cheese museum

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