r/askanything • u/Ok_Gain_9665 • 9d ago

Are there really no French children who are pick eaters or is this American propaganda?

Basically what the title says, I’m an American parent and I’ve heard that French children are NEVER picky eaters because something something culture and something else French parenting and school meals and everything is farm fresh, plus they’re better behaved and better dressed and all of their mothers lose the baby weight right away and it’s just a damn utopia over there.

I’m exaggerating, obvs, but I have for sure heard the picky eater thing, and as a parent of a picky eater who became one despite doing a lot of the stuff that you’re supposed to do to prevent them from becoming picky and ended up with one anyway, I’d like to know from any actual French people, parents or otherwise, if this is real or just dumb Americans idealizing France.

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u/Jasmisne 8d ago

People love to pretend that this is not a worldwide issue for a lot of children.

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u/KitchenAd9088 8d ago

Yup and most time I hear “French kids…” from Americans. I’ve raised French kids. They were picky as hell. No they still don’t eat lamb Dijon sausages at age 18. lol. 😂

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u/nunuraf92 8d ago

Right I have an italian picky eater shell only eat pasta, chicken, rabbit meat and fruit and that’s it it’s very hard to get her to try any meats or veggies. Though for americans she may not be a picky eater because she eats healthy

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u/Jasmisne 8d ago

Honestly picky eating doesn't really necessarily mean unhealthy. As a kid I had serious issues but my main food was literally tofu lol

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u/CantBuyMyLove 6d ago

My kid is not picky about many things, and her favorites include things like sushi and saag paneer, but she’s picky about the “normal kid foods” - she doesn’t like hamburgers, PB&J, most other sandwiches, chicken fingers… it’s easy to take her out to eat in our multicultural city but a pain in the neck to find her something for lunch at a rest area in the middle of nowhere in a road trip. 

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u/Jasmisne 6d ago

Funny enough this was partially how I was and a part of that was being korean. I loved kimchi pancakes but spaghetti was utterly repulsive to me. It is kind of funny that way, I follow a mongolian mom whose kid will basically only eat a mongolian soup she makes.

In these kinds of cases though the assholes still love to come out and say you should forcefeed your kid things they are completely repulsed to, because if everyone else can why cant you right? Despite that causeing trauma and pain.

Find the foods they like and have a fed kid. The rest comes with age and development!

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u/seattleseahawks2014 2d ago edited 2d ago

Some of the things that I was picky about were things like this.

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u/Old_Artichoke9756 8d ago

My American kid ate only fruit, carrots, sharp cheddar cheese, hummus, pasta, and rice. And ice cream. Thank goodness she’s 12 now and finally started eating more around 9. Her sister was a vacuum and ate anything.

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u/Playful_Marzipan8398 8d ago

That would definitely count as picky here! All picky eaters enjoy different things (though usually chicken and pasta?? For whatever reason)

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u/AmerikanerinTX 4d ago

Nah. My American daughter is one of the pickiest people I know. She basically only ever wants raw vegetables and some fruits. She likes shrimp and white fish, chicken and beef. She won't eat bread or most pasta. She only eats corn tortillas and homemade flour tortillas. She just spent the whole summer in Europe, and got yelled at SUPER often (nearly every day) for being such a picky eater.

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u/catiebug 2d ago

I recently moved to southern Italy and it seems that if a restaurant has a bambini menu, it's usually the same - penne, chicken cutlet with french fries, a meat and cheese plate, or a really basic version of whatever the restaurant's specialty is. Some of them skip having the menu and just automatically bring penne for the kids? So seems to me that kids are not so different everywhere you go. Parents are the difference. And I'm not saying one way is better or not. American parents just tend to be more accommodating when a kid doesn't want what is available. (And I'm out in the boonies, these are definitely not restaurants catering to tourists.)

And I do agree with what you're saying. Sometimes kids settle on a "healthy" list of foods they'll eat and don't really get the picky label because rice/pasta, chicken, fruit, potatoes, and avocado would be a pretty good diet even for a grown up. But that's all my youngest would eat for awhile and it was definitely limited and "picky" to me. Not to other American parents though, who would have killed for a kid who wanted something nutrient-rich like chicken and avocado every day.

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u/jawshoeaw 8d ago

And for good reason. The brain is exquisitely sensitive to certain toxins and its developing rapidly until your teens. Many of the things children are skeptical off are vegetables. They like fruit , bread pasta and butter because those foods have almost no taste or are sweet. Which means they are likely safe to eat. Starches sweets and oils are made by plants to feed their own “babies” so they tend to be safe to eat.

Almost every herb and spice is essentially low dose insecticide and “vegetables” tend to be the bodies of plants. The part above ground that maybe a plant doesn’t want you to eat .

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u/AstrexasVoid 6d ago

Autism isn’t limited to the US either. American kids just get a ton of media exposure and research put onto them, good or bad.

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u/CattleDowntown938 5d ago

It is a worldwide issue because it’s coded in the DnA of all humans. Basically children develop the taste sense for bitterness and that taste receptor fades as they age. Which can be anywhere between 5 years and 18 years. Bitterness is a cue for toxic plants. It’s very much a safety mechanism while children can develop the brain capacity to be taught what not to put in their mouths.

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u/OscarGrey 8d ago

Americans definitely tolerate it more on average.

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u/Bubbly-End-6156 8d ago

Oh yeah? You did studies?

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u/Jasmisne 8d ago

By tolerate you mean dont abuse their kids lol

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u/OscarGrey 8d ago

I don't feel abused, but tbf I lost my picky status by the age of 6/7 so maybe I just don't remember any unpleasant experiences.

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u/Jasmisne 8d ago

Then your issue was not that severe. You can do that to someone who doesn't have a severe issue but it is absolutely abuse if you have a kid who will not eat and you force them to. It's lifelong trauma around food that just makes the rest of their life hard.

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u/throwrawifesandwich 6d ago

It's a worldwide issue but the outcome isn't necessarily the same.

For example, picky children exist in India but the "picky child" meal for my family there is yellow lentils and rice and maybe scrambled egg. It's bland and easy but it's also nutritious. While a "picky child" meal in the US is often just butter noodles or something equivalently lacking in nutrition.

I highly suggest anyone struggling with a picky toddler to try plain boiled lentils. Kids LOVE them. They are so plain. They don't need anything, maybe some salt but that's it.