Transcription :
 

• "Hello, Mathieu. How are you doing?"
   
• "Hi, Manon. Well, I'm doing great. And you, how are you?"
   
• "I'm good, I'm good, thank you. Thank you again for accepting to talk about the food habits of the French and especially for breaking some preconceived ideas, or confirming them, about French eating habits. So, just before that, can you introduce yourself so that the viewers and listeners know who you are and what you do?"
   
• "Thank you for the invitation. Well, I have a YouTube channel like you, but it's about nutrition. So, I've been running this YouTube channel for four years now. Basically, I help people who are experiencing chronic fatigue and burnout to modify their diet and improve their vitality, breaking free from the vicious cycle of chronic fatigue. I have a predominantly flexitarian approach, which means reducing animal products, especially meat, and opting for higher-quality products. I don't adhere to a specific diet. My focus is on promoting quality food and reducing meat consumption while choosing better-quality alternatives. Additionally, I have a naturopathic approach due to my training in natural health. Therefore, I bring a naturopathic perspective to the topic of nutrition."
   
• "Okay, that's going to be interesting because I believe many French people have diverse eating habits, with a diet that may be, how shall I put it, somewhat typical of France, and may not necessarily be good, or sometimes it can be. So, that's what we're going to explore together. I asked my subscribers about their preconceived notions regarding how the French eat. So, today, we'll discuss whether it's true, false, or a bit of both, as sometimes there is some truth to these preconceived ideas about the French. And the first one is about breakfast. Do the French really eat croissants every day?"
   
• "Well, when it comes to croissants, I would tend to say yes and no. Croissants are often consumed when dining out or during brunch, for example. However, it is true that the French breakfast is quite disastrous in the sense that it often consists of slices of white bread with jam and butter. In addition, in my approach where I talk a lot about neurotransmitters - which are responsible for transmitting information to neurons - diet plays a significant role in neurotransmitter function. The first thing I do when someone seeks my help is to modify their breakfast. It's about removing sugar, and considering that the typical French breakfast is sugar-laden - even bread is composed of slow sugars - we end up combining fast sugars with slow sugars. This results in a noticeable effect around 10 am: if you have breakfast at 8 am, by 10 am, your stomach starts rumbling and you're hungry." So, what I advocate is a savory breakfast: eggs, avocado, hummus, and similar foods. To have a better dopamine synthesis in the morning and also to have a better sense of satiety. So, no longer getting hungry quickly after breakfast. But yes, it's true that the French breakfast is quite disastrous." "And generally, when you look at people who have adopted a healthy diet, they have all modified their breakfast. Even if they don't switch to a savory breakfast, they try to make efforts by consuming plain yogurt, unsweetened muesli, things like oatmeal, things that are much less sugary and less disruptive to blood sugar levels.""
   
• "And yes, it's true, croissants every day, I think croissants are occasional in the sense that when you have your family with you, you buy some croissants, that's the little pleasure of the weekend. But it's true that I don't think we eat croissants every day - maybe some people do, but I don't think croissants are an everyday thing. However, it's true that we often have bread slices, baguette, butter, jam, Nutella, and also a lot of coffee, I think, which is sweet."
   
• "Coffee is very prevalent. Yeah, coffee, but it's true that we have this habit. We also know why Starbucks, for example, works so well in France, it's because the French love their coffee in the morning. And I think that's something I'm not sure about in other countries, whether people drink as much coffee, but in France, yes, coffee is a big thing. I've made many videos about coffee addiction to help people reduce or alternate with other beverages. And often, that's the problem because, in fact, we're talking about breakfast food, but there's also a beverage, so coffee, orange juice. And when a typical French person who wants to modify their diet, who wants to go towards a healthier diet, they ask themselves: what can I replace orange juice with? And often, it's complicated because sometimes you don't necessarily have to replace it, it's just a matter of going for something else. So, you shouldn't try to replace orange juice because maybe you'll replace it with tea. It's completely different in terms of taste, and sometimes you can't find alternatives."
   
• "The second misconception is that the French drink wine with every meal, even for breakfast."
   
• "Well, it's true that we are the country of wine. Moreover, I live in the Lyon region, so there's Beaujolais, there's Mâconnais, there's... Well, even people who live in the Southeast, towards Bordeaux..." It's more for a little joke, but no, we don't have alcohol for breakfast. However, alcohol is quite prevalent in France. I think there's a chronic, regular consumption that is quite common, even among the young and the older generations. I think it's easy to be caught up in this cultural aspect, alcohol, especially wine. Wine and beer are cultural beverages and, depending on the social circle we have, we can easily fall into chronic consumption without even realizing it. So, I imagine that in other countries, it's completely different, but alcohol is very, very prevalent. And since we consider it cultural, like, for example, croissants or other things, we tend to more easily minimize the health risks and say to ourselves: 'Well, it's not such a dangerous product.'"
   
• "I don't know if you saw, this morning, there was actually a, well, I can't remember who did this study, this survey, on the alcohol consumption of the French, showing that it's not decreasing, it's increasing, and I think they drink 2.7 glasses of alcohol per day. 
• Let's come back to bread, but is it true that the French always eat, eat too much bread and cheese?"
   
• "So, let's start with bread. I would say it really depends on the individuals. Well, it's true that in France, I noticed one thing, that when we don't have a bakery nearby, we quickly panic. We think: 'Oh my, what am I going to do?' So yeah, there's definitely something to it. But you know, sometimes in small villages where there's only a small PMU (bar-tabac) and a small café, and I know it can be an anxiety for some. But then, I would say, well, I'm not very objective because I have people who consume less gluten, who move towards a healthier diet, so they reduce bread a lot. But on the other hand, if I look at people in my circle who are not in that mindset, yes, bread is always present at every meal. Well, we know that if we have to, bread, and even at restaurants, it's the first thing we ask for. We often ask for it. Yes, that's it, it's an elementary rule when you go to a restaurant, they bring you water and bread right away. So bread, yes, it's quite prevalent. And precisely, it's also a health issue because it contains gluten. So gluten is not the best for digestive health and for people with many allergies, it can cause various allergies."
   
• "The second question is about cheese."
   
• "Ah yes, cheese. Well, that resonates with me a lot because I have many people who come to me and want to reduce animal products, often people who want to switch to a vegetarian or vegan diet, and they tell me the only thing they really can't stop is often, it's not meat because people can often quit meat, but it's cheese. And in fact, scientifically, it's proven, it's that when we eat cheese, well, it depends on certain types of cheese, but it activates the opioid receptors, meaning the morphine receptors, and that's what creates a huge addiction. Well, maybe not as intense as when taking heroin or very hard drugs, or even morphine, but it still has a little impact on those receptors. So that's why it's very addictive. And you, by the way, you can test it. For me, I drastically reduced cheese because if I eat it for one day, I'll crave it for a week. I noticed that after a week, that craving goes away."
   
• "The next misconception is that the food French people eat is always of high quality. We always eat organic, local products."
   
• "Well, I would say yes and no, once again. Let's start with a positive point, I think in France we have a lot of control over food. Even talking to people who have lived in the United States, for example, or even in other European countries, we realize that there is still a high quality of food. Even on foods considered as intensive agriculture, on fields that have been treated, etc., we see that compared to other countries, and even on many products like that, we have many more labels. We have the red label, for example, on animal products. We have organic labels. And there's also much stricter control. The FNSEA, the National Federation of Farmers, takes care of that. And on milk, for example, well all products, let's say, first or second category raw products, there are controls that are much more significant than in other countries. So we can be, even if we buy these products in supermarkets, in general, we can be... We can be sure. But it also depends on the choices we make. I would say if we make the effort to go, to get out of the cities, to go to local producers, to farmers' markets, there we will have excellent quality products. Truly, we are fortunate to quickly have excellent quality products directly from the farm."
   
• "Next, it's quite cliché, but still: That French people eat some strange things like snails, frogs, tripe, and horse meat."
   
• "Yeah, that's quite true. That's true. Well, I think it's cultural because we, in France, can have the image, for example, of the Chinese who also eat strange things. And in the end, when we compare, we say to ourselves: 'We also eat strange things.' Like you mentioned, snails, frog legs, tripe. The French are very fond of tripe. Well, I know I hate it, like many people, but I know it's still quite popular. And as you said, horse meat, there are a lot fewer horse butchers selling horse meat too. I think it also comes down to ethics. People are much more interested in animal suffering, and I think it has less impact today. But yeah, I think it's a misconception, and I think we're also proud of it, of eating strange things. Each region has its specialties."
   
• "Yes, here it's andouillette. But I've never eaten it because the smell is... hard, it's disgusting, but yes. Well, it's true that it's not something we eat every day. For example, snails are more of a Christmas, end-of-year thing to eat. Even frog legs, I think it's quite rare to eat them."
   
• "I would tend to say that those, precisely strange, things are usually rare products. So, they're things we eat on festive occasions. So, it happens: yes, we eat strange things, but not often."
   
• "The next misconception is that French cuisine includes cheese and butter everywhere."
   
• "Yeah, that's true. I have the same approach in my diet. I promote the reduction of dairy products, in particular. So, it's true that I help people replace everything that is creams, everything that is butter, with more plant-based alternatives. Well, I don't exclude those products, but the idea is to alternate a bit. And it's true that we have them everywhere. That's why it's better to make homemade products because otherwise we find them in pie crusts, in many products, we find them in meat-based dishes. As you said, sauces are often made with cream, things like that. So, yeah, that's something that is true. And for people who have lactose intolerance or digestion problems, it's complicated. Because if we find it really everywhere, when we're invited to friends' houses, it's inevitably that people cook with it, with cream, with butter.
• "The next misconception is that French people eat a lot according to the seasons. It's that French people eat, maybe more than other nationalities, but eat a lot according to the seasons."
   
• "You're going to say that we respect seasonality in our recipes, right?"
   
• "Yeah. So, we eat products that are available according to the seasons. In summer: melon, watermelon, and in winter, we'll rather turn to squash, apples, for example. So, French people maybe do respect that or naturally turn to seasonal products."
   
• "Yeah, I agree with that. I think it's because we have a lot of markets in France, which actually makes us aware, when we arrive, for example, in early April, we see that we start to have strawberries at the markets, we start to have zucchinis. And in fact, we realize that it changes. Whereas someone who exclusively shops in supermarkets will have the same products all year round and will be much more disconnected from that reality. I think social media also helps a lot. Because well, we can get inspired by recipes from many different countries, but if we look at French recipes, we can see that there's a respect for seasonality. But I think it really comes from the markets, the fact that we have a lot of markets in France and that the French really enjoy them. And then, the French love it, even when you go on vacation, all that, you always look for it, it's usually in the center of the village. You look for where the markets are, but that's the activity on Saturday morning or Sunday morning."
   
• "Yes, and it also allows you to discover the culture of the region or the country. For example, if you go to a market in the south of France, you'll find the specialties of the south of France. So, it's also great to get a glimpse of the culture. In supermarkets, well, you always find the same things, but in markets, you can find some more unique products from the region."
   
• "And so, the last question, it's not a misconception but it's about you. What's your opinion? What do you think of the French diet? What are the good aspects? What are the things they do well and what are the areas for improvement?"
   
• "I think we have a good overall diet, meaning that we can avoid excessive consumption. The big problem in all countries, I believe, is that we are influenced by the food industry and the products they offer us. So, if we do our grocery shopping in supermarkets all the time, we can quickly consume processed products and be attracted to product promotions. I see this a lot among young people, who have always been accustomed to large supermarkets and consuming processed products. Of course, it depends on people's mindset, but I think we are still fortunate. In terms of obesity, I see that it is increasing in France year after year. But, as I mentioned, I believe it's due to the presence of industrial products."
• On the areas that need improvement, I think we consume a lot of bread and carbohydrates in general. So, all those things you mentioned, like pastries, bread, and such, are foods that increase the glycemic index, are not very filling, and require us to eat them in large quantities to feel satisfied, which leads to weight gain. Alcohol is also a significant concern, and fortunately, initiatives like the 'Dry January' are helping to change attitudes. However, there is still a lot to be done in that regard. And since it's deeply ingrained in our culture, I don't think we will overcome it easily. I'm pessimistic about that, but I believe it will be very challenging."
   
• "Can you tell us where we can find you to follow your nutritional advice?"
   
• "Sure. You can find me on YouTube, 'Terrain Bien-être.' I make face-to-camera videos, conduct street interviews, and also do vlogs and interviews. I have different formats, and you can also find me on Instagram, where I occasionally share stories. It's also 'Terrain Bien-être' on Instagram."
   
• "I always encourage my students to seek out authentic French content that interests them for learning purposes. Micro-trottoirs, for example, are great for improving one's French and gaining a better understanding of how French people speak. It's quite interesting, and I think the topic of nutrition is something that interests everyone. So, I'll share your links for people to find you and follow your advice. See you soon, and have a great summer!"
   
• "Thank you, see you soon, and all the best for your channel."
   
• "Thank you, same to you. Bye!"