LE PECQ, France (AP) – By removing meat from the school canteen menu, the environmental mayor of one of France’s most famous gastronomic cities has sparked a storm of protest and debate as the country increasingly questions environmental costs of your meaty diet habits.
Children in Lyon who were regularly offered options such as beef and chicken in rich sauces, missed their choice of meat this week when they returned from school holidays. Instead: a meatless four-course meal that Lyon City Council says will be quicker and easier to serve to children who, due to the coronavirus pandemic, should be kept separate during lunch to prevent infections .
The City Council insists that meatless meals are temporary and that school canteens will once again offer meat options when social distancing rules are relaxed and children once again have more time to delve deeper into their food and eating choices.
And meatless menus still contain animal protein. The main dishes planned for this week includes fish on Mondays and Fridays and eggs (whether omelettes or hard with cream sauce) the other days. Children also receive salad starters, dairy products (often cheese or yoghurt) and desserts.
Still, the peasants looked red. Some drove agricultural vehicles, cows and goats in protest Monday to Lyon, which is proudly fierce for its rich restaurant culture and its signature dishes, many of them meaty.
Protesters’ banners and banners extolled eating meat, proclaiming “meat from our fields = a healthy child” and “Stopping meat is a guarantee of weakness against future coronaviruses.”
Also speaking was the government’s Agriculture Minister, Julien Denormandie, who accused Lyon City Council of “putting ideology on our children’s dishes”. He and other critics argued that the measure would penalize children from poorer families who might not be able to eat meat outside of school.
“From a nutritional point of view, it is absurd to stop serving meat,” the minister told RTL radio on Tuesday. “From a social standpoint, it’s embarrassing.”
Although fueled by the quintessential French obsession with food and the country’s powerful agricultural lobby, the fury has also picked up strength and taken on a political tone due to France’s electoral calendar.
A wave of victories by green candidates, including the mayor of Lyon, in last year’s municipal elections he dealt a severe blow to the centrist party of French President Emmanuel Macron. Its success reflected growing concerns in France about the environmental damage caused by intensive agriculture and other ecological problems. With more local elections scheduled for later this year, the discussion on Lyon’s school meals offered a breakthrough in the wider political battles.
Lyon City Council said serving the same food to all children, instead of offering them the usual meat and meatless options, would shorten the time it took them to eat. The council said it only has two hours to feed 29,000 children, which is harder to maintain when classes have to be kept separate in the canteens to minimize virus infections. The City Council said it also opted for meatless meals because they are suitable for all children, including those who do not usually eat meat for religious, dietary or other reasons.
Mayor Gregory Doucet said he is a flexitarian, eats meat in reasonable amounts and does not try to force vegetarianism on children.
“Being able to offer seated hot food to all children is important,” he told BFM-TV. “This is Lyon, the capital of gastronomy. For us, taste is also essential. ”