Food Culture Shock --- France

 Food Culture of France🍴

The French are known for their elegant approach to food. In their view, eating is not just about satisfying hunger, but about savoring life. I really admire this attitude, as it closely matches my own approach to eating.

French Lunch, From: https://www.obonparis.com/en/magazine/french-lifestyle-food

A typical French lunch is three courses and includes bread, wine and cheese, From: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-15/paris-france-travel-food-why-the-french-love-baguettes/101526656

French labor law traditionally forbids workers from having lunch at their workplace. 

From：https://www.sohu.com/a/706972799_121427924

This kind of food culture is quite different from what I’ve experienced. In my country, China, there’s no law saying you can't have lunch at your workplace. Most people either bring food from home, order delivery, or eat at the staff cafeterias that many big companies provide — which usually offer a wide range of tasty and affordable meals. 

Having lunch at work doesn’t mean people don't care about their meals; it’s just that, for most of us, we’re often too busy or focused on work to think much about where we should eat. Everyone’s just trying to stay fueled and ready for the busy day ahead.

Tencent staff canteen, From：https://izxxz.com/article/1240

Tencent staff canteen, From：https://izxxz.com/article/1240

From this perspective, officially incorporating the ban on having lunch at the workplace into the law has greatly helped protect workers' quality of life. After working a whole morning, people can temporarily detach from their tiring jobs, return to life, and truly experience living. It also better reflects the idea of work-life balance.

I believe this mainly stems from France’s advantageous position as a developed country. Surely, it is also closely tied to the French people's pursuit of quality of life.

In China, people need to work harder to make a living, and having a slow, leisurely lunch is somewhat of a luxury. To complete their work better and faster, workers often choose not to leave the workplace for lunch. Of course, this is just my personal opinion. :)

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Reference and links:

• I acknowledge the use of AI tool (ChatGPT) to polish the language, but the content is original
• https://www.obonparis.com/en/magazine/french-lifestyle-food
• https://izxxz.com/article/1240
• https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-15/paris-france-travel-food-why-the-french-love-baguettes/101526656