Mireille Guiliano — of French Women Don’t Get Fat fame — has that lovely French accent that, when describing food, makes you dream of sitting on a sunny Parisian patio noshing on a baguette and stinky cheese while sipping a heaping glass of vin rouge.
Guiliano is at it again: Trying to get Americans and Canadians to slow down and enjoy their food. She’s just published The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook (Atria Books) and is currently on tour promoting it.
Metro caught up with her on the phone and asked her why French women don’t get fat.
“They cook,” was her short answer. The longer version is that the French have 300-plus years of gastronomy and rituals to guide them. A lot of it is not conscious, she says. “It comes from our mothers and the grandmothers.”
As she sees it, zipping back and forth between Manhattan and Paris, North Americans are fascinated but afraid of food, forever dieting and restricting. French women eat a wider variety of foods, but in small quantities, and make special time to cook and eat.
“To connect with food, you have to go to the market, feel it, taste it, smell it. Eat food that is local and seasonal. That’s the way we eat in France,” she says.
“You don’t need huge piles of food,” says Guiliano, who has written several books – this is the first cookbook — in the French Women Don’t Get Fat series. “Don’t eat in a hurry. The average American eats a meal in four to eight minutes. It takes 20 minutes for your brain to realize you are full,” she says. “If you eat fast, those are wasted calories. You gulp it down. You gain weight.”
It’s a bad habit, for instance, to eat lunch at your desk while multi-tasking. “Eat slowly. Chew. Put your fork down between bites. Use all your senses.” Guiliano has been on Oprah, Dateline and the Today Show spreading her message.
The French Women Don’t Get Fat Cookbook, with 150 recipes, reminds us to eat, laugh and share. Guiliano is particularly proud of the Miracle Leak Soup — good for detoxing and sure to shave off several pounds in one weekend. “Soup is filling and it is mostly water, so it’s very good for you.”
Above all, fear not.
“Cooking is an act of love, self-expression, nourishment, seduction, relaxation. It is a sexy like a kiss. A union between human beings, engaging all one’s senses. It’s like playing jazz; you can never cook the same dish twice. Cooking and sitting at the table is more than eating. It’s laughter, sharing, connecting. People have forgotten.”
