- PARIS -- Eric Cantona, the
former Manchester United soccer star, has made himself grotesquely overweight
to play the lead part in a new French film.
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- Although Cantona is playing a parody role in L'Outremangeur
(The Excessive Eater), the film deals with an issue of growing relevance
in France because obesity is rising, especially among children who prefer
junk food and snacks to traditional cuisine.
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- About 5.3m French people are obese, according to a June
survey conducted by the Sofres research agency and the national institute
of medical research and financed by Roche, the pharmaceutical company.
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- The number of obese children has tripled in the last
decade and some experts argue that, if the trend continues, 20 per cent
of France's population will be obese in 2020, in line with forecasts in
the US. Responding to the alarming trend, the French government plans to
publish early next year a food guide for children.
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- At the same time, McDonald's and other promoters of American-style
food have gained clout in France, despite the efforts of activists such
as Jose Bove, the moustachioed farmer who became a folk hero when he led
the demolition of a McDonald's restaurant four years ago.
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- "The French like the American model but they will
never admit it," says Christian Picart, founder and chairman of Buffalo
Grill, which is Europe's largest chain of steakhouses with 260 outlets
in France. "The French have ideals, but their main ideal is to look
after their wallet and go for the best quality at the lowest price."
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- Mr Picart, a straight-talking entrepreneur, says he is
"very indebted to America" because he learnt his trade while
working as a young man in San Francisco hotels and bars.
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- Last December, Buffalo Grill suffered a brutal earnings
slump when it was accused of violating the "mad cow" embargo
on British beef. But since then, and even though the investigation is continuing,
sales have gradually recovered and Buffalo Grill has even recently been
at the centre of takeover speculation.
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- McDonald's France, meanwhile, is the best performing
European subsidiary of the US food group in terms of operating income per
restaurant. McDonald's doesn't give a geographical earnings breakdown,
but Denis Hennequin, chief executive of McDonald's France, is adamant France
remains an engine of growth at a time when the group has cut back the pace
of expansion and lowered capital spending to $1.2bn from $2bn. France will
account for 10 per cent of McDonald's openings this year.
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- "It's not the French market which is telling us
to slow down but the new group targets in terms of capital expenditure,"
Mr Hennequin says.
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- McDonald's has managed to steer clear of price wars in
France thanks to its dominant position in the fast food market. But the
French subsidiary has also benefited by breaking ranks with group practices
to adapt to French tastes, working with companies such as Danone to include
dairy products in its menus, adding seating areas to create more of a French
restaurant environment and even running a media campaign stressing that
overindulgence can cause obesity.
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- Mr Hennequin says that the mad cow scare, coupled with
Jose Bove's criticism, "forced us to come out of the woods and become
much more transparent".
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- Peter Stearns, a professor of social history at George
Mason University in Virginia who has compared American and French eating
habits, says: "The French have long claimed to be the thinnest people
in the western world but something is changing. French eating traditions
have promoted slenderness by emphasising the meal as a time of quality
rather than quantity, but some elements of these traditions seem to be
eroding."
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- Prof Stearns says rising obesity isn't unique to France
and is caused by "increasing defiance of adult guidance by the young"
and "the grasp of international commercial capitalism". Others
see the problem as one of excessive choice.
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- "When I was a kid at boarding school, I ate what
was placed in front of me and the same happened at home," says Jean-Pierre
Poulain, a French sociologist who specialises on food. "Today, French
schools have a self-service system inherited from the US, which is good
because it promotes choice but bad because children simply have no idea
what they should eat."
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- © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2003.
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