TC wrote:
> The French eat copious amounts of fresh dairy including full fat milk
> and cream and they have been shown to be thinner and healthier than the
> Americans gorging themsleves on low fat foods including low fat milk.

When I was in France, I liked the milk, but I was the only adult who
drank it. They thought I was a kook! Only the kids, who didn't drink
wine, drank milk.

(I was having so much fun and burning up so many calories toting grapes
through the mud all day, I drank both and didn't worry about putting on
weight.)

The milk they drank in their cafe au lait at breakfast was somewhat
cooked. I think it was skimmed milk. In fact, I think all the milk was
skimmed. It certainly wasn't homogenized.

Their cream is very different from ours: fresher, very slightly soured
(which gives it body), and without additives. They use it mainly for
sauces and desserts, but in moderation.

All our milk was local, and the cows grazed in pastures, I think. (It
was a long time ago, and I don't remember whether anybody actually told
me so.)

They do eat cheese, but not all that much. In fact, I got the
impression that they ate less than I did (when at home in America), but
they appreciated it much more.

At a typical meal, the people I was with might have a smidgen of Brie or
Camembert (sometimes with butter) on a piece of bread during the meal
(usually with the soup course), and perhaps a very small amount of hard
cheese with a piece of fruit at the end of the meal. (No between-meal
snacks.)

And the older people ate much less cheese (if any) than the younger,
more active ones. A local centenarian lady was living entirely on bread
and grapes, temporarily.

These are observations from living in the countryside on a wine-growing
chateau near Bordeaux in 1973. We didn't have any processed French
cheeses at all, though I know they exist. The most popular hard cheese
was "croute rouge", which I think means Gouda, imported from Holland.
(It wasn't as soft and fatty as the Gouda I find in American
supermarkets nowadays.)

Corrections cordially invited!

--
Marshall Price of Miami
Known to Yahoo as d021317c