At an agricultural fair in the sleepy Brenne region of central France, the nation’s growing girth is all too vividly apparent. Wearing unforgiving sleeveless vests, men who have spent the day knocking back carafes of local beer with Anglophile gusto queue for burgers and chips.
Just as they near the front, a seemingly unanticipated high demand for American-style fast food forces the bustling burger stand to close early. Sitting on a nearby bench behind a tower of hay bales – the centrepiece of the Lignac agricultural fair – I can make out a collective groan as the vendor makes his unwelcome announcement.
Some return to their vintage tractors parked in the parched field behind, beating an early retreat before the fireworks finale. Presumably they are planning to raid the fridge when they get home.
Only a comparative trickle of attendees, many farm workers from the surrounding area, decide to switch allegiances to the local goats’ cheese producer at an adjoining stall, who still has plenty of traditional cinder-coated pyramids available. Burgers are overwhelmingly more popular, it would appear.
What I observe, from my perch next to a fairground cuddly toy claw, is a microcosm of what is developing across a country known for its adherence to a nutritious, nourishing and less fattening diet.
But according to the latest national study published in 2023, 47% of the French population is now considered overweight, with a disproportionate concentration in the less well-off and less urbanised areas.
Obesity has doubled in France during the last 25 years, with one in six adults – more than 8.5 million people – affected. In the case of 18- to 24-year-olds, since 1997 obesity rates have quadrupled.
Tellingly, a survey conducted by La Ligue nationale Contre l’Obésité concluded that 75% of the eight- to 17-year-olds regarded as obese are from disadvantaged backgrounds.
At the root of the unwelcome advance of excess weight among the younger generation, critics say, is an upheaval in the rigorously structured French meal pattern, in favour of high-calorie snacking.
Though food delivery apps are nothing like as prevalent as in the UK, habits have changed dramatically. During my visits to the boulangerie in Lignac this summer, I was the only customer on a bicycle. The majority pulled up in cars on the kerb outside.
As doctor Damien Mascret told the France 2 news channel in March this year during a debate on rising obesity: “We eat too much, but above all, we store too much because the body is malfunctioning. Increasingly, we don’t move enough because we are overweight and therefore the effort is more difficult.”
Meanwhile, a tour around the suburbs and industrial zones of any of France’s major cities reveals an abundance of fast-food chains that were barely on the scene a generation ago, not only imported giants such as KFC, but many new, homegrown options too.
McDonald’s has recently announced a massive expansion programme across the country. In March it said a further 50 restaurants would be added to the existing roster of 1,560 across France, enabling it to reach its declared aim of an outlet within 20 minutes of every home.
Mercifully, this dream is never likely to be fulfilled in Lignac due to its remoteness and tiny population, but at the agricultural fair, as at other local events I attended, the unstoppable march of burger frites is very much in evidence.
After the stock-car racing concludes in an adjoining dusty field, a group of burly lads take it in turns to pummel the fairground punch bag machine.
They are joined by several notably overweight boys, about 12 years old, wearing only shorts and trainers. It is a strikingly discordant spectacle, which provokes unsubtle remarks in the marquee, where attendees gather in the shade.
If I had been at a similar event in the US, I would not have looked twice, but in France this is novel. The children themselves are obviously not to blame; they are simply a reflection of a rapidly changing nation.
Although France still stands apart for its culinary culture, there is a worry that the next generation will be less interested in preserving the structures that have made its cuisine so world-renowned.
Tom Parry is an international freelance journalist
