Report on French Inprofood workshops

Inprofood Report on 5 sessions at Espace Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, Paris, France Meriem Fresson, Charlotte Barrois de Sarigny and Matteo Merzagora

17/11/2013

Sommaire The workshops....................................................................................................................................3 The discussion ....................................................................................................................................3 The choice of cards .........................................................................................................................3 Other main discussions ...................................................................................................................5 Looks and the pressure of society................................................................................................5 Healthy eating.............................................................................................................................6 Sports and how the body works ..................................................................................................6 The labels....................................................................................................................................7 The policy positions ............................................................................................................................8 On position 1 ..................................................................................................................................8 On position 2 ..................................................................................................................................8 On position 3 ..................................................................................................................................8 On position 4 ..................................................................................................................................8 Comparing positions .......................................................................................................................9 Recommendations ..............................................................................................................................9 3 additional remarks on the game and discussion ............................................................................. 10 Annex A: List of topics discussed according to the students............................................................... 12 Annex B: Content of final sticky notes ............................................................................................... 13 Annex 3: Questions from the participants ......................................................................................... 14

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The workshops On the 10th and 11th of October 2013, during “Fête de la science” 2013, a national event, 5 Play Decide sessions organised by Traces were held at Espace des Sciences Pierre-Gilles de Gennes in Paris, France, using the French version of the Healthy diet and life style kit (“Une alimentation et un mode de vie sains”). A total of 90 high school students participated. Pictures are available at the following address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/groupe-traces/sets/72157636661160003 Workshops with groups 1A (16 students) and 1B (18 students), from the same class (lycée Louis Bascan, 78120 Rambouillet), were respectively facilitated by Charlotte Barrois de Sarigny and Matteo Merzagora.

Workshops with groups 2A (19 students) and 2B (20 students), from the same class (Lycée Lavoisier, 75005 Paris), and group 3 (Lycée Paul Éluard, 93210 Saint-Denis, 17 people) were facilitated by Charlotte Barrois de Sarigny. In each workshop, 3 tables of 5 to 7 students were formed.

In our communication for the workshop, we paid attention to include as wide a range of socioeconomical background of potential participants as possible: the groups which registered come indeed from various areas and live as well as study in very different environments, from the highly aware students of a high school set in the very center of Paris to the students of a much stigmatized area of the suburbs.

At the end of the entire set of cards rounds, we asked the groups to sum up what they had been discussing on a sheet of paper, in Annex A, you will find a translation of the content of these sheets.

Before leaving the room, the students were also asked to write on sticky notes and put on the white board whether they would have liked to talk some more about some of the subjects discussed during the workshops or about a topic that was not addressed during the workshop. The content of these sticky notes included both questions and recommendations that you will find in Annex B to this document.

The students were also asked if, during the discussion, they encountered questions that they did not have an answer to, which were written on a board and given to the teacher for further exploration during classroom time if they wanted to talk about the subject some more. The content is translated in Annex C.

The discussion The choice of cards After the introductive part setting the framework of the activity, the discussions started over the selection of cards within the first set, the “story” cards. The participants understood very well the concept of choosing a card either because they agreed, disagreed, or anyhow were interested by the viewpoint of this person. The most chosen card were n° 5 (Thomas Mansfield) and n° 10 (Anna Kelber), to which they strongly reacted, either by being very judgmental about the behavior of T.

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Mansfield or because, in some cases, they had a personal experience relating to the subject: one girl even burst into tears while talking about her grand-father who died due to diabetes.

Every card was chosen by someone, but the less picked was card n° 3 (Luisa Bateman). Nevertheless, some cards that were not chosen so often were discussed a lot while exploring the cards. This is for example the case of card n° 2: the participants did not understand the fact that the character did not eat meat, considering it sad, even though acknowledging the impact of farming on carbon footprint.

The cards were handed one set at a time, when everyone had finished choosing theirs and had gotten a chance to present/discuss it with the others. In the second set, the “info” green cards, the most chosen were n° 5 (Fun for change), n° 6 (Lower socio-economical class) and n° 15 (Disease and mortality). The “Fun for change” card sparked the interest of the participants, but they discussed the long term impact of examples like the piano steps: would people still take these stairs after getting used to it? Having in one of our groups people who felt they belonged to the said “Lower socioeconomical class”, coming from multicultural suburbs of Paris, they questioned the validity of the statement in card n° 6, comparing it to their everyday life: “people in my neighborhood don’t seem more fat to me, and we aren’t either”, they said. They also reacted to the fact that there were no Arabs or black people within the characters of the story cards.

Card n° 8 (Dietary recommendations) was not picked. The discussions showed more concern about the private companies’ publicity than interest for the simple messages devised by the government.

One girl was especially critical about this kind of easy to remember statements like “Manger Bouger” (“Eat, move”, the slogan of the French national campaign for healthy life), saying it was useless and changed nothing since most of the time it merely amounted to adding the tiniest line below exactly the same type of flyers promoting greasy and sugary food. She added that she once visited the website attached to this specific campaign (www.mangerbouger.fr) and that she found very little information on it about diets, what you should eat or not and nutrition.

Fas t f oo d an d bu r ge rs w er e l a rgel y dis cu s s ed

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In the third set, the “theme” blue cards, the most chosen (and the most discussed) was n° 2 (fast food). On this subject, they shared about their own behaviors, identifying that they were not eating fast food every day (maximum once a week was the trend) and associated it with being out in the town with friends as opposed to eating at home where the food seldom looks like a big fat burger, making you want to eat all the more this type of food for a change. They also opposed fast food to bio food, considering the price and attitude that goes with both, and wondered whether fast food chains put any anti-emetic products in their sandwiches.

Card n° 4 (counting calories) was not picked. This topic was still discussed since questions emerged about it in the first group (“Is it useful to count calories?”).

Other main discussions Looks and the pressure of society The discussion about fast food mentioned in the previous paragraph introduced the subject of the social component of food, renowned to be especially important in France. The participants stressed the good feelings associated with going out to eat with friends (they would eat anything as long as they are with friends) or to take your time, sharing a meal at home with your family: “food makes you happy!” seemed to be the consensus.

Besides people surrounding you, the influence of different living environments was discussed and rather awkward statements were uttered about peasants in the country being able to eat more healthily than people in the city because they were less busy. As they spent a good share of their days there, school was to no surprise one of the environments explored, from what is served in the canteen and the time available to eat to the content of vending machines. One of the groups mentioned that some cultures have a habit of eating more and with more sugar and grease, like people coming from Maghreb for example. Being skinny is also not perceived as positive.

On the contrary, the “tyranny of thinness” produced by marketing everywhere kept coming back, with some of the boys and girls disagreeing on the pressure that was put more strongly on girls to be thin. The influence of publicity was commented by giving examples such as watching an ad on TV directly leading one of them to enter the fast food restaurant that is just round the corner of her house. “Down with consumer society!” they would say.

The students coming from Paris were especially well informed and concerned about ecology and our individual and collective responsibilities. They discussed how being teenagers should not prevent them from reflecting about the world they live in. Questions on experiments on animals being different from breeding animals to eat, or agriculture choices, were raised as well as how access to food is divided in the world.

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“wom en i de al we all w an t to loo k li ke ” (s ee An n ex B ) A s tu d en t illu s t r atin g t he s kin n y i m ag e of wo men p res en te d in m a gazin es

Healthy eating As we have seen by the massive choice of info card n° 15 (Disease and mortality), they feel very concerned about the impact on health that some diets and lifestyles can have. They seemed to focus on what could happen later in their lives rather than now. A lot of them acknowledged the fact that they were not eating well and that fast greasy food was not something you could fight against when given a choice, but most of them were convinced that it would change, “someday”, when they would be responsible adults (although they did not mention how). One boy mentioned for example that his father was eating butter with Omega 3 preventing cholesterol.

As far as diseases are concerned, they had some questions about obesity, but almost even more about anorexia, an issue that was not really tackled by the cards, wondering what the causes can be and acknowledging the psychological factor in a lot of food related matters.

They talked a lot about what is normal behavior and what is extreme. One of their questions was for example on “How do you know you are healthy?”. They also discussed at length the character no longer eating meat and the teenager who doesn’t have any friends because she eats healthy and is thin: they didn’t really understand that she could really feel bad about it, they thought she was hypocritical.

Sports and how the body works Issues related to sports were very popular with boys, who asked numerous questions related to exercising: “are sports good or bad for the body?”, “does bodybuilding break growth and why?”, can one eat more when one does lots of sports? In the solutions they offered, they focused on this aspect, advising to create more opportunities to move since the struggle to eat less and better was a lost cause anyway due to too many temptations. Another funny suggestion was made based on the fact that buses tend to leave the very minute you are close to them: do they do it on purpose to make you run? Should it be made mandatory for every bus to drive away when someone arrives?

More globally, they were very curious about how the body works, asking about “the influence of sleep”, about the role of genetics: “what can be transmitted and what can’t?”, about morphologies 6

and differences from one person to the next (some girls testified they could eat fast food all the time without getting fat).

Smoking, alcohol and drugs were predictably major concerns of theirs, and they were wondering whether “quitting smoking makes you fat” or again if it had any consequences to combine them with sports. Even though they had lots of questions on sports, they had also found out information by themselves already and could also share their personal experiences: for example one of the boys had quit sports and seen his body change afterwards.

The labels Informative labels describing the content of packaged food were qualified as incomprehensible and voluntarily hidden. Amongst the questions that were raised that show this need for clearer explanations is this one: “What are carbohydrates?”.

O n e of th e s tu d en ts , mi min g how h id den t he in dic a tion s ar e below t he pa c ka gin g of f as t f oo d

They were interested in having more information on certain types of products, like chewing gums, sodas or energy drinks. They explained one another how the used-by dates worked, showing some of them knew about the different labels.

“Can all c he win g- gu m ha ve a lax a tiv e ef f ec t ? O n ly t he min t f lavo re d? ” Two s tu den ts ve rif y in g t he in f or m at ion av ail able on a c an of c he win g gu m

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The policy positions As could be expected considering the length of the workshop, the positions of the students did not change much before and after it. In the beginning, we asked them to raise their hand and the majority of them were in favor of policy n° 2 and 3. These results lean in favor of moderation and what one of them wrote makes for a good summary of their position: “the government should intervene, but not in a radical way”. The “afterwards” charts below show the same trend, a little less clearly in graph 3. When asked to choose a common position, they decided to go for the 2nd one.

Some of the participants wrote some comments on the position sheets in order to explain their choice. Here are these explanations, grouped by position.

On position 1 When they disagree with proposal 1 it is because “It is too radical”, they consider it “totalitarism”, saying “no to food dictatorship!”. They are “Ok for the portions for sale and the prices, but [think] one shouldn’t force people”. They like the fact that this proposition talks about publicity.

On position 2 When they disagree with proposal 2, it is considered “not acceptable, because this method has already been applied”.

They wrote about this proposition that there was a need to “also make people sensitive to undernourishment (anorexia, bulimia…) even if the number of people affected is less important”, “there are other problems than obesity that necessitate attention: bulimia, anorexia… OK for information and education and more infrastructures but psychologists are also needed.”

On position 3 Position 3 is qualified as “not enough involvement” from the government.

On position 4 When they agree with proposal 4 it is because: “It is up to us to decide about our choices of food or to go on a diet. One just needs to want it and/or to have the will.”

When they disagree with proposal 4 it is because “It is each individual’s responsibility”, “the government should guide society by using measures that do not harm individual freedom. Solidarity 8

is a fundamental value.” They recommend to “leave freedom of choices but there is a duty of the State to give at least a bit a sense of responsibility to people” and state that “it is not about freedom, but help”, another person from this group also states “everyone should have the choice to eat and live as he wishes but it does not mean that the government cannot support citizens to take care of themselves.” and again “the government can also help. [It not only relies on private responsibility] but also on everyday life”.

Comparing positions For several of them, the ideal position would be a mix between various positions. They explain in their comments that “Positions 2 and 3 are complementary. It is up to both the government and to citizens to play their part.”

“I think position 2 is the best solution but I still partially agree with proposition 4 because you cannot force people to do what they do not want to do. So I would mix propositions 2 and 4,” clarifies another.

“It’s a shame proposition 2 does not talk about publicity [like proposition 1]”, regrets a third student.

“The better option would be 3 but with infrastructures added, along with information and education,” states a final comment.

Recommendations 5 new propositions were elaborated, focusing on specific social contexts (school, workplace), on the money (reductions, fines), on youth (early childhood, students) and sports (an issue that we have seen earlier in this document that they are very interested in).

- The State should talk more about healthy food during early childhood in order to induce a good behavior related to food.

- Integrate in an employee's workday a time slot for him to be able to do some sport (33 hours a week + 2 hours of sport). [In France, a week of work is generally 35 hours] - Reductions for students on healthy products (salads, etc.). Students do not have enough money for healthy food.

- Fines for firms that waste food.

- Elections in high schools of members of parliament for food/school canteen.

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To which we can add a comment made on sticky notes: “The government should create a social assistance system in schools because anorexia, bulimia and obesity problems can be linked to psychological problems.”

3 additional remarks on the game and discussion The first remark is related to democracy: in some groups, the discussions were just as much on democracy as on food and health. It was interesting to see how the students adapted or bended the democratic process set by the game throughout the workshop. The most striking examples are the way they proceeded to votes among groups by raising their hands, how they took turns for speaking using a hat (the one who has the hat can speak), but also the way they not only used the yellow “guideline” card, but created a red card on top of it to prevent someone from speaking.

Secondly, we would like to point out the different roles that the adults undertook during the various workshops and the change of attitude it induced in teenagers. Three situations occurred: - the adult sat with the students and participated like any other player - the adult sat with the students and played the role of a second facilitator/teacher rephrasing or asking questions to the students - the adults formed a group of their own and played the game In the second type of situation, that occurred two times, this position of the accompanying adult had an impact on the participation of students who, instead of being more stimulated, were prevented from speaking with their peers openly and were very quiet. It especially showed when one of the 10

adults in this position had to leave early and left the group, that began a few minutes later to exchange passionately and came up with the highest number of new proposals on how to encourage a healthy diet and lifestyle. This is why in this setting, we would not recommend any scaffolding from the adults other than the facilitator of the workshop and that the role of the adult be set prior to the workshop during a short discussion with the adult(s).

Thirdly, a few random short interviews of students were done after the workshops. These interviews allowed pointing out a few additional points. Some on them thought the game was a bit long; they would have liked to couple it with some hands-on experiments, maybe to verify what is inside food and compare it with labels. They especially appreciated the story cards and would have liked to see more testimonies on humanitarian subjects, on “people dying from hunger in the world”. They liked getting to know better the other students of their class during the discussion and appreciated the opportunity “to ask themselves questions they don’t ask themselves everyday”.

To conclude, no new cards were written and we did not need to use the challenge cards. Indeed, the discussions started without need of further encouragements and, as shown in the set of pictures on the next page, were very rich and lively. Some more photos are available at the following address: http://www.flickr.com/photos/groupe-traces/sets/72157636661160003

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Annex A: List of topics discussed according to the students - obesity, food wasting, healthy food, food disorders, food dangers, influence of publicity - diet recommendations, bio food, kebab - malnutrition, publicity influence on customers, obesity, diseases linked to malnutrition, sports - down with consumer society!, transports, Mc Do is unhealthy, active or passive intervention of the State? no intervention?

- self esteem/other people judgment about weight, economical constraint, role of the State - information and care (cost, role of governments), ecology and food (wasting, environmental impact of food), food disorders (obesity, undernourishment, influence of publicity), social background/cost of healthy food.

- educating as soon as school starts - influence of media and friends on lifestyle and diet - the quality of food in canteens and insufficient time to eat, ruling on publicity, not enough sports in high school - role of government, parents responsibility, social class, wasting, badly divided food in the world, feminine ideal, over consuming of meat - liking to eat, the government should intervene but not in a radical way - rich/poor (lifestyle), GMOs, publicity, use-by date, influence of people around you, morphology - will to change your diet - diets and energetic needs, food habits, wasting food, obesity and undernourishment, fast food, bio food, economic and social role

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Annex B: Content of final sticky notes - women ideal we all want to look like - Does body building break growth and why?

- What are the effects of alcohol in moderation?

- Are energetic drinks bad for one’s health?

- Does smoking have other effects on weight?

- Is drinking alcohol and smoking bad for sports?

- Do you have fewer heart attacks if you make love a lot?

- Does Red bull(R) give you wings?

- The influence of life style, alcohol and drugs on health - The influence of sleep - Talking about alcohol and drugs (more information) - go more in depth about sports - The influence of television on diet and looks of adolescents.

- Obesity in France, how do you know if you are healthy (IMC, etc.)

- We have discussed more about obese persons than about other diseases linked with diet like anorexia or bulimia that are just as relevant - lack of will of certain people trying to go back to a healthy lifestyle - promoting sports. 2 hours of sports in school is not enough!

- different lifestyles: child/student/adult, country/city; future of food - rules already currently set by the State - use-by date, influence of canteens on obesity, tyranny of thinness - a bio fast-food, a bio kebab, is it possible?

- bad distribution of food in the World - the influence of psychology on our diet and life style - can we rectify our morphology or is it irreversible?

- genetic characters/criteria - the influence of publicity (x2)

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Annex 3: Questions from the participants

- Is it useful to count calories? (could ask a nutritionist, a doctor, a dietitian) - Does quitting smoking make you fat?

- Does eating soup make you grow up?

- Are blueberries really good for your eyesight?

- Are sports good or bad for your body?

- Genetics: what can be transmitted and what can’t?

- Understanding food packaging: what are carbohydrate, lipids, etc.?

- Can all chewing-gum have a laxative effect? Only the mint flavored?

- Why do cats have dandruff when they are fat?

- Are spots of any use?

- Types of morphologies (they say there are three?)

- Is the way you eat linked with genetics - What are the criteria for obesity (answer from one of the students: IMC >25) - Causes for bulimia and anorexia - Do socio-economical criteria play a role in bad food choices - GMOs or bio?

- Is there a connection between eating GMOs and obesity?

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