I’ve been researching and writing about French school lunches since 2014, and if there’s one thing that’s clear after a decade of watching these cafeterias up close, it’s that they haven’t stood still for a moment. They were healthy back then. Today, they are even healthier — more sustainable, more organic, more local, and more intentional than ever.
Some of this shift comes from parents who expect better. Some comes from changes in agricultural policy and the wider availability of organic produce. And much of it comes from France’s deep cultural belief that good food isn’t a luxury — it’s necessary for wellbeing.
Let me show you how school lunches work today: the meal itself, the cafeteria setup, the new regulations, and the cultural values underneath it all.
A real lunch (and real recess)
In public elementary schools, the lunch break runs from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. At least forty minutes are spent seated at the table; the rest is recess outdoors. Children either eat the set menu in the cafeteria or go home for lunch — a deeply French rhythm that still surprises many non-French parents.
No packed lunches (except for medical exceptions).
No choices.
Just a single, balanced menu.
Two ways French school lunches are served
Read More: 5 Reasons French School Lunches Are Important (It’s Not The Food)
1. Table service (restaurant style)
In many schools, children walk into the cafeteria and sit at small tables already set with plates, silverware, cloth napkins, water pitchers, and fresh bread. First courses arrive at the table, followed by the main course served “family style” from a shared platter. Then cheese, then dessert.
The children stay seated; one student per table is allowed to get up to refill water or bread.
It often feels closer to a simple neighborhood restaurant than a school cafeteria.
2. Self-serve stations
In other schools, children move through three stations:
Starter: usually two vegetable-based choices (lentils, carrot salad, taboulé).
Main + side: served by staff who ask each child how hungry they are — to reduce waste — and gently encourage them to taste everything.
Cheese + dessert: often yogurt or fruit, sometimes a small baked treat.
When they finish eating, they head outside to play.
Across France’s 13 million students, around 75% eat school lunch at least once a week, and 60% eat four times a week or more.
A typical menu
- Starter: Lentil salad (homemade)
- Main dish: Crispy chicken
- Side: Broccoli and cauliflower (homemade, organic)
- Cheese: Goat cheese (locally sourced)
- Dessert: Praline tart, apples (organic), clementines
Most communes publish the weekly or monthly menus for French school lunches directly on their city’s website, often with notations for homemade dishes, organic ingredients, local products, and nutrition symbols. Parents know exactly what their children are eating — and the quality behind each item. This transparency is a quiet but important part of French food culture.
Read More: French Healthy Eating Habits: What I learned After 20+ Years Living in France
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SubscribeHow French school lunches are actually prepared
Menus for French school lunches are drafted at least a month ahead by the head chef or kitchen manager, then reviewed by a certified dietitian. A dessert might be swapped for fruit; carbohydrates or vegetables adjusted; sugar reduced — tiny changes that keep the balance right.
There are three ways to prepare food:
- On-site kitchens (the gold standard)
- Central kitchens serving several schools
- External catering companies like Sodexo, a French multinational that prepares meals in a central kitchen and delivers them fresh each day
In kitchens that cook on-site, staff often arrive before 7:00 a.m. Vegetables are chopped, soups started, salads assembled, main dishes prepped for the oven. Bread arrives daily from local bakeries.
Not every main dish is homemade, and I think it’s important to say that out loud. Many schools prepare a large share of meals from scratch — soups, salads, gratins, roasted meats — but others rely on ready-made components when staffing or budgets require it. The difference is that this isn’t hidden. Menus clearly indicate when a dish is fait maison (homemade), when items are organic, and when ingredients come from local producers.
Organic and local food: the EGalim era
Since the 2020–2021 school year, French school cafeterias have been reshaped by the EGalim law (Équilibre des Relations Commerciales dans le Secteur Agricole et Alimentaire). It’s a major piece of food policy designed to create a healthier and more sustainable food system — and it affects everything from what appears on the menu to where ingredients come from.
The law is built on three main pillars:
- Supporting farmers through fairer pricing
Ensuring that farmers are paid properly for what they produce, encouraging long-term contracts and stable, transparent pricing. - Improving the quality of food served in public institutions
Including schools, hospitals, and nursing homes — with higher nutritional standards and better ingredients. - Reducing waste and protecting the environment
Through responsible purchasing, seasonality, sustainability, and food-waste reduction.
In daily school life, these pillars translate into very concrete requirements. Cafeterias must now serve:
- at least 50% “quality and sustainable” products,
- including at least 20% organic foods.
One detail that often surprises non-French parents: almost all the meat served in French school lunches must come from France. It’s a national requirement, tied to food safety standards, animal welfare, and support for local farmers. Menus also label when meat is organic, Label Rouge, or sourced from a nearby farm — reflecting the transparency woven into the system.
This openness shows up everywhere: labels for homemade dishes, organic produce, sustainably sourced fish, and local ingredients. It’s part of how the EGalim law was designed — not just to improve food, but to make the sourcing visible to families.
Some communes have moved close to 100% organic and local — still the exception, but increasing every year. Others rely on “sustainably sourced” ingredients when geography makes local products harder to access.
The direction is unmistakable: cleaner food, clearer sourcing, better farming practices, and a school lunch system aligned with France’s broader environmental goals.
Vegetarian meals: now required
Since November 2019, every elementary school must serve at least one vegetarian meal per week. Many cities already did this long before the law: Bordeaux, Marseille, Strasbourg, and parts of Paris have been offering vegetarian or even vegan meals for years.
It’s partly environmental, partly cultural, and firmly aligned with France’s move toward sustainable eating.
Tackling food waste
Food waste is a national issue in France, and school cafeterias are a major part of the effort to fix it. Across public restaurants (which include school cantines), the average person wastes about 167 grams of food per meal — roughly a third of what’s served.
Thus, to address this, schools now measure food waste, publish reduction plans, and teach students about waste from an early age.
The legal framework behind this is the 2020 AGEC law (Loi Anti-Gaspillage pour une Économie Circulaire), which requires:
- a 50% reduction in food waste between 2015 and 2025,
- better management and donation of surplus food,
- and clear, measurable strategies in all public cafeterias.
In many rural communes, leftovers are composted and returned to nearby farmers — a small but meaningful example of circular food culture in practice.
Why French school lunches matter: the cultural heart of French food
French food culture isn’t about luxury or Michelin stars. It’s about simple, high-quality ingredients prepared with care. Thus, school lunches reflect this: the local apple, the homemade chocolate cake, the cheese from a farm one village away.
Fresh bread isn’t pretentious — it’s normal.
“Fait maison” (“homemade”) isn’t a marketing term — it’s an expectation.
When almost everything is fresh, children grow up with a palate shaped by real flavor. This is why a beet salad, a bowl of fish soup, or even moules-frites on a winter menu doesn’t shock anyone here.
And yes — French kids don’t eat everything. But they do eat most things.
Partly because the same vegetables are offered again and again.
Partly because the menu is fixed.
And partly because everyone around them is eating it too.
And finally because French parents rarely cook “kid food.” Children eat what adults eat.
Acceptance becomes normal when children are exposed to the same foods 10, 12, even 15 times.
What’s next for French school lunches?
The world admires French school lunches, but here in France, the conversation never stops. Parents, city councils, teachers, chefs, and nutrition professionals continuously push for improvement — for more gardens, more organic foods, more education around sustainability, more connection to the land.
The next step? Many hope for 100% organic and local menus, and long-term systems that eliminate food waste.
In summary, what children eat at school touches everything: education, health, farming, equality, culture, the environment, and the future we imagine for our kids.
It’s not just lunch.
It’s a reflection of what we value — in France and everywhere.
Read More: French School Lunch – Official Nutrition Guidelines Explained
Read More: How France Is Working to Eliminate Food Waste In School Cafeterias
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