Growing up in Sarnia I came to notice that there is a strong Italian presence.  I hung out with an Italian family quite a lot in my youth.  I came to see that their family was always over at their house and they were always making food. 

While in France I saw that the all stores close for 2 plus hours in the afternoon for lunch.  I’m not joking, its not just one or two mom and pop stores shutting their doors; large companies as well.  Strong emphasis is placed on food and eating it with family. 

Growing up in an English dwelling I experienced the same European principles of eating with the family.  Although my mom worked full time, she still managed to prepare evening meals.  As we became older and our families timetables became more cumbersome and all over, less and less time together was at the dinner table. 

Yet this isn’t the case in Europe I have found.  Most families eat together. 

So what is it then that differs from North American to European families?  I think it has a lot of to do with eventful schedules.  In Europe, you wouldn’t dream of saying “hey lets hang out at 6pm tonight.”  It’s a common fact that at 6pm – its dinner time.  No ifs ands or buts about it. 

My brother, sister and I were always very athletic in our youth.  We were always in some type of evening athletic program.  I came to notice that these activates always took place at dinner time.  This is very disruptive for parents when you’re trying to mach the potatoes for dinner and make sure your kids’ gym bag has the proper attire. 

This wouldn’t be the case in Europe.  In all the places I traveled to on my trip, I observed that children are not seen or heard in the evening until after dinner.                   

There is no law that prohibits activity at dinner time but it’s just a rule of thumb with everyone in Europe.  Just outside the apartment where I resided in the south of France there is this game played by all the locals.  Many people gather to partake or watch.  They play right up until this magical hour (dinner), everyone disperses and the game resumes a few hours later.  There is no bell and no clock; people just know.    

Eating is another rule of thumb.  Europeans (the French more so) stick their nose up at unhealthy eating.  While growing more popular in urban regions; fast food is seen as a disgusting replacement for dinner and unhealthy practice.  In my European trip alone (I covered more than 4000 kilometers) I found less fast food restaurants on the road than are in Sarnia alone.  That’s a sad statistic – but true.

Drive through is unheard of.  No one has “to go” cups.  The Europeans it appears have found this type of utopia in regards to food and consumption.  Food quality is another ball game all together.  The Europeans eat a lot and they demand proper servings!  Their healthy eating practices reflect the stature of everyone.  It was refreshing to see that there are still societies that have slender and vigorous citizens.          

Now we could argue that we as North Americans have more demands and that everything is so fast paced because we need to make more money and work more because everything is so expensive and that our standard of living is so much higher.  Not so.  The standard of living is very high in Europe; much more so than North America.  Europeans are heavily taxed. 

I just read a report stating the top 10 countries in regards to economy.  European countries took 5 of the 10 spots.  America ranked 4^th (1 spot behind France) and Canada 7^th. 

Europeans live a more laid back life; work less, spend more time eating quality food and hanging out with the family. 

North Americans I feel would be un-easy with this approach to life.  Although we complain about how we would like things to slow down, I think deep down we like the fast-paced, consumer based life we have created for ourselves.