CITY FOCUS ❘ GRENOBLE


CITY FOCUS GREEN GRENOBLE As last year’s European Green Capital, Grenoble is at the forefront of the environmental movement in France – but could it be the country’s greenest city? Caroline Harrap fi nds out


Q


ueuing up for lunch in a school canteen in Grenoble, the scene looks much the same as anywhere else in France – but with one important difference. Here, the default setting for meals is vegetarian. Meat and fi sh are available, but pupils have to request that menu. This might not seem like much of a big deal


in more veggie-orientated countries, but in meat-mad France, this is game-changing stuff. What is more, the proportion of organic and/or locally-sourced products has increased to 60 per cent in the city’s schools – and 95 per cent in its crèches. “This year, seven per cent of the kids have chosen the vegetarian option – three times more than the national average,” says Grenoble’s mayor, Éric Piolle. And there is once or twice a week a vegetarian menu for every child, whatever menu they have chosen. This way, more than a half of the meals we serve are vegetarian. “It’s a big step for the health of our children because we eat too much meat, and for the climate, as meat production is the fi rst cause of climate change, and of course for animal welfare.”


34 ❘ FRANCE TODAY Jun/Jul 2023


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