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Over on The Morning News, The Food Section.com's Josh Friedland hosted a round-table of French food bloggers to discuss veracity of the new book, "French Women Don't Get Fat," and, ironically, Los Angeles was mentioned more than once to illustrate bad habits in the entire US.
One blogger, Requia Badr, said "We walk quite a lot compared maybe to some cities in the U.S. I remember the day I was walking on Third Street in Los Angeles and three different cars stopped and the drivers asked “What happened? Are you OK?” This couldn’t occur in France because we are accustomed to walking. If I take my own example, when I can avoid taking the bus or the metro I do it, and anyway, even taking the metro, we walk a lot from a line to another."
Well, it's true that Angelenos don't walk down sidewalks much, how does the same woman explain away the prevelant stereotype that Angelenos are gym-rats. They don't walk down sidewalks because they are too busy running to the gym.
When giving an anecdote about the large sizes of American food portions, Badr shared, "French women are able to enjoy wine, cheese, pastries, and chocolate, and they don’t get fat, but it’s mainly due to the fact that we eat and drink in small quantities.
I remember the last time I traveled to Los Angeles. We had a breakfast in a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard, and a friend ordered for us a French pastry (just to taste the French pastries cooked by an American chef), an almond croissant. I was really amazed by the size of the croissant and I was unable to finish it! I think in France, the same piece will be called a “GIANT” almond croissant!"
When did Angeleno pastries become representative of the entire pastry population of the United States?
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That story sounds completely made up to me. How would drivers stop on 3rd St.? It's impossible to stop and chat with people walking on the sidewalk there, the street is just too busy and there are always cars/valets/etc. on the side of the road. I smell BS
gym rats... how true is that!
The site is actually called The Morning News, not The Morning Report.
haha i was also wondering how anyone could stop on 3rd but who knows, it could be possible. anyway, i think los angeles is better off than a lot of other cities in the US. true we dont walk around (we are a sprawling metropolis after all) but angelenos are more health conscious then the article made it seem. ive met more vegans/vegetarians/"gym rats" then imaginable living here these past 3 years.
Two things about 3 drivers stopping to ask about her welfare:
1) Not credible... unless she's a size 3 and the people stopping were men.
2) Typical LA bashing. She probably doesn't use that anecdote to describe the overall compassion of Angelenos.
Obviously, LA is fat vegans, distance-mad commuters cocooned in cars and concerned so much about their fellow man to stop and ask -- but being LA, there are probably a half dozen just like that.
I'm not a size 3, but last night on the way to Cole's, two men stopped their cars to tell me it was too dangerous to walk downtown that late at night. One even followed me at a safe distance until I got to Cole's safely, then he went on his merry way. And when I first walked around my current neighborhood eight years ago, at least five people stopped to ask me if I was lost and needed help. This never would've happened when I lived on the westside. So maybe they meant Third Street in downtown Los Angeles, not Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica.