As all secondary students who enjoy lunch in our cafeteria will know, we decided last year to make this space entirely free of electronic devices between the hours of 11:00 and 2:00, in large part because we believe there is nothing more important than their interaction with each other, that face-to-face dialogue which is crucial to the construction of identity, to the cultivation of empathy, to the building of democracy. Yet as one of our students remarked this past spring, planting the seed for the fascinating event which took place in our Cultural Center on Thursday evening, there is another compelling reason to put aside one’s telephone, tablet or computer over a meal: protecting the environment. Forgive me for being provocative, I remember asking, but what exactly is the link between getting together over lunch and respecting the planet? Friendship, she replied. When we share a meal, we pay more attention to our food. Et une bonne salade nous rapproche de la terre, is the wonderful phrase I recall her saying.*
La table-ronde sur le slow food avec, de gauche à droite: Sylvie Bigar, Chris Hunt, Sylvia Channing, Anthony Fassio et Chad Brauze. (Photo: M. Marteau)
Hence our organization, in honor of Earth Day and as the final 21st Century Global Citizenship Panel Discussion for 2014-15, of an exceptionally interesting conversation entitled: “Slow Food: Celebrating the Local to Build a Stronger Global” (see below for a video of the event). Seamlessly organized by Cultural Center Director Pascale Richard and expertly moderated by LFNY parent and acclaimed food writer Sylvie Bigar, this riveting discussion brought together four highly engaged and engaging speakers from the field of sustainable agriculture: Sylvia Channing, a master farmer from Suffolk County and manager of the “spiral curriculum garden” at the Ross School on Long Island; Chad Brauze, executive chef at the Manhattan restaurant, Rotisserie Georgette; Chris Hunt, director of the “Sustainable Table” program at the GRACE Communications Foundation; and Anthony Fassio, chair of the sustainable food organization, Slow Food NYC. Our main topic of discussion? How the growing, selling, preparing and eating of organic and local foods strengthens the ties people have with each other, as well as with the natural environment which matters so much to our lives.
To rebound on what one of our students, herself a deeply committed leader of the LFNY Environmental Task Force, told me after Thursday’s round table, being sensitive to and demanding about the food we eat is a very concrete way of supporting both human development and environmental protection. Or in the words of Carlo Petrini, founder of the global slow food movement, “agriculture isn’t just another sector of industry…it is the fruit of a holistic vision that takes in ‘sacredness of food’, respect for the environment, sociality, conviviality, and culture” (Terra Madre, p. xii). Such is our motivation at the Lycee Francais de New York: by nourishing our students with grass-fed beef, organic milk and other sustainable foods, and by encouraging them to take the time to savor their meals together, we are making a modest, but nonetheless important contribution to the global citizenship which lies at the heart of our educational mission. Thank you very much to our outstanding moderator, panelists and audience members for a memorable evening.
*English translation: “a good salad brings us closer to the earth.”
About the Author :
Sean Lynch was Head of School at the Lycée Français de New York from 2011 to 2018, after having spent 15 years at another French bilingual school outside of Paris: the Lycée International de St. Germain-en-Laye. Holding both French and American nationalities, educated in France (Sciences Po Paris) and the United States (Yale), and as the proud husband of a French-American spouse and father of two French-American daughters, Sean Lynch has spent his entire professional and personal life at the junction between the languages, cultures and educational systems of France and the United States. In addition to being passionate about education, he loves everything related to the mountains, particularly the Parc National du Mercantour.