Feeding the future of France: Rollout of €1 meals an attempt to help struggling students

Where in France can you get a nutritious and balanced three-course meal for €1? If you are one of the country’s estimated 3 million students in higher education, the answer is: the university restaurant or cafe. This month, after a survey showed that almost half the student population were skipping meals because they could not afford to eat, the French government announced that €1 meals, previously means-tested and limited to students with scholarships, would be extended to all. At the Université Paris Dauphine restaurant last week, students were loading their lunch trays with food from one of half a dozen counters. For €1 (86p) they can choose from a selection of starters, a vegetarian, meat or fish main course with potato and vegetable sides and fruit, yoghurt, cheese or a pastry to follow. On most term days they can also serve themselves from a salad bar or pick a pizza – or both. Extra dishes are 55c; coffee 60c. It is canteen food and unlikely to win any Michelin stars, but the dishes are varied, tasty and copious. Farid Rouba, the chef, said his restaurant at Dauphine University was rated 9/10 in a recent questionnaire by students. Photograph: Ed Alcock/The Guardian Farid Rouba, the chef who oversees the Dauphine university kitchen, said most dishes were produced in-house and made up of a healthy balance of locally sourced products, many of which are organic. Students have given his menus the thumbs up, he said. “They gave us 9/10 in a recent questionnaire. …