Les Francais, ils aiment McDonalds

Ah, French cuisine. Escargot. Crepes Suzettes. Big Mac and fries.

Call the French snooty, or just demanding, for their attention to good food, good wine, good atmosphere in their restaurants. But the French have a dirty little secret: Of all the people in Europe, they like McDonald's more than anyone else.

Pound for quarter-pound, they eat more of it, more often, than any other nationality on the continent, and the naysayers here who predicted the French would give up their beloved aged cheese before adopting the fried meat patties so often seen as emblematic of America's bad taste, have been proven as wrong as red wine with fish.

Yes, we ate at McDonald's a couple of times while in France last October (something we almost never do here). Sometimes you need a little taste of home, and sometimes you just need to eat cheaply (relatively, anyway - a Big Mac'll set you back over $3.50). We also ate lots of good French food, so don't get all indignant on me.

My theory for why the French love Mickey D's: The fries. Pommes frites are a common side dish over there, at least at the restaurants we visited, which included some pretty fancy ones. Ever have fries with veal medallions in a nice brown gravy? If there's one thing better than french fries, it's french fries with gravy. My arteries are hardening just thinking about it, but boy was it good.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on March 31, 2004 to Food, glorious food | TrackBack