Golden Arches en Francaise

We're in Belleville France, to taste at Georges DuBoeuf tomorrow (Beaujolais, which I always called "Bow-jhue-lay" until I heard a French speaker or two call it "Boo-jhue-lay"). It is Sunday and also national election day, so every cafe, brasserie, restaurant, and grocery store is closed. No, we did NOT eat at McDonalds, but I did saunter over to check out the menu. The lot (at 8:45pm) was chock full of cars, and the place was packed with maybe eight cars waiting for the drive through.

Inside, some sample menu items included (I have translated the omnipresent high French prices to USD for convenience): a Big Mac for about $6.50; a Big Mac combo meal for about $10; a kiwi on a stick (peeled and pierced with a corn dog-style stick) for just 0.60E.

It has happened. The U.S. has truly succeeded in tricking the most culinarily-advanced nation on Earth into gorging itself on food that has been so tricked out with addictive additives (to build customer loyalty) and non-food (to keep prices low and profits high) and useless calories (because management doesn't care about the health of its customers) that the French waistline is expanding.

Except for that kiwi on a stick. That is pretty cool.