LE GOLDEN ARCHES
Here's a question for you. Can you name which country outside the USA is the most profitable part of the McDonalds Empire? Mmmm...the United Kingdom maybe? No. How about Australia? Nope. Where oh where could it be? Well, we know where it couldn't be - France, that fine nation of epicurian experts who have done nothing but abuse the very concept of fast food a la the Big Mac. WRONG!! Yes - la belle France provides McDonalds with it's highest operating profit outside the Great Satan! Who'd have guessed that???
Ahem...that would be a Royale Avec Fromage, merci beaucoup!
Posted by: Emily | June 21, 2006 at 07:25 PM
Another illusion shattered :o(
Posted by: aileen | June 21, 2006 at 07:26 PM
So Colm - is or is that not a Bap ?
Posted by: Madradin Ruad | June 21, 2006 at 07:36 PM
Maybe the big macs are selling well in France. But in the UK they're closing stores and worldwide they're in retreat, I'm glad to say.
Junk food peddlars and destroyers of the environment. Good riddance I say.
Posted by: Peter | June 21, 2006 at 09:55 PM
What happened to Whimpy? Or did Mc Donalds happen to them?
Posted by: aileen | June 21, 2006 at 10:03 PM
Wimpy ( and pizzaland) were sold by Lyons to the people who own Burger king
Posted by: Madradin Ruad | June 21, 2006 at 10:12 PM
whoops - united Biscuits!
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE2DA1338F93AA3575BC0A96F948260
Posted by: Madradin Ruad | June 21, 2006 at 10:15 PM
How so are they "destroyers of the environment" any more so than another restaurant or food processing/packaging plant? I don't say this as some defender of McD's, because I hate their food, but I can guarantee you most ma 'n pop indie establishments produce more waste than your average McDonald's.
Save the Earth! Down with food!
Posted by: Emily | June 21, 2006 at 10:28 PM
You forgot to mention the French Army surrendered to Mayor McCheese.
Posted by: mahons | June 21, 2006 at 10:35 PM
Isn't that implied by his presence in France, mahons?
Posted by: Emily | June 21, 2006 at 10:50 PM
Emily:
True words Emily, Hail the Conquering Hero finally refers to a sandwich.
Posted by: mahons | June 21, 2006 at 10:57 PM
Emily, McDonalds' demand for beef has promoted the clearance of the South American rain forest for cattle ranching.
I must add that the demand for soya (for which the EU is the biggest customer) has also promoted large-scale (and often illegal) forest clarance to grow this wretched crop.
Between the two of them, an area of rain forest the size of Belgium is being cleared every year. Not only is there a potentially huge loss of biodiversity (it's reckoned that perhaps 50% of rain forest species haven't even been catalogued yet) but it may be having a growing impact on climate change in the Carribean and western Atlantic.
Posted by: Peter | June 21, 2006 at 11:08 PM
Um, McDonald's is filling the demand, not creating it. If people didn't eat beef, they wouldn't sell it. Spare me the hysterical Greenpeace 101 lectures I heard for the first time at 15 years old.
Posted by: Emily | June 21, 2006 at 11:16 PM
Hysterical? You don't worry about massive rain forest destruction to support unsustainable junk food producction? Try this site for some facts. There have also been air photographs in the last few months which show that it's not just clear-felling that's the problem, but selective felling of mature trees.
"As the demand in the Western world for cheap meat increases, more and more rainforests are destroyed to provide grazing land for animals. In Brazil alone, there are an estimated 220 million head of cattle, 20 million goats, 60 million pigs, and 700 million chickens. Most of Central and Latin America's tropical and temperate rainforests have been lost to cattle operations to meet the world demand, and still the cattle operations continue to move southward into the heart of the South American rainforests. To graze one steer in Amazonia takes two full acres. Most of the ranchers in the Amazon operate at a loss, yielding only paper profits purely as tax shelters. Ranchers' fortunes are made only when ranching is supported by government giveaways. A banker or rich landowner in Brazil can slash and burn a huge tract of land in the Amazon rainforest, seed it with grass for cattle, and realize millions of dollars worth of government-subsidized loans, tax credits, and write-offs in return for developing the land. These government development schemes rarely make a profit, as they are actually selling cheap beef to industrialized nations. One single cattle operation in Brazil that was co-owned by British Barclays Bank and one of Brazil's wealthiest families was responsible for the destruction of almost 500,000 acres of virgin rainforest."
http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm
But hey, go get a burger.
Posted by: Peter | June 21, 2006 at 11:26 PM
Oh, puh-leeze. Those figures have been debunked over and over and over and over and over. Try clicking the link I provided. And do try to not be so condescending afterwards. I don't eat pitswill grease from fastfood restaurants and when I do eat burgers, they're made from cows that were raised on my parents' ranch in Colorado.
Posted by: Emily | June 22, 2006 at 12:05 AM
France!?!? Now that does surprise me, having lived there (albeit 15 years ago). Most of the people I knew at that time intensely disliked the whole "fast food" concept, it was an insult to their culture, in which cuisine and enjoying family meals together played a much larger role than here in the UK. I'm pleased to say that I have eaten home-cooked frogs' legs, and snails, while I was in France, and they were delicious!
Posted by: Tom Tyler | June 22, 2006 at 02:32 AM
Spent some time in Paris - the only thing I remember is that the Toilets were apalling!
Posted by: Madradin Ruad | June 22, 2006 at 07:33 AM
Emily, I did check your link. Go ahead and believe waht you want, i.e. that the rain forest is just fine and there's nothing to worry about. If that's what floats your boat.
Posted by: Peter | June 22, 2006 at 09:35 AM