The Hungry Poet: McDonald's in France? Globalisation v French Cuisine

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What has happened to France? And should we be worried? The reason I ask is that on a recent holiday on the Opal Coast, driving back from a day in Le Touquet I saw a site I could hardly believe. I wondered if maybe my milky-white Ulster complexion had spent too long under the sun at the beach, or that maybe that funky cheese I'd eaten the night before was playing tricks on my mind, but no, it was there in broad daylight: a McDonald's by the side of the road in France. Not only was there a McDonald's but it was a McDonald's in France with a car park full of cars. Not only that but it was situated beside a Buffalo Grill restaurant, advertising ribs and cocktails. Zuts alors! And as if that weren't enough to take in, in the window of the McDonald's was a poster for a Croque McDo.

Now, I've been to France many times, particularly Paris, and while I must have seen McDonald's there, I can't really remember them, and for some reason on this occasion the restaurant, if we can call it that, seemed more prominent, and somehow incongruous in this more provincial and seaside setting. Apparently, McDonald's has been operating in France since 1972, despite a corporate fallout which initiated a reset in 1979. Indeed, outside of the US, France is the fast food giant's second largest and most profitable market. But, I can't help but feel the presence and the success of the chain in France rings some serious globalisation alarm bells.

I'm not alone in thinking this. Many of the French label the food at the golden arches as malbouffe (junk food) and indeed in 1999 sheep farmer José Bové went as far as to drive a tractor through a half-built McDonald's site, dismantling it. There's an argument that Ronald McDonald has won over France with localised menus and bistro style eating, and while many people might eat there, I'm just not buying that the French could accept what is essentially a threat to such a huge part of their national identity: their food. And also, don't you find that a little sinister that McDonald's have tried to woo the French with their own traditions? Indeed, the fact I can hardly find any criticism about McDonalds in France online is in itself a bit weird.

Driving past the eatery that day, on the way back from the beach, I couldn't help but ask myself the question: in a country which prides itself on its gastronomy (indeed whose national identity is built so much upon its cuisine) what does this McDonalds in a provincial road side setting say about globalisation? Have the tendrils of globalisation really reached this far? And have we all just accepted it, as seen in the car park fit to burst?

Perhaps. Perhaps. But then, on that journey home, in the early evening, I called into the supermarket where the fresh baguettes has just been put onto the shelves, where the ingredients were listed, hearteningly, simply as: flour, water, salt, yeast. And the shelves were loaded with all manner of saucisson and the fridges contained an almost dizzying variety of regional butters. And when we went to a seaside restaurant the next day, I was served my burger, not in a bap, but a circular croissant cut through its middle, even if the sauce was slightly reminiscent of the Big Mac burger sauce. Vive la France, I thought, as I cut into that buttery burger casing (even if the croissant has its roots in the Austrian kipferl). Perhaps, then, just perhaps, globalisation is not to be feared as much as I have feared it. And that McDonalds, when in France, has had to play by French rules, as seen in the Croque McDo.

I certainly hope there will be no erosion of the regional dishes and cuisine and that makes a country like France so interesting and varied and rich in taste. In fact, I believe the French wouldn't let that happen. Well, I trust they won't. Because if they do allow Ronald McDonald to walk all over their cuisine with his clown boots, then there's little hope for the rest of us.