Saturday 1 December 2018

It just HAD to happen!



You may have to enlarge the picture to see, but a sign on the wall of our local Rowing Club claimed that on November 27th, a new McDonald's was to open in my nearby small town. I have no idea where it will be situated; it didn't say.

Now, I have nothing against McDonald's as such (I've never actually eaten there), but the massive globalisation of any fast-food eaterie worries me.

Périgord is known worldwide for its gastronomy. Foie gras, Paté, Confit, Truffes, etc, all have warranted reputations. 

An area can very soon lose its identity if it ignores either its vernacular architecture, or its local gastronomy. When people order a McCoffee and McCroissant, rather than preparing the same at home, then you have to start to worry. 

OK, have a McBurger as an emergency, but not all the time (as many do), and not to the detriment of those dishes your Grandmother used to make.

Long live home made, slow cooked, grub. I shall NOT be visiting Mr McDonald!

p.s. I've just been past the sign again, and now it says 'OUVERT'. I've even spotted where the 'restaurant' is located!




54 comments:

  1. "Quelle Horreure!" Unfortunately, Takeaway places are spreading like wildfire here. They would all be broke by now if they had to rely on me. Slow food as opposed to fast food is my choice ALWAYS.

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    1. I never thought this would happen, yet there it is. It'll be interesting to see if child obesity follows in its wake.

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  2. You can not stop the demand for fast food, here every few kilometers there is a branch of McDonald's.

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    1. I'm sure a McBurger every so often is OK, but kids end-up living there.

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  3. Couldn't agree more with Heron, and I've never eaten there, but sadly these places seem to attract kids like wasps to the proverbial honey-pot.

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    1. Kids seem to use them like we used Libraries. They congregate, spend hours there, and get fat.

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    2. I don't ever remember getting fat in my library... and I spent hours upon hours there!

      Jo in Auckland

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    3. The 'get fat' was meant exclusively for McD's not the library.

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    4. Haha I know Cro... I mean't the Library is the much better choice.

      Jo in Auckland

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  4. Thank goodness there don't seem to be any Macs here outside of the very big cities
    A greek alternative is more popular but even that isn't too wide spread. Souvlaki shops on the other hand are on every corner. We have three I think

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    1. Well, at least Souvlaki shops are GREEK. McBurgers have taken over the whole world, and (although I've never had one) I imagine they are pretty dire.

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  5. For someone who has never visited you are so convinced that it must be cr*p. Project Fear has been right up your street! These franchises are honestly not bad, a welcome oasis for the traveller and of a usually high standard especially of cleanliness. It's people that can 'abuse' pubs, gambling and drugs.
    In a country that often closes near 9pm and all day Sunday and Monday I say good luck to your new fast food outlet.

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    1. Please re-read my para 2. I really don't have anything against them; I would never go there myself!

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  6. I was under the impression the French were fussy about the standard of food they ate. I didn't think McDonalds would have much of a market there.

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    1. I've lived in France for 30 years and McDos are taking off (as is obesity which you just didn't see before). We used to go fishing every weekend and stop at McDos on the way back on a Sunday night. It was fine and hit the spot, although since the kids moved out it must be 5 years since I have been there. And like everything there are good and bad McDos. I can see what a previous poster said though, kids congregate there for free wifi and so on. McDos aren't going anywhere!

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    2. It's a great shame to see an area so proud of its once gastronomic past, giving in to all sorts of fast food outlets, and restaurants that cut corners to offer 'imitation' local dishes. Standards have slipped so much, that I see no chance of revival.

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  7. I have always liked to cook and always cooked from scratch when the kids were little. My (now adult) kids like McDos occasionally of course but the other day my son looked at his girlfriend and said "see, my mom cooks everything from scratch"! Hallelujah!

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    1. I usually cook from scratch (other than my recent purchase of Fray Bentos pies). I reckon it's healthier, cheaper, and more nutritious. Also, I love the process.

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  8. Will the store be in a container? For a bit of cheap stomach soothing food, well I have been known to indulge. Anything McDonalds does to try to make itself serious in Australia has been a total fail. Its barista made coffee comes from a programmed machine and it is terrible. I can't even imagine having a croissant at Maccas. Why can't Maccas focus on what it actually does well, crap food served quickly.

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    1. I saw the 'restaurant' yesterday. It is a huge, brand new, rather typical, building, that no doubt will attract the masses.

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  9. Not only unhealthy food, like the budget supermarkets with their quick built sheds, these fast food outlets contribute nothing at all to the architecture or community of a place and the planners go along with it. They care only for their profits. Fortunately my town so far as kept them out, I expect its a matter of time.

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    1. I was quite surprised to find that this nearby small town had succumbed. All the supermarkets, etc, are about 3 Kms out of the town centre, which is now no more than a ghost town. A very sad sight.

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    2. You will not like England if you ever move back. This is how it is.

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    3. Every time I go back to England to visit family I find the high streets so depressing. Boarded up shop fronts, burger joints and charity shops. I know times aren't easy but ...

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  10. It looks like it will be in an industrial estate type area from your photo. Let those who want to drive there use it and make their choice. Some franchisee has obviously identified it as a profit making venture, worth the gamble. Good luck to him. I saw a new one going up outside Norwich, clearly visible from the road, and from day one, the car park has always been full. I know one of the franchisees here and he is a very wealthy man thanks to McDonalds.

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    1. There is a new section of the out-of-town commercial area, that has three units. One of them is McD's. I'm sure they'll make money; I'll look at their car park when I next go by.

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    2. It's a bit like selling your soul.. to get rich isn't it... tempting but ....

      Jo in Auckland

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  11. Do I eat in them? Alone in a foreign city on a Sunday night, yes, I have often taken refuge in a McDonalds. You know what to expect, nobody stares at you, and you get a warm place to sit for an hour or two.

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    1. They certainly have their uses, but they can also become a slippery slope to all sorts of unwanted social changes. It's a drip by drip process.

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    2. I deliberately did two separate comments because they were separate issues but you only answered one.

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  12. McDonald's is exceptionally quick, clean and inexpensive and kids love it. We often go in them when we visit Cork or Killarney. Wish we had one down in West Cork. They also cater for Vegetarians and you get free parking.

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    1. The only time I've been inside one was with a friend who was designing a new shopping area for Heathrow. He wanted to time how long it took from ordering, to having the burger in front of him. It literally took 5 seconds, when the bun arrived down a shoot. We didn't eat the burger.

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  13. I (occasionally) make my own burgers, but I have eaten a truly disgusting one in the very shop where hamburgers were invented. Funnily enough, it is in Hamburg.

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    1. I make my own burgers too. I can't believe that a McBurger comes even close in flavour!

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    2. I make my own burgers too. They are brilliant although I say it myself.

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    3. We are agreed for once. We all make better burgers than McDonald. We ought to have a burger-off. (Bugger off! Gedditt???)

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  14. I read somewhere (so it may not be true but I feel that it might be) that the touch screens the customers in Mickey D's now use are chock full of very horrible bodily fluid traces and other unsavoury things....

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    1. That's why I always carry a little bottle of antiseptic hand gel in the car; not for McD's, but for shopping trolleys etc.

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  15. Handy for motorway stops - cheeseburger, fries and coffee. Cheap and cheerful. Better than a stale sandwich.

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    1. The last time we had to stop for lunch during a long journey, we stopped at a Leclerc cafeteria near Toulouse. The food was wonderful, and unbelievably cheap.

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    2. You got free shopping in Leclerc or what ? Leclerc is a horrible big supermsrket chain , so stop speaking about them. You're so contradictory in all you write. Painful

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  16. I don’t eat fast food but to each their own. The only times we go to Mickey D’s Is when we are traveling somewhere and stop along the highway for a bite to eat. I like their fruit and yogurt parfaits. I have never seen the food come down a shoot; what I see are a lot of young people with jobs cooking food in a clean environment.

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    1. The fast service chute was at Marble Arch in London. As soon as the girl had pressed a button, the bun appeared like magic, in a bag too.

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  17. The few times I've eaten at McDonald's I found the food sub par, even by cheap fast food standards. There are a couple of burger chains that have tasty food around here, but only as an occasional treat. Cook Out has my favorite super cheap burgers, and 5 Guys is the best slightly pricier version. McD's doesn't come close. Of course, the best of all are homemade and cooked over a bed of hot charcoal!

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    1. I believe there was a sudden fashion, in the UK, for very fancy burger shops. They were very popular for a while, then mostly went bust as their clients returned to McD.

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  18. Damn good French fries. When I was a boy in the states in the 1960s we loved going to McDonalds. My son, who is autistic, loves the fries as well, many trying situations have been resolved with CHIPS! Burgers are not great but clean loos, efficient fast food in a clean environment means good emergency food.

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    1. I don't know if you've visited this area, but we are renowned for good eating. There are still plenty of restaurants around where one can eat a really good four or five course meal (with a bottle of wine thrown in) for about €20. Of course, if one only has ten minutes (very rare), or only €5 to spend, then McD's becomes a very attractive alternative. I just worry that such places chip away at higher standards.

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  19. This is actually a very complex subject simplified only by people's individual views. I would never consider eating a McDonald burger. However, in NZ I occasionally took the children there for the Mr Whippy ice cream which we all loved.

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    1. I think we're all 'guilty' of loving certain things that are 99% rubbish, and I would count Mr Whippy amongst those. But who doesn't love them. I know I certainly do!

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  20. I don't eat anything that I suspect might contain growth hormone.

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    1. Hormone treated meat was one of the issues that (it was tried) to raise at the WTO. The EU (so far) won't allow it but that could be chipped away if the Donald gets his way. I lived in D.C. for a while and we bought Perdu chicken - never seen such huge chicken portions - more like turkey. Of course we know now why they were so big. Couldn't find it at all when we moved to PA!

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