nosh nook #146 - monday, october 5, 2009

mcdonald's restaurants to open at the louvre (link)
10.04.09 - the telegraph - by henry samuel

the french hate a lot of things. they obviously hate americans, but they also hate head scarves, uncultured cultures & deodorant. even though they hate americans, with the exception of one dude, they pretty much all love mcdonald's. in fact, they love mcdonald's so much that they're the country with the second most mcdonald's in it, behind the united states. i'm going to assume it has a lot to do with the french fries. you know what they call french fries over in france? "frites." i know! you know what they call a big mac over there? oh, never mind. anyway, mcdonald's is celebrating its 30th anniversary in france & they're doing so in grand style.

to celebrate, they're opening up their "1,142nd gallic outlet" & their artsiest location yet "a few yards from the entrance to the country's mecca of high art and the worlds most visited museum," the louvre. according to the telegraph, museum staff are sort of peeved about having such a symbol of evil global consumerism in such close proximity to the mona lisa. one art historian said, "this is the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism, deficient gastronomy and very unpleasant odours in the context of a museum." unpleasant? personally, i think there might be something artistic in seeing the venus de milo whilst the smell of sizzling meat & frites wafts past your nose.

the mcdonald's is going to be part of a food court featuring world cuisine (mcdonald's = america) & in the next three years, a new ticket booth will be erected right nearby. the same peeved art historian noted that "the first thing visitors will likely see when they arrive are big golden arches." what's wrong with that? i believe andy warhol said it best when he said "the most beautiful thing in tokyo is mcdonald's. the most beautiful thing in stockholm is mcdonald's. the most beautiful thing in florence is mcdonald's. peking and moscow don't have anything beautiful yet." c'mon, france! don't you want something beautiful right at the entrance to the louvre? andy would've wanted it that way.