I was quite horrified by an article I saw in a French paper about two weeks ago complaining that obesity was creeping into French society. I still remember a friend of mine saying McDonald's was only for the tourists and I hoped that was true. (That's bad of me, I know, but I have certain myths I like to cherish.)

With fast-food becoming more and more diverse and big, I guess it was just a matter of time before it reached France :(

. I still remember a friend of mine saying McDonald's was only for the tourists and I hoped that was true.

Ha! That's a good one. The two Macdo's in my town aren't even in the tourist areas - they're both in zones far from the city center, and are constantly packed with French people. Everytime we drive by, there are at least eight cars waiting in the drive through. I work downtown and just had a French woman ask me this morning where the closest McDonalds was.

I was a dietitian in the US before moving here, and this is just my opinion, but the problem of obesity is going to sneak up on the French people. They are so stuck on thinking they are the "cultural center of the world for cuisine and that obesity is an American problem, and thus would never happen to us refined French people", that they won't realize it's happening until it's too late.

The French gov's refusal to ban child-targeted TV and commerical ads (as most other EU countries have done) is also a big culprit. It's not the people our age that will be affected by obesity, it's the children under 10 who are now being targeted left and right by marketing agencies. Look at the explosion of all the different types of soda, candy, etc that weren't available even a few years ago. As proof, kids under ten have the highest rate (and fastest growing rate) of obesity in France.

Growing up in Lausanne, Switzerland in the 70s, the very first MacDonald's opened, there was a queue, there was wide eyes and I am pretty sure some people were wearing their Sunday best to visit this new "classy" "American Restaurant" Ha ha. I had one my birthdays there and all my class camarades were very, very impressed! I used to keep ranting cent pour cent boeuf... To my parents.

On a more serious note having two little ones under the age of 10, we will have to keep health and setting a good example is so important. Thanks for the heads up Sam.

I guess I also still have idealised notions* of the French/European negative attitude to multinational franchises. here in Australia people lap up franchising like there is no tomorrow.

*On 12 August 1999, a McDonalds in Millau, south-west France was dismantled by protesters just days before it was due to open. On a sunny afternoon a crowd of farmers, activists, union members, men, women and children loaded the rubble onto trucks and tractors, drove it through town and dumped it outside the town hall.

"The objective was to have a non-violent but symbolically forceful action, in broad daylight and with the largest participation possible."
José Bové - Wikipedia Entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Bove)

That story about the McDonald's revolt is priceless. Americans would be wise to take heed and follow the example.

Although I can understand the revolts, but the resort to violence and destruction of property is something else...

That story about the McDonald's revolt is priceless. Americans would be wise to take heed and follow the example.

I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean that much to me considering that there are still over 800 other McDonald's in France, and more opening by the day.

Also, José Bovey is no hero in my book, he was also part of the reason a Breton extremist group blew up a McDonald's here in Brittany, killing the night janitor who was inside.

And it is not McDonald's fault that obesity is such a problem - they are not forcing us to eat there. People are making a conscious decision every time they enter the store and buy food there. No matter how ignorant you are, you can't tell me that you don't know that eating a double cheeseburger with a supersize fries and drink will make you fat. People need to start taking more responsability for their own actions, and stop blaming their problems on everyone else.

This reminds me that I once went to get breakfast in a French MacD's (shame on me I know) in Strasbourg and it was the worst thing I've ever eaten. They seemed to have added their own extra special greasy twist to it all :)
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Like mentionned above, it's true, it seems like the current population always need to shift blame. Blame McDonald for....making food that makes us fat? They're not forcing you to go...and that's only the tip of the blame game...

Okay guys, I get your point. No, I don't condone violence as a form of protest and yes I realize that McDonald's can't be held responsible for the obesity problem. I just liked the idea that a community made a collective decision to force them out, that's all.

Sheesh.

However, I do wonder how or "what" can be done in places were obesity is a bigger issue like in the US, where I believe it has reached near 60% of the population...

However, I do wonder how or "what" can be done in places were obesity is a bigger issue like in the US, where I believe it has reached near 60% of the population...

Actually, 60% of the population is overweight, not obese. Many people think those two words are interchangeable when they are in fact not.

I think that it's almost impossible to get away from fast food these days, no matter where it is you live. It's just so easy and convenient, it's hard not to give in to it sometimes. I guess as long as it isn't your main food staple, maybe we can do okay.

They won't stay out for long though :) Theyre everywhere.
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French take their stomachs very seriously and eat accordingly but I also think perhaps that they probably do a lot more sport and leisure walking and cycling than a lot of other countries do. France is still largley a rural economy and that involves by its nature a lot of physical work and so intake is balanced by output of calories as it should be. Id say that on the whole our french friends eat well and sensibly but I cant make sweeping generalizations about the nation as a whole on my personal experiences ! All I can add is that I see far less obesity here than I did in Oz or the Uk (and rarely see people either eating on the hoof or at their desks, the french tend to still honour l' heure de répas) and that the kids I know go rarely if ever go to Macdonalds ....but then Bretons are quite traditional about what goes on thier plate !

I have to admit that every once in a while, I feel a McDonald's calling. Usually when I'm hung over! But my tastes have changed and I rarely go into one now. The village I was living in in Scotland had one, and in a year, I never once went into it. I thought I would as I felt there'd be one day when I got some pang of homesickness and it would be a quick remedy. Never happened!:rolleyes:

Maybe trhis also has to do with teh fact that vegetables and othe rfresh foods are easier to obtain than in other countries.
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I don't think it's ever a good idea to generalize about how people eat. The French aren't all chefs preparing fancy sauces... They are families and normal people who go out shopping and maybe to Mickey D's to eat sometimes. Like it or not, culture everywhere, even in France, is changing, speeding up.

Besides, it's not as if traditional French food is particularly healthy, not that I'm advocating a McDonalds's diet.
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One of the things I used to notice when I was in France for an extended period is that I didn't gain weight even though I was eating more. This, I decided, had nothing to do with getting more exercise, but because many of the foods I ate there were completely natural as opposed to their American versions with additives.

I don't like to see the American way of creeping in anywhere else. We are unhealthy enough. The European way of life is so much better in my opinion.

Thing is that fast food isn't wholly an American idea, and people all over the world have signalled that they like it or the places wouldn't stay in business.
I'm thinking of pizza places, fish and chips shops, etc. ..not just McDonalds.

The obesity epidemic is not going to be confined to any one country. This is a problem everywhere especially for our children who no longer run and play outside but instead spend hours indoors engaged in sedentary activities. The only way to curb this current epidemic is education about healthy eating habits and the importance of exercise. Many American school systems have shortened or removed recess time in order to have more instructional time...very bad idea!
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I'm sorry, but that doesn't mean that much to me considering that there are still over 800 other McDonald's in France, and more opening by the day.

Also, José Bovey is no hero in my book, he was also part of the reason a Breton extremist group blew up a McDonald's here in Brittany, killing the night janitor who was inside.

And it is not McDonald's fault that obesity is such a problem - they are not forcing us to eat there. People are making a conscious decision every time they enter the store and buy food there. No matter how ignorant you are, you can't tell me that you don't know that eating a double cheeseburger with a supersize fries and drink will make you fat. People need to start taking more responsability for their own actions, and stop blaming their problems on everyone else.

This to me is THE key to it all; here in the US there is no longer the excuse that "the fat are the poor and unfortunate" because statistically our "1% of the ubber-rich" are just as fat! Lack of education or funds is NOT the reason for the growing obesity rate throughout the world its LAZINESS. In the age of high tech/info-ladded, immediate gradification, we as a people mindlessly gravitate to anything that doesn't require a thought process to genterate an outcome - we as a people have, with open arms, allowed the marketing geniuses to lasso our feeble emotions and wrack the masses with that immediate input I'm speaking of in the way of cigarettes, cheese burger and fries, alchohol, guns and political props - its a sad sign of the times but not necessarily the horrific reality that we've allowed thus far- if the public were as agressive in their pursuits of intelligence and health as they/we are for that deadening gratuitous milkshake or Big Mac.