Saturday, July 04, 2009

QOTD

Michael Goldfarb on the Weekly Standard blog June 29th:
In the course of Donald Morrison's review of Au Revoir to All That by Michael Steinberger, we learn that McDonald's is the largest private employer in all of France, which is sort of like being the largest provider of health insurance in North Korea, but nonetheless, it feels like a major triumph for American culture and cuisine. I once ate at the McDonald's right next to the Arc de Triomphe. My quarter pounder tasted like hegemony.

1 comment:

Ben Wyman said...

Yeah, I always get a kick out of the Europeans sulking that no one asked McDonald's to come, there was not market for them but they made one through the awful advertising of America.

No market for clean restrooms in Europe, I guess. Or clean courteous service. Or beef sandwiches and potatoes. Or reliability, speed, convenience, and modest cost. I'm not sure Europeans want to sign on to saying they never wanted those things until we made them take them.