How will this work out: new McDonalds mode in Italy

Forums: Italy, Fast Food, Mcdonalds, Slow Food
Email this Topic • Print this Page

McItaly Burger: McDonald's Teams Up With Italian Government For New Item

If I remember correctly, the whole slow food movement started with disgruntlement about McDonalds in Rome by italian journalist Carlo Petrini.
The Slow Food movement burgeoned into other slow moves like Slow Travel (I think).

An interview of Petrini by Amanda Hesser of the NYTimes, here:
http://www.mindfully.org/Food/2003/Slow-Food-Carlo-Petrini26jul03.htm

Here's a quote about Petrini in a slowfood article about people "saving the planet"... well, it would be there, natch.
http://press.slowfood.com/press/eng/leggi.lasso?cod=3E6E345B02a9c27BACxJh30F8189&ln=en

Carlo Petrini, Food activist
Carlo Petrini, 58, is the only anti-McDonald's activist who has been welcomed to the offices of David Cameron, David Miliband, Prince Charles, Al Gore and Barack Obama. The founder of the international Slow Food movement, nominated here by Vandana Shiva, is idolised by rich and leisured foodies for promoting high-quality, small-scale farming and organising a relaxed life around long lunches. But Petrini, an Italian leftie of the old school, has a far more serious purpose than saving the pilchard or Parma ham. The Slow Food movement has now expanded across 100 countries and is throwing poisoned darts at the whole fast food culture and the multinational food producers that between them have wrecked so much of the environment."

I differ with Petrini in that I don't think fast food has to inherently be badly produced or served (I once fantasized about having a salad and soup drive-through place in west Los Angeles and would have worked to make it eco friendly - all these years later, I'd add italian style sorbetti..), or even that multinational companies have to be spoilers by definition. In practice I agree with him as a generality, but I imagine it is possible to make locally well produced food in a fast manner, and that many have been already doing that world wide. Making such localized structure into a multinational system I figure would be another harder task.

(Hmmm, we'll see how that burger guy in new york city widens his business..)

Given that this is a move toward the more local from McDonald's, I'm not so sure I'm all that appalled, though I'd rather they just inhabit the structures already in place there with a new menu/sources. At heart I favor the small italian local cooking and locally owned trattorie, but depending on how this is worked out, I'm willing to wait and observe.

I do admit to being appalled when I saw Dunkin Donuts near the Fountain of Trevi.

Your opinion?

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Discussion • Score: 9 • Views: 6,765 • Replies: 44

[+3] - Raphillon - 01/29/2010Hi, all. I laughed at this: "Matthew Fort has called the burgers a "monstrous act of national betrayal" - and further evidence that the controversial Berlusconi government cares...

@ossobuco,

I will wander through your links, Osso, to learn more.
I did stumble across this today. It may or may not be relevant.
Would You Like A Beer With That?
Fast food giant Burger King (I think they also own Wendy's) plans to open a new concept in Florida: The Whopper Pub.
It will be aimed at a slower eating, eat-in, crowd. It will offer more toppings for the burgers and it will sell beer.
Could work, I guess. But I have had Burger King burgers. Virtually inedible in my mind.

0 Replies

@ossobuco,

the link takes me to FOUR MORE YEARS OF BERNANKE

1 Reply

@dyslexia,

Oh, thanks, I'll fix that. Geeeze. That's just wrong.

Meantime the New York Burger Guy I was trying to remember is Danny Meyer of Shake Shack.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

McItaly Burger: McDonald's Teams Up With Italian Government For New Item

There ya go....

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

On the other hand (arguing with myself), the times I've had chicken in italy were few and I saw them live and pecking - I'm remembering the small albergo in Strove that had a tiny restaurant and raised its own chickens and guinea hens in a fenced yard. And beef, I'm thinking of the chianina beef, a very old breed on roman land. So, eek, I'd hate to see more factory farming (I don't know how much there is already) start up there to fulfill some kind of "local" criterion.

0 Replies

I haven't read the McDonalds link yet but the Burgerville chain up here has really rocked the idea of fast food. Not only do they serve beer and wine but...

Quote:

"If healthy, quick food seems like an oxymoron, you haven’t been to Burgerville, a chain of 39 Pacific Northwest quick-service restaurants. Burgers here are made from pastured vegetarian-fed and antibiotic-free beef. The eggs on our breakfast biscuits are from cage-free hens that have never been treated with antibiotics. Salads offer mixed greens topped with smoked salmon and Oregon hazelnuts. Even desserts and sides rely on seasonal, local ingredients"blackberry milkshakes are only available in season, as are the hand-prepared buttermilk-battered onion rings made from Walla Walla sweet onions grown in Washington and Oregon.

Burgerville purchases wind power credits equal to 100 percent of our electricity use, recycles used canola oil into biodiesel, and offers its hourly employees an affordable $15-a-month health-care plan. In recent years, we transformed our business plan, focusing on aligning all parts of our company with our values, finding new ways to serve our employees and guests and sharing our story along the way. The results were double-digit same store sales increases in 2006 and 2007. We are clear that conducting business sustainably is good business."

Fast food doesn't have to be awful.

Right now they are offering their portabello mushroom burger (a burger in the sense that it's on a bun) since the portabellos are in season. Yumyumyum.

0 Replies

Y'know me, time for a tangent..

photos - of the man working in the Strove - Casalta sideyard, some roosters, and a view from the Albergo Casalta window:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v722/ossobuco/caretakeratstrove068.jpg?t=1264724664

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v722/ossobuco/roostersatstrove066.jpg?t=1264724792

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v722/ossobuco/ViewfromCasaltawindow069.jpg?t=1264724843

The inn was a stopover for cyclists (ten rooms at the time), had really good food, and was reasonably priced.. and the owner was a convivial gentleman. Musicians would gather some evenings..

0 Replies

Okay, I read the article and I have to admit that this

Quote:

Matthew Fort has called the burgers a "monstrous act of national betrayal" - and further evidence that the controversial Berlusconi government cares more about money than the pride of the Italian people.

cracked me up. It's a hamburger ferchistsake. Food snobs kind of piss me off anyway but this guy takes it to a whole new level.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

I partly had that reaction and then didn't. It's a nation about the size of california with a long food heritage and very specific differences in food not that many miles apart, differences they seem to feel strongly about.. that matter to them, or does matter from what I can tell by my reading. As a generalization (not so sure how true right now, especially in a few major cities) they have tended to buy such food as they buy more on a daily basis than weekly, emphasis on fresh everything.

It's a hamburger.. but they didn't have hamburgers there, far as I know, before mcdonalds. The beef, what there was of it, (was) famously good, say in Florence. McDonalds is not famously good. Italians are culture protective - or some of them are, and that's what the person who said that was getting at.

I want to know more. Some places in the u.s.a. have few local restaurants, cafes, stands, of any kind except miles of chains. Take highway 5 in California (please, take it). Which is why I used to drive 101, more mom and pop places.

On the other hand, maybe their culture will be protective against being overrun with chains, and that should be let play out.

2 Replies

@ossobuco,

I don't buy it, osso.

I imagine Italians go out to eat Chinese food all the time. I'll bet there are a lot of great Spainish restaurants in Rome, probably even some Mexican restaurants. I'll bet they even have some insanely popular American food restaurants.

I'll bet they're being all pissy because it's McDonalds.

And I'm not sticking up for McDonalds. I don't like their food but once in a while I dig their fish sandwich.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

I guess I'm a food snob, even though my favorite kind of place is a small storefront family effort. I don't mind chains existing, but am not keen on their obliteration of "real food"... it seems by massive advertising dollars.

We in the US are used to the melting pot or "salad" cultural mix - cities like seattle and l.a. and n.y.c. have possibly hundreds of 'cuisines' available at more than hundreds of places. That's what I'm comfortable with myself - but I can understand not wanting to be overrun.

0 Replies

@boomerang,

Really? I doubt it. I think there were two chinese restaurants in rome central when I was first in rome. If anything, I think they are going toward more old roman meals (as in lots of innards)... or maybe both trends. But I don't live there. (Where is Raphillon - he likes food, lives near rome, and could probably set both of us straight.)

And yes, some were pissy re mcdonalds coming to the piazza di spagna - that was the point for the slow food folks.

I used to like burger king fish sandwiches. Still see the side of not wanting them there en masse.

1 Reply

@ossobuco,

Within a 5 mile radius of my house I can eat food from every continent of the world.

I doubt Portland is more sophisticated than Rome.

0 Replies

Hi, all.

I laughed at this: "Matthew Fort has called the burgers a "monstrous act of national betrayal" - and further evidence that the controversial Berlusconi government cares more about money than the pride of the Italian people."

a monstrous act of national betrayal? Oh my gosh what did the dwarf do this time? sold the coliseum? Entire sicilia? No, made an agreement with McDonald... Jesus be thanked, he is capable of far worse things LOL Very Happy

About restaurants, Rome is full of McDonald, almost in any shopping center or street and close to any touristic spot, which means more ore less everywhere... As well as Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Indian, American and so on... So are Florence, Napoli and Venice... Smaller cities, usually have less exotic restaurant, however.

Generally speaking I, and I think the majority of the people I know, consider McDonald a kind of "food on the run", so to say. You go shopping and when the time is right you just stop at McDonald, eat something and go on shopping...

Chinese, Mexican, non fast food American etc. are more some kind of "exotic food", I go there when I feel like enjoying something different

If I organize an evening for a group of friends or the regular Saturday evening I would go with Italian food.

And when I go outside Italy I always try local restaurant... Don't we have enough racism against people? Why should I be racist about food?

Anyway My uncle make the best lasagna in the world and my family's pastiera know no match anyware!!!! Very Happy

3 Replies

@Raphillon,

Thanks for the on-the-spot report, Raphillon!

0 Replies

@Raphillon,

And there's our answer! Thanks Raphillon.

I'm curious as to what is served in a fine dining American restaurant in Italy.

Barbeque? Steak? Fried Chicken?

2 Replies

@boomerang,

http://rome.angloinfo.com/af/518/rome-restaurants-rome.html

Indian fast food ... kascher (is that kosher?) ... macrobiotic ... Roman ... creperie ... Chinese ... Arriba Arriba ... French bakery ... Hard Rock Cafe ... http://www.flannobrien.it/

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

http://www.theflannobrien.com/

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

Ill bet the Italians get tired of the same thing all the time. I like the food of a really great Italian seafood place in Baltimore, but I couldnt even dream of eating there every night. Id go nuts for a hamburger or a slab of ribs.

0 Replies

How will this work out: new McDonalds mode in Italy

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know