When McDonald’s France announced a plan to open a restaurant in the commercial mall under the Louvre, the scene appeared to be set for a new French controversy. The New World was about to strike at the heart of France’s most celebrated cultural symbol. The French would not take it lightly.

While some in the international news media, especially in Britain, found this line entrancing, the French simply shrugged at the news. The announcement was ignored by the national newspapers, apart from a small article published by Le Parisien, a popular daily.

The reality is that the French have gotten used to their McDonald’s, widely nicknamed ‘McDo’ (pronounced mac-DOUGH). Statistics suggest, in fact, that they have grown fond of it. Since McDonald’s France served its first Big Mac 30 years ago, it has opened 1,140 restaurants across the country.

The French operation of McDonald’s is the second most profitable after the one in the United States. French patrons are also the world’s biggest spenders: an average visit here amounts to about $15, including tax, versus $4 in the United States.

With the recession having driven customers away from more expensive restaurants, the company is estimating growth of 10 per cent in France this year. Quick, a Belgian fast food chain with 346 restaurants in France, expects to grow by 3 per cent in 2009, according to its chief executive, Jean-Paul Brayer.

This trend marks a big change from the past decade. When José Bové, a French farmer and activist, decided to protest global capitalism and what he called “Coca-Colonisation” in 1999, he dismantled a McDonald’s in the south of France.

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