The French Love McDonald's

Really, they do:

Call the French snooty, or just demanding, for their attention to good food, good wine, good atmosphere in their restaurants, for lingering over their meals. But the French have a dirty little secret: Of all the people in Europe, they like McDonald's more than anyone else does.

Pound for quarter-pound, they eat more of it, more often, than any other nationality on the continent, and the nay-sayers here who predicted the French would give up their beloved aged cheese before adopting the quick-fry meat patties so often seen as emblematic of America's bad taste, have been proven as wrong as red wine with white fish. . . .

France has 1,008 McDonald's restaurants, second in Europe only to the 1,235 in Britain and the 1,244 in Germany, and though each country's total sales are a closely held company secret, France is leading them both. . . .

A Big Mac in the heart of Paris goes for $3.65, a fish sandwich sells for $3.40, large fries for $2.40 and the Royal Cheese -- which would be called a quarter pounder, except for the metric system -- goes for $3.85.

(Via Dan Drezner.)