Mama Mia! What Are You Doing Italy?
I just caught a news story, that I’m glad didn’t get past me. The Italians now have the dubious pleasure of a McDonald’s burger with a local slant. There are two variations on this McItaly burger. The first one is topped with artichoke spread, asiago cheese, and lettuce; the other one is dressed in Italian olive oil, pancetta, and onion. Naturally there’s a brouhaha going on about this, with the Italian government defending these burgers by arguing that they support local agriculture. Fortunately, most Italians know better than to jump on the fast food bandwagon. In fact, the arrival of McDonald’s in Italy was the motivation behind the “slow food” movement. Italians can see the direction this is heading. Before you know it there will be a Starbucks on every corner and a Benneton in every shopping mall.
Although this seems to be an attempt to get Italians to accept these burgers with their stronger, local flavors, I think the bigger threat is to tourists. Here is “Italian” food that has a big company behind it. For those fearful of anything foreign, we now have faux Italian food. You can go to Italy and get a familiar McDonald’s burger with Italian flavors. Just imagine the poor tourists that go home with their only Italian cusine experiences derived from McItaly burgers. Yeah ma, that there Eyetalian food was so good. Those burgers had something real fancy on them called, artie-chokes I think. Woo, hoo, it was somethin. But that was enough for me. I need a real Big Mac to get them furrin flavors out of my mind. Boy, it’s good to be home.
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4 Responses to “Mama Mia! What Are You Doing Italy?”
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Fortunately, a trip to a foreign country isn’t all about the food. Maybe they’ll take in the Roman ruins. Also while Mcdonald’s culinary influence is not what I would call enriching, I take it as a small good sign that they will attempt to adapt to the local culture. It is the little things we do that have the potential of steming the tide of mediocre uniformity.
I hope you’re right. But I think Americans have a reputation for a reason because many expect things to be the same as at home, and this only reinforces that.
Wow…I wish McDonald’s would serve that McItaly Burger over here. Sounds Good!
Well, yes, that I could agree with more. An Italian American slant on the old Mickey D.