LM Otero/Associated Press A Burger King sign in Richardson, Texas.LONDON — Eat your hearts out, gastronomes. The topic du jour, according to social media and headlines in the French press is the return to France of Burger King, the American fast food chain, after more than 15 years.
From enthusiastic posts on Twitter to sociological reflections in the ever-so-serious Nouvel Observateur, France this week has been celebrating, or in some cases lamenting, the second coming of the Whopper.
Julieta Salgado in Brooklyn was among those who spotted the trans-Atlantic trend:
apparently lots of folks like to tweet about #burgerking in French
— Julieta Salgado (@whereufromfrom) November 29, 2012
“It’s official. Burger King is returning to France,” proclaimed Capital, a French business magazine, headlining the announcement on Thursday that the Miami-based chain is to open two outlets, in Marseille and in Champagne, in an agreement with Italy’s Autogrill restaurant operator.
The confirmation came after a mounting wave of rumors that served to underline France’s love-hate relationship with all things American.
Ahead of the announcement, the Nouvel Observateur dedicated a 1,400-word article to the speculation, in which the magazine’s Olivier Cimelière pondered whether it reflected an orchestrated marketing buzz or a recurring hoax.
So what’s all the fuss about?
Mr. Cimelière asked the same question and concluded that ever since the chain ended a 17-year presence in the French market in 1997, its eventual return had taken on the aspects of an urban legend on a par with the elusive Himalayan yeti.
“The outlets closed but a myth was born among French aficionados,” Mr. Cimelière wrote. “Burger King is in their eyes the sole and authentic hamburger with the taste of America. Everything else is just a pale imitation — junkfood!”
The chain had pioneered hamburgers in France by opening its first restaurant on the Champs Elysées in 1980 at a time when most Parisians were still heading at lunchtime to mom-and-pop corner bistros.
Since then brands such as Quick Burger and what the French call “MacDo” have spread to satisfy the country’s increasing appetite for fast food, to the despair of culinary purists. The sector even has an online magazine — Snacking.fr.
In 1999, José Bové, a union activist, famously led demonstrators who dismantled a McDonald’s restaurant in southwest France just days before it was due to open in a protest against globalization.
A decade later, McDonald’s succeeded in outraging fine art lovers and gourmets alike by announcing plans to open an outlet near the Louvre.
The buzz over Burger King, however, is a rough indicator that for every French person who decries the Americanization of French culture there is another who embraces the country’s obsession with Americana, whether it comes in the form of fast food or Hollywood film noir.
Marion de M., an “engaged citizen” also writing in the Nouvel Observateur, was not sure whether the burger brand’s return was good news or not.
She believed the hype was the result of a combination of absence and rumor. “Our best memories of the Whopper are revived, making us forget the sweet, post-onion rings breath.”
Burger King’s return was like “a shared collective joy,” she wrote. “To say you’re happy about it means signing up to that community. You’re part of a group. It’s cool (or you think it is).”
She said she knew plenty of people who would make a pilgrimage to Burger King. “They’ll go once, maybe twice and then B.K. will become a banal part of their lives. They’ll pay no more attention and the B.K. myth will be over.”
