Burgers In The Temple

Sacrebleu! again: "Lovers of France's two great symbols of cultural exception -- its haute cuisine and fine art -- are aghast at plans to open a McDonald's restaurant and McCafé in the Louvre museum next month," writes The Telegraph. "America's fast food temple is celebrating its 30th anniversary in France with a coup," planting its golden arches in full view of museum visitors. And a coup, aka a blow, it is -- sending the museum world huffing and puffing. "This is the last straw," says one art historian working at the Louvre, "This is the pinnacle of exhausting consumerism and deficient gastronomy." Is that so? As The Telegraph points out, though "Many in France view McDo as the Trojan horse of globalization and the scourge of local produce and long lunches [...] France has become McDonalds' biggest market in the world outside the U.S." So where is the heresy? Or is it shame wrapped in double-think? Still, there is a place for everything, and the idea of walking through the golden arches in a haze of greasy fumes on the way to Le Louvre's cultural treasures is somewhat off-putting. Previous post on Le Louvre's tearing between art and commerce: Flip Flop Riff Raff.
UPDATE 10/05: Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, Michelangelo, McDo? by Paris Metblogs
UPDATE 10/11: Fast-food outlet in museum mall has culture vultures agog in Toronto Star
image via BoingBoing.net