McROME – fast food, Italian style
Who would ever want to go to a Mcdonald’s when in Rome? Right. So, to spare you the experience, i have done it for all of us. Buon appetito!
Same shit different name. French fries are called patatine fritte, ‘small fried potatoes’, regardless of the size of the helping.
A glass of soda, to a European, is a glass of soda. An American would consider this dinky paper cup of Coke way too small. (And in Italy you pay for refills, by the way).
Plastic chairs? Plastic tables? Oh, no. not in Rome. Finely upholstered furniture is a must. And how about a little artwork on the walls?
Ok, the furniture is of very good quality. But this is Mcdonald’s. so the stools are bolted to the floor.
Why make a Mcdonald’s so fancy? To attract a crowd older than the penniless teenagers who tend to hang out in these places all day while purchasing nearly nothing.
Everyone loves a burger. Occasionally, in Rome sometimes you still spot someone eating their Big Mac with knife and fork, but they are becoming increasingly rare.
University students appreciate the possibility to hold round tables and to grab a cheap bite to eat. Several sandwiches sell for one euro.
In civilized countries, restaurants are not allowed to sell toys. In Italy they still are (even though they are disguised as gifts), thus attracting little children to their hideous meals.
The occasional professional will slip in through the door and sit quietly at a corner to enjoy the a/c and make use of the provided wifi.
Another lure: free daily papers in fancy arsty stands on the walls for public use.
No way chicken nuggets and strawberry milkshakes will attract a huge crowd of fine-palated Italians. A fine display of great pastries, on the other hand…
No proprer Italian meal can end without a caffe’. This Mcdonald’s has a real coffee bar, and an espresso costs 80 cents of an euro. Normally served in ceramic cups, some people prefer theirs ‘al vetro’, in a small glass.
Imagine this. You have to open a restaurant in Rome that sells mostly food that people in Italy are not particularly attracted to for cultural reasons. And not in the city center, where you can at least count on the steady stream of torusits looking for something familiar to stuff down their gobs. What do you do?
As the above photo story shows, they have chosen to work on the environment. Comfy seats, spotless cleansiness, wifi, free papers, a decent coffee.
I normally steer clear of Mcdonaldses. Last time i was in one, they had plastic furniture and disgruntled zitty staff. So when i saw this one in true Italian style, i felt i had to share it with the rest of the world.
Pictures shot from the hip in the Mcdonald’s on Rome’s Viale dei Prati Fiscali.
Alessandro Ciapanna
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