Grease Trail Tracked, Steadily Moving SE
basically all we eat
McDonald's moving on Kreuzberg like a hopelessly outnumbered and isolated Risiko army
What a terrible impression to make -- to take a foreign visitor to America to a Wendy's! And yet, in expository haste, that is exactly what I did. Having just brought us to America, I had fabricated a nigh-seamless weave of restaurants and bistros that had dazed her into thinking nothing was wrong, but a stitch in time found us in front of a bunch of $1 bacon double cheeseburgers. Ugh, and they didn't even have the dignity to hold the immense pieces of flavorless, white-green iceberg lettuce. I never heard the end of that.
"Not everyone will have McDonald's, just as not everyone likes doner kebab," Schramm said, referring to the classic Turkish fast food. The company found the average age of students in the area, which includes a vocational school, was over 20 years old. "We're not talking about small children," Schramm said. "They're old enough to decide for themselves whether they want to eat at McDonald's."
Of course, McDonald's isn't Wal-Mart. They're going to 'zazz the presentation up a bit for their audience, and I would imagine particularly for their critical German one. But just like you can't wienern ein Scheißhaufen, you can't convince me that anyone other than absolute fools with no sense of anything will eat there.
Who cares, who cares, who cares? Kreuzberg has the best fast food in Berlin and to bring a McDonalds to the Wrangel (which is my Kiez, as you my well know) isn't a sacrilege, it's a goddamn joke. Provided the kids get sick of it, I give the whole deal 3 months. McDonalds is for the French. I came to Germany to escape our fast food. Meanwhile, I'll give you my two Euros when you get me that shawarma.
Ben, how about a blind taste test boyo???? You can use the Köfte place on Wrangelstrasse as your comparison -- they're kind of like hamburgers, aren't they?
Comments
I'd eat a koffte before a Big Mac any day -- there's a new one on Adalbertstrasse just past O-strasse, btw, that's pretty darn good. And they have Flashen Bier. I wonder if the Wrangelstr. MickieD's is gonna offer that. One koffte burger is about the size of a White Castle but you get four of them in one sandwich, not to mention real vegetables.
The longer version of the AP story you link up there quotes the McResistance spokesman as saying the Wrangel area (kiez) is distinguished by having "no Burger King, no Ikea, no Karstadt". So, I'm guessing the protest, such as it is, is more about the archetype of globalisation than the quality of the food, which McD's just can't compete with in that area. The great irony is that all this huffin 'n' puffin from the black block will probably end up making that restaurant more of a tourist attraction than it was before.
Nice to see ya back, Christy. Keep giving 'em hell.
Benjamin; August 1, 2007 3:44 PM
Be honest Ben you can`t fucking wait for that Macdonalds to open
Jacinta; August 8, 2007 3:50 PM
If you are new to this country, I will tell you the secret to good food: go to run-down places with bad decoration.
It's true: some of the best food, especially the best ethnic food (particularly Mexican and Chinese and Southern and Indian food) is found in little places with garish decor on cheap plates with plastic silverware. Some of the best food on the planet is served here that way. If you do not succeed with one place, keep trying: I am telling you this is THE secret to good food in the US. Nasty little bistros in the middle of bad neighborhoods are tastebud nirvana. And they are EVERYwhere, so you are in luck finding them (except in some middle class places, but those tend not to be too extensive: even most middle class places have eaters that frequent nearby bad/good eatery's).
Wendy's? Why did he take you THERE? Nobody likes that place. Jesus. It's like your friend wanted to give you a bad impression of the country. Don't be surprised if you find out he doesn't like you ...although there is the offhand chance he actually likes that crap. Most of us don't: I have never eaten in a McDonalds in my life. Remember that when you ponder us as a people: there are tens of millions of Americans who have never sat foot in a Burger King. And tens of million of Europeans who eat there every day.
James Versluys; August 14, 2007 8:20 PM