Fromage and French fries lose appeal as Paris prefers restaurant romance

WHEN the American fast food giant McDonald's studied French national taste buds, they didn't find tiny papillae wearing berets and waving tricolours, but they learned that the French prefer salty to sweet tastes, and value fresh vegetables above all other food. Alarmed by a 5 per cent drop in cheeseburger consumption last year, McDonald's incorporated these findings in its new McDeluxe burger.

The word "Deluxe", McDonald's executives were quick to point out, is a French word. But queuing at the Latin Quarter outlet, I wondered if the chain had received special dispensation from the French government language police, who punish companies using English words in their advertisements: "Maxi Best of McDeluxe" said the photo posters offering the new burger, a large fries and soft drink, for 35 francs (£4).

On McDonald's outdoor terrace in the Boulevard St Michel, I opened the peach coloured styrofoam box to find that a cheeseburger by any other name smells and tastes much the same.

The sesame seed bun was moist and fresh. The whole iceberg lettuce leaf - a variety not easily found in Paris - was crispy, and the large red tomato slice was ripe. The meat patty tasted, well, like plain old boring hamburger meat.

McDonald's said the most difficult part of creating the McDeluxe was "l'elaboration et le choix de la sauce", which they tested on 1,500 people and described as the result of "a unique formula, based on old style mustard and pepper sauce". The secret French sauce tasted like Dalkey mustard blended with mayonnaise and was relatively bland.

Three students at the next table were discussing capital punishment in the US as they ate their McDeluxes. "It's too gooey!" Emmanuel Rueda (25) exclaimed to the two female students with him. "It's good, very good," Mr Rueda said in response to my question. "It's practical when you're in a hurry - but it would be an exaggeration to call it cuisine."

The students had responded to McDonald's promotion. With the coupons they found stacked in the entrance to their apartment building, they got the McDeluxe burgers for the cost of a Coke plus one franc. But as happens with Frenchmen, resentment of American political and economic domination somehow got trammeled up with leisure. "McDonald's has a hard time winning me over, with their ultra capitalist policies," Mr Rueda said. "I'd prefer a little Italian restaurant, romantic, with candles on the table."

When McDonald's first came to France in 1979, many people predicted that the French would never accept it. Mad cow disease, high unemployment among young people, and a certain fatigue with fast food are slowing consumption, but with 541 restaurants and an annual turnover of 7.1 francs billion (£826 million) in France, McDonald's is the undisputed superpower of fast food here.