Splicetoday

Pop Culture
Jun 11, 2008, 09:40AM

The Cruel Temptation Of The Big Mac

This University of Arizona student found that, even while studying abroad in Italy, he could not resist the urge to visit America's favorite red, white, and yellow striped clown. And in the globalized modern world, it wasn't too long before he found the golden arches abroad.

Ronaldmcdonald.jpg?ixlib=rails 2.1

Photo by TheLawleys

I swore I would never eat American fast food during my stay in Italy, but two weeks into my European summer abroad, I caved and buckled to the greasy, salty sight of Ronald McDonald at a Venice train station.

"I could really go for a Big Mac," I said jokingly on the train, to my American friends, speaking of it as if it were a pot of gold at the end of some rainbow I would never find.

We had been in Italy for just a week, but I was already sick of Italian food. It was pizza, pasta, pizza, pasta and more pizza, day in and day out, in Orvieto, the small Italian city where we are studying.

But as the train screeched to a stop, there he was, arm raised welcoming me with a big red grin.

It was like running into an old friend on the other side of the world.

I walked over to the counter with a pace as if I hadn't eaten in days.

"Big Mac!" I practically shouted at the poor woman working there.

 

Discussion
  • What a depressing article. Speaking from a parochial point of view, this would be like someone visiting Los Angeles for the first time and going to a Jack in the Box instead of the hundreds upon hundreds of outlets that sell great Mexican food.

    Responses to this comment
  • No one visits Los Angeles and goes to Jack in the Box. They go to In-N-Out Burger.

    Responses to this comment
  • Uh, Tejas from Austin, you're wrong. Drive down Sunset or the PCH and you'll see Jack in the Boxes mobbed. And of course they go to In-N-Out, who wouldn't?

    Responses to this comment
  • i love mcdonald's and everything it stands for (that might be slightly overstating it but whatever). Any point against it (besides its retarded adverts) is just bandwagonism. Its greasy and food sucks, cultural imperialism, blah blah mindless leftist babble. Supersize me baby!

    Responses to this comment
  • Here in Sweden, a McDonald's burger is made with Reindeer meat. Yum.

    Responses to this comment
  • Right. I'm not buying that you even live in Sweden, except in your mind.

    Responses to this comment

Register or Login to leave a comment