Do you want fries with that painting?

Sacre bleu!, is this the end of “capital c” Culture as we know it? McDonald’s has announced that it is opening its 1142nd restaurant next month, to be located in none other than the Louvre museum in Paris. The UK’s Telegraph newspaper has reported that French art lovers and gastronomes alike are "choking on their gitanes" in outrage. The general consensus seems to be that Mcdonalds is too low-brow to grace the hallowed halls of the Louvre. God forbid that the smell of fries should waft past the famously aloof visage of the Mona Lisa...

A museum spokesperson confirmed the news, saying that “it had agreed to a 'quality' McCafe and a McDonalds 'in line with the museum's image'.” The two outlets will apparently represent the American segment of a new food court, and be situated ''among [other] world cuisines and coffee shops''.

I am not a fan of McDonalds personally. I stop in at McDonalds in Lithgow with my sister a couple of times a year en route to our parents place in Mudgee, mainly because it has clean bathrooms, not bad coffee (these things are relative and it is Lithgow) and a decent playground for my niece and nephew to let off steam in. The food doesn’t really come into but at least it’s consistent – I know exactly what I’m going to get every time I order.

In an ideal world I would prefer McDonalds, along with other global monsters such as Starbucks and KFC, didn’t exist but given that it does, why shouldn’t it be in the Louvre? One of the consistent criticisms levelled at institutions such as the Louvre is that they’re elitist, positioning art (and other forms of “high culture” such as opera and ballet and classical music) outside the realm of common experience. Given that Mcdonalds is the antithesis of elitist, perhaps the ‘Big Mac factor” is just what museums such as the Louvre need to make them more accessible to people who might otherwise feel intimidated. It’s unlikely that anyone will visit the Louvre just to eat at Maccas but if eating a “Royale with Cheese” (as John Travolta famously proclaims the Quarter Pounder with Cheese is known in France in cult film Pulp Fiction) makes their experience while there more enjoyable, is that so terrible? It’s not as if there aren’t other food choices on offer.

Certainly, not everyone in France is aghast at the idea of eating under the glow of the golden arches. The Telegraph reports that “while business in brasseries and bistros is in free fall, the fast food group opened 30 outlets last year in France and welcomed 450 million customers”. C’est la vie, unfortunately.