Burger sales are on course to overtake the "jambon beurre" (ham and butter baguette), the nation's staple lunchtime sandwich.
For the guardians of French gastronomy, the prospect of being served something as unsophisticated as a slab of mincemeat with a bap and slice of cheese has long been considered nothing short of sacrilegious. But now the tables have turned.
In a culinary revolution, three quarters of French restaurants now
sell hamburgers and 80 per cent of these say it has become their top-selling dish, according to a new study.
"Le burger", as the French dub the quintessentially American dish to the despair of purists of the Academie Francaise, has become a feature of even the most illustrious eateries.
Burger sales are on course to overtake the "jambon beurre" (ham and butter baguette), the nation's staple lunchtime sandwich. Last year, the French consumed 1.19 billion burgers, an 11 per cent rise on the previous year, while "le jambon beurre" fell to 1.23 billion.
"Burger mania [in France] is unstoppable," said Bernard Boutboul, head of Gira Conseil, the food consultancy behind the study. "If it goes on like this, within two years the jambon-beurre and burger will be neck and neck."
