French Ketchup?

Not sure what you had, but the biggest taste difference between here and Euro is most America ketchups use high fructose corn syrup versus cane sugar. Pick up some organic ketchup made with sugar and you may find it has a taste similar to Euro ketchups. p.s. Eating a burger in Paris?!! You wont get thrown off the Rick boards for that, but don't venture over to that slow travel crowd with that question!!!

@Michael - Actually, burgers are all the rage in Paris and the rest of France right now. You can find them in the familiar form and all sorts of haute cuisine variations.

I read where one burger chain in Paris offered a foie gras burger for a limited time recently.

Even big companies like Heinz use a different recipe for their ketchup in the various countries, so it is going to taste just a little bit different in France or Germany or the UK.

This has nothing to do with ketchup I know but I would like to say just one thing in praise of MacDonalds. I have always avoided burger bars like the plague, especially chains, and had spent many hours arguing the case against them, however when visiting Paris with 5 children under 10 it was the only place in the city centre where I could afford for us all to eat. We were well fed (by this I mean we were no longer hungry) and watered and it cost a fraction of the cost of any other establishment on the Champs d' Elysees. I had to eat my words because they were a life saver with 5 hungry and foot weary children. Sometimes needs must.

A wild guess on the brand of ketchup: Calvé. But can there really be any better ketchup on this earth than Heinz?

I should have said American Heinz ketchup. Whose recipe deserves to be ranked with such other great American achievements as the light bulb, the bra, the Gillette razor, Coca-Cola, and the Zippo lighter.

Ketchup. Yuck! "A tomato/vinegar based glop often used to disguise poor cooking." Similar to the "steak sauce" squirted on grilled meats to hide inferior quality. Trying to distinguish between brands/varieties of that stuff is like trying to grade various rubbish streams. Completely hide the taste of foods, IMHO.

Tom is right. There is no other ketchup that even comes close to Heinz. It is Pittsburgh's gift to the world.

....I thought Pitt's gift was Primanti Brothers sandwiches?

It definitely wasn't Heinz or any recognizably American brand... I guess I will just have to wait until my parents vacation there in June and send them out on a hunt for some. Also, I didn't set out to eat a burger... but my rudimentary French escaped me after a long day and 'burger poulet' was about all I recognized on the menu. (And since I was traveling with a strict Vegan, we were just popping into the most simple seeming restaraunts we could find)

I can say the best catsup I have had is Tradjer Joes brand. No more Heinz or Del Monte for me now.
Give it a try, you will be pleased.

Facts about McDonalds and France: There are over 1,000 McDonalds restaurants in France. They serve over 1 million customers a day
France is the second largest market for McDonalds (Guess who's first?) They are one of the largest private sector employers in the country. While we might disdain the thought of going to one in Paris, the French, especially the ones under 30, love it.

"While we might disdain the thought of going to {a McDonalds} in Paris, the French, especially the ones under 30, love it." I've never been to one in France, do they serve wine?

No wine, but they do sell fresh squeezed unpasteurized O.J. Yes I have patronized McDonald's in France, and I make no apology for it!

One thing I forgot to mention......about 85% of the ingredients found in the food at McDonalds in France comes from France.

If you live near a Trader Joes or Whole Foods you can get organic Ketchup/Catsup with NO high fructose corn syrup AND you will notice the difference in taste.

Hunt's ketchup is "no high fructose corn syrup". It's sold at every supermarket...even Walmart. No need to patronize Whole Paycheck:)

Michael from Phoenix, I am impressed with your knowledge of Pittsburgh. Yes Primanti's sandwiches are great. p.s. Pitt is the University, Pittsburgh is the town.

French Happy Meals have the best toys! Everywhere we go - we go to McDonald's. It's fun for my son to see what is different in each country and it is a good bribe. And, while he is mainly in it for the toy, it also holds him over between meals. It's a vacation thing - when a kid hoofs it around a foreign city for eight hours straight I feel no guilt throwing a Happy meal his way!

"France is the second largest market for McDonalds." Sorry Frank II, not true by a long shot. There are more than 3500 stores in Japan. Also, Canada, the UK and Germany have more stores than France.

This post made me smile. One of my fondest memories of our first trip abroad in 1972 was the ketchup in Israel. Chani, are you there? Was it called Aziz? Should I be looking at fares to Tel Aviv?

For a picture of the foie gras burger, check out the Paris Daily Photo website. parisdailyphoto.com Edit - I don't see any ketchup....

Michael, market size is not measured in number of stores. It's measured in revenue. And France is second only to the U.S. in revenue. From the NY Times: "The French operation of McDonald's is the second most profitable after the one in the United States. French patrons are also the world's biggest spenders: an average visit here amounts to about $15, including tax, versus $4 in the United States." From NPR... "France is McDonald's biggest market after the United States, but many in France see the fast-food chain as the Trojan horse of globalization and the scourge of the traditional French meal. " From the National Post (Canada): "France is meanwhile emerging as McDonald's biggest source of revenue outside of the United States. Sales at the company's 1,115 outlets in France will rise this year to a record 3.35 billion euros, McDonald's has said."

Hold the phone, Frank II. Here is the problem with your analysis. McDonalds stores are operated under a separate, publicly traded company in Japan (McDonalds Holdings Japan). MHJ is operated as a 50% affiliate with McDonalds corporation according to the 8K SEC filings. MHJ is forecasting revenue of US$6.4 billion in 2010. This is in comparison to revenue projections of US$4.4 billion for French McDonalds. http://www.nhk.or.jp/daily/english/17_01.html

But Michael, how much of that revenue actually goes to McDonalds and how much stays with the Japanese company? McDonald's corporation own McDonald's France out right. It's a division of the McDonalds corporation. No separate company. All revenue goes to McDonalds. What you're saying is all the media outlets reporting that McDonald's France is the companies second largest market are wrong? They get their information from McDonalds. From the 2009 Annual Report: Europe has 6,785 restaurants with a total revenue of $9.2B Asia/Africa/Middle East had 8,488 restaurants with a total revenue of $4.3B And I'm going to stop here....according to the new community guidelines...I've gone over two postings per thread and have gone off topic. Sorry

And before anyone gets to sanctimonious about McDonalds, realize there are a number of homegrown fast food chains pervasive in France - Quick for one. This leaves me with one more post to offer on this thread. Whatever will I do with it. Hyperlinks are so last week...

You are right not all that revenue goes to McD Corp. Still, they are branded and licensed McD stores and there are more of them in Japan than France. More McD product is consumed in Japan than France. My figures come from the link I provided and the data you provided (euros converted into us dollars using current exchange rate). I'm moving on.

I don't like ketchup, but I have a theory. Heinz is so widely used in the US that maybe anything different tasted good. I think I've read that Heinz sells 80-90% of all ketchup here. That includes most of the bulk ketchup in restaurants.

Kent...As far as I am aware I think that Germany is one of the few places where you can get a beer/wine with your meal in a McDonalds. It would seem that the Germans were not patronising the outlet until beer was introduced to the menu.

Did we ever decide what the brand of ketchup was? On a related topic, I still find it funny that curry ketchup is considered a "spicy" food here.

Well, I guess I will have to find out for myself... I booked tickets during a crazy Iberian Air sale the other day for $291 RT to NYC to Paris. So excited!

$291 RT including taxes and fees...was that your total cost? If so, that's incredible! As for the ketchup brand, it could have been Heinz. The French were collectively pissed off by the Freedom Fries flap a few years back, and I seem to recall that some Republicans in Congress also invented W ketchup to go along with their Freedom Fries. When you consider Senator Kerry's ties to the Heinz family, it all adds up. It has to be Heinz. :)

A famous French brand of condiments is Amora, their ketchup can be found just about everywhere in France, so perhaps this is what you had - Heinz of course is easily available too. As for alcohol in McDonald's, in France you can have a beer (Kronenbourg 1664) with your meal. I once heard that McDonald's goes to great lengths to tailor its products to the tastes of each of its markets, which is probably why it has such global success.

"I once heard that McDonald's goes to great lengths to tailor its products to the tastes of each of its markets, which is probably why it has such global success." If they serve Kronenbourg, does that mean that the French have mediocre taste in beer? ;)

Or it could have been curry ketchup.