75002 - A Battle Royale To Keep McDonald's Out Of Historic Food Hub In Paris

The U.S. and Europe are in the midst of negotiating a historic trade deal that will create the world's largest consumer market: some 800 million people. Despite promises that the agreement will create thousands of new jobs, there's fierce resistance to it in Europe, especially when it comes to food. 

Many Europeans say they want to preserve a way of life and eating that they say America's industrial farming and multinational corporations threaten. A smaller version of that battle is being fought in one Paris neighborhood known as "the belly of Paris." Fast times on the Champs-Elysees: People walk past a McDonald's on one of Paris' most storied avenues. But it's not just McD's that has caught French interest: Fast food now accounts for the majority of restaurant spending in the country. 

Mon Dieu! Fast Food Now Rules In France "Beautiful cherries and melons!" shouts a vendor on Paris' rue Montorgueil, a street in the heart of "the belly."

La suite : NPR