News: Burgers to overtake pizzas in Italy.

It's 10 years since I was last in Italy and I remember a Macdonalds at an outlet village. They were offering salads with their burgers but they weren't exactly taking over.

You have to admire McDonalds. Pizza Hut and Dominos don't exist in Italy as far as I know and now you say they sell rice in Hong Kong etc I can see their game

*rice

Whereas in China, it seemed just like the regular menu, other than the addition of rice in, and fried dough stick for breakfast.

McDonalds sold rice in Hong Kong and cous cous in Istanbul last time we visited.

In McDonald's in Greece, many many years ago, they also sold pasta. Not American or Greek. It was odd.

I think burgers are quite a bit cheaper, so will appeal to young people too.

My job took me to literally many times in various regions all over the country. In the 25 years I travelled there I noticed that there were more McDonald’s popping up in towns and I also noticed the teenagers were getting heavier. The pizza in Italy is very very thin and usually made from scratch as are all the pasta dishes, with no additives or junk.

A series Jamie Oliver did a couple of years ago when he delved into Italian cooking and travelled to many different regions. In that programme he highlighted, somewhere in southern Italy, the only McDonalds in one particular town closed through lack of support. I thought at the time good on the Italians far too discerning to eat that crap when they have one of the finest cuisines in the world! but I guess it's the youngsters who drive the demand for burgers