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The article reports on the violent anti-meat campaign in France and the resistance movement among butchers. Topics discussed include the vandalism on several butcheries, the attackers' signature graffiti, the French Confederation of Butchers, Pork-Butchers and Caterers' (CFBCT) meeting with interior minister Gérard Collomb to discuss their safety and the decline in the consumption of red meat due to health concerns and rising prices.

Denis Hennequin, who ran McDonald's in France, is now trying to repeat the success he had in his home country as the new head of the American fast-food giant's European operations. France is the only place in Europe that has consistently loved McDonald's since the first outlet opened there in 1979. A recent study by MKG Consulting in Paris found McDonald's largely dominates the French restaurant sector. Hennequin's strategy for France focused on sprucing up drab restaurants, improving the menu and introducing visitor days. Despite a long conflict at one Paris branch over low pay, he managed to be on good terms with the country's unions. Hennequin will try to apply some of these lessons to other European countries. Sales in Germany and Britain, the two most important European markets, are sluggish. Italy and Belgium remain tricky.

Discusses the Michelin Guide, which is scheduled to release its 100th anniversary guide on February 29, 2000. History of the guide and its three-star rating system for French restaurants; Reticence of the guide to discuss its methods of evaluating restaurants or its inspectors; Criticism of the guide, including suggestions by critics that it is partial to plush restaurants; Economic implications of a good Michelin rating.

The article reports on obesity in France. The rate of obesity in France has started to swell, rising from 8% of the adult population in 1997 to 11% by 2003. Over 40% of the French are now considered overweight. A law has been passed to impose a tax on the advertising budgets of food companies if they do not encourage healthy eating. France has latched on to the fast-food culture.

The European Union (EU) is preparing a list of some 35 different foods and wines which it wants protected by the World Trade Organization. If the EU gets its way, United States' producers will no longer be able to call their sparkling wines "champagne": that name will be reserved for producers from the Champagne region of France. The EU says that its campaign for "geographic indicators" is all about quality assurance and consumer protection. A bilateral agreement between Australia and the EU in 1994 saw the Australians agree to stop using the names of French regions like Burgundy or Chablis to describe their wines.