The arrival of Master Chicken on the fast-food scene might have gone unnoticed if Karim Bouamrane, the Socialist mayor of Saint-Ouen and recent presidential candidate, hadn't decided to oppose the chain's establishment in his city, citing the rejection of "unhealthy junk food." --- And it's true, like Tasty Crousty, Popeyes, and others rushing into the "Chicken vs. Beef" market, Master Chicken is indeed junk food! But junk food isn't just a health issue; it's a multifaceted problem-health-related, of course, but also social and environmental.
Bringing Poultry Back Home
To criticize these chains, many point to the fact that the poultry is produced abroad. Indeed, the chickens travel, mainly from Spain or Poland, where they cost half the price. We don't care about the nationality of the chicken or the farmer; the only thing that worries us is the energy cost of transporting food, sometimes transcontinentally, solely to lower labor costs and increase profits.
Faced with the popularity of "buy French," the junk food industry is working to bring French poultry back to the French market. To do this, they need to lower production costs, and therefore deregulate the construction of giant chicken farms in France to compete with Poland. Chicken farms like the one planned for Celle-Lévescault, in the Vienne region, are being opposed by a group of residents (see Courant alternatif "Factory Farms: The Resistible Rise of Agribusiness?" on oclibertaire.lautre.net). Lobbyists working for these industries are omnipresent in the halls of Parliament!
But who exactly are these winged creatures? They are fast-growing "Ross 308" chickens, creatures born from the Frankenstein laboratories of the agribusiness industry; this at least has the advantage of allowing them to live for only 40 days in enclosed buildings at a density of 20 per square meter, while their more environmentally friendly counterparts, labeled "Label Rouge," "farm-raised," or "organic," are confined for 81 days (a kind of "punitive ecology" for birds).
LFI (La France Insoumise) is getting involved... and rightly so... The controversy stems from the fact that the LFI mayor of the neighboring city, Saint-Denis, Newly elected Bally Bagayoko attacked his counterpart from Saint-Ouen by posting a photo of himself buying a meal at Master Poulet, both to show his support for the chain and to settle scores with the Socialist Party (PS). The two men competed for the presidency of the inter-municipal structure "Plaine Commune." Bagayoko won, but he continues to suffer, in addition to a barrage of racist attacks orchestrated by CNews and the far right in general, the consequences of the onslaught of attacks against La France Insoumise (LFI) from the entire political class, and the PS in particular, in the current pre-election climate. Bagayoko believes that trying to prevent Master Poulet from opening ignores the fact that working-class people have no choice but to consume this low-cost food.
... to denounce a gentrification project behind the PS initiative. Bagayoko is obviously right, because behind the municipality's stated desire "to make Saint-Ouen the best city" lies a hidden agenda. In terms of quality of life," and behind the attempted ban, there's a poorly disguised urban project: attracting wealthier populations, preferably left-leaning voters, by offering them an environment more in line with their desires, more "traditional" restaurants without being chic or "gastronomic," cultural spaces befitting their class, and guaranteed security. In short, it's called gentrification, which would attract investors for an educated, intellectual petite bourgeoisie with more secure wallets than the clientele of these fast-food chains that the "eco-conscious hipsters" reject primarily because they can afford them and because they're loath to consume food meant for the poor. Added to this is a certain class contempt that suggests this population, which eats fatty and sugary foods, is somewhat irresponsible and ill-mannered.
Master Chicken, a capitalist enterprise like any other.
However, there's a line that shouldn't be crossed between this and defending Master Chicken. Denouncing the unspoken aspects of... Socialists, yes; portraying these brands as friends of the people, no. While class contempt is certainly expressed in the desire to refuse such commerce in the city, the brand's desire to conquer popular markets and feed crap to the poor is also contempt, and quite a lot of it!
Master Poulet and others like it are capitalist enterprises for whom poverty, food shortages, low-income populations, and immigrants are targets for conquering markets and making profits. There's no social purpose in that. And this needs to be said loud and clear.
Behind the EUR10 menu, all the horrors of junk food are poorly concealed. Artificially processed food, too salty, too sweet, too fatty... Hygiene is more than questionable. After Argenteuil at the beginning of May, the Master Poulet in Clichy (Hauts-de-Seine) closed its doors on the 28th following a health inspection: "The operating conditions of the establishment do not comply with regulations regarding food hygiene" and constitute "a serious danger to the health of consumers"; "lack of control over the cold chain."
It's garbage, but without the smell or the taste. The chemical industry knows what it's doing in this area: a few drops of a flavor enhancer or an artificial flavoring, concocted once again by food industry labs, and voilà, the alchemy has done its work.
So, denouncing the implicit project of the Socialist mayor of Saint-Ouen only makes sense if Master Poulet is in turn denounced like any other capitalist enterprise that thrives on agribusiness, productivism, labor exploitation, and misery. In France or in Poland. In Saint-Ouen as in Saint-Denis.
jpd
http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4752
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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