At Work Out to lunch Europe's long, languorous midday meals would not work well in America, where food is never fast enough. Whether in a cafe, an auberge, or one's own kitchen, lunch in France is a long and languorous family affair. Compare this with the American tendency to treat meals as little more than an excuse for business meetings.
Food is an afterthought, the more precious and minimal, the better.
In France, fast food is anything that doesn't require picking the vegetables or plucking the goose. I recently saw a storefront called McDonald's Express, as if a regular McDonald's isn't fast enough. Because I was on vacation, I fantasized about adopting siesta here. But then I recrossed the pond, and realized, of course, that it would never work here. On the very first day of the grand siesta experiment, some sharpie would break the agreement and stay open just to get a jump on the competition.