[bandrami]

For a long time French chefs didn't really "get" burgers. The model of a sandwich as a full meal doesn't really mesh well with French culinary theory and so it took foreign restaurants to build an audience (French burgers have since caught up and then some).

I still dream of getting the seed capital to start my beach burger shack, The Burgers of Calais...

[pcrh]

Indeed. It was only after having lived in the US for a few years that I realized Americans actually considered burgers a "meal".

For most who grew up in the French or similar culinary traditions, a burger was more like a snack, perhaps comparable to a bag of chips (crisps).

[pingou]

As a french I have never heard of anyone considering a burger as a snack, like a bag of chips, and not as a meal. Do you use a burger as a side to something else? Like you would eat it with a kebab instead of fries? Or is it the same for the kebab?

I don't think you can select a meal in a restaurant, then have a burger instead of fries/salad as "accompagnement". You will also not find a burger in the "starters" section on a menu.

[bandrami]

I don't know how old you are but I'm talking about 20 years ago. There is now a menu category ("snackings") that handles grilled items but that wasn't there in the 90s and early 00s, and it was the encroachment of brands like McDonalds and Cinq Mecs that made brands like Big Fernand and le Camion qui Fume possible (not to mention expanding Quick's menu).

[usrusr]

I think GP meant chips as in something you pick up while on the go, not as a side to a full meal. Notice how they mention a bag.

[pcrh]

Until recently, you would have been hard-pressed to find a French restaurant selling anything like a burger, maybe it's still the case?

On the other hand, many Americans think having a burger as the main course is perfectly acceptable.

[QuesnayJr]

Agreed on the "and then some". These days the burgers in France are much superior to the burgers in the UK (unless you go to Quick or something).

[bandrami]

Big Fernand, Camion Qui Fume, and a few others are really doing great work here. I've even heard O'Tacos is toying with a burger offering.