Българите и "Макдоналдс" – антропологически аспекти
Bulgarians and MacDonalds: Anthropological Aspects

Summary/Abstract: The article dwells on an emblematic cultural change, i.e. the infiltration of the Western fast food restaurant model in a Balkan post-communist country within the context of its opposition to the Bulgarians’ still viable idea of a meal as a slow and long action, often shared with relatives and friends. On the basis of field research material, the anthropological aspects have been analysed of the Bulgarian people’s attitude to MacDonalds, a company, which is the symbol of fast food restaurants in the world. What has been interpreted are the new meanings and kinds of ideas that Bulgarians of different generations invest in the catering establishments of this chain as well as the new social functions that restaurants perform in Bulgarian society. The phenomenon of conversion has been analysed of the of the fast food restaurant, common to the Westerner, into: a prestigious place for meetings and long conversations for young people in Bulgaria; a wonderful microworld for children, who are specially taken to MacDonalds to play (since the children’s playgrounds have almost disappeared from the plans of the Bulgarian cities); and an establishment with the weight of an expensive restaurant from people of the country’s interior where there are no such places, yet, etc. The enemies of that chain of restaurants have not been passed over in silence, either. They see in it a threat to the traditional Bulgarian cuisine and still prefer the home-cooked dish to the sandwich. The cultural and social causes have been sought explaining the paradox whereby most of the customers do not like the meals served at the restaurant and yet frequent it. The author comes to the conclusion that the main product that MacDonalds sells in Bulgaria are not the meals (which are just a formal occasion), but the services, the milieu, and most of all a new, peculiar type of social life. The underlying cause of that paradox is the long-lasting economic crisis, the low self--confidence and the inferiority complexes of the Bulgairan people.

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