Let Them Eat Fast Food

French cuisine just got a little less haute, the Daily Telegraph reports. As the recession hammers consumers and restaurants alike, some of France’s top chefs are opening fast-food offshoots. Expense-account meals running $450 per head are out and $6 ham sandwiches are in as famed restaurants like l'Auberge du Pont de Collonges target today's smaller wallets.

"We are at a historical turning-point in cuisine," one food consultant says. Although “fast food” may not be the term—one mid-priced meal of baby broccoli soup, lobster ravioli, and scallops costs $35—lines go out the door at popular Paris restaurants. “The three key words in today's restaurant business are 'quick', 'good' and 'not too expensive,” a Louvre chef says.
(More financial crisis stories.)