While the above literature documents what is perceived to be
causally related to the ascendency of French culinary superiority,
Steinberger (2009) chronicles its descent. Where others see excellence,
he contends that French cuisine is on a downward spiral
which is worrisome, not merely because it signals culinary disgrace,
but because it portends the erosion of the French nation itself. To
fall off the world’s culinary pedestal is akin to the socio-cultural
decay of the nation. The finger of blame for this decline is
frequently pointed at the growing ‘invasion’ of fast-food (Fantasia,
1995; Poulain, 2002), which started in the 1980s and continued
throughout the 1990s. The physical and cultural presence of fastfood
symbolizes for many the homogenizing, “‘one-size-fits-all’
approach to food” engendered by globalization (Gordon and
Meunier, 2001, p. 30) and, therefore, stands at odds with what
others perceive to be a cuisine of culinary complexity and regional
diversity.