US fast food giant McDonald’s, famed for its beef-based Big Mac burgers, said on Sept. 4 it will open its first ever vegetarian-only restaurant in the world in India next year.
The world’s second-biggest restaurant chain after Subway already tailors its menus to suit local tastes — which in India means no beef to avoid offending Hindus and no pork to cater to Muslim requirements.
It will open its first vegetarian outlet in the middle of next year near the Golden Temple in the Sikh holy city of Amritsar in northern India, where religious authorities forbid consumption of meat at the shrine.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
After the opening in Amritsar, the US chain plans to launch another vegetarian outlet at Katra near the Vaishno Devi cave shrine in Indian Kashmir — a revered Hindu pilgrimage site that draws hundreds of thousands of worshippers a year.
McDonald’s in India already has a menu that is 50 percent vegetarian. The chain serves half a million customers a day in India, out of 50 million people it serves daily in over 100 countries.
Hindus, who account for 80 percent of India’s population, regard cows as sacred. For Muslims, the consumption of pork is prohibited in the Koran.
But growing consumption of food high in fat is spurring concern that India is importing the Western disease of obesity, creating a ticking public health timebomb.
(Liberty Times)
以牛肉大麥克堡聞名的美國速食巨頭麥當勞，九月四日表示會在印度開設全球第一家全素食門市。
麥當勞是全球第二大飲食連鎖企業，僅次於Subway。為符合當地人口味，麥當勞已調整菜單。在印度，為避免冒犯印度教徒，不提供牛肉。為符合穆斯林的要求，不提供豬肉。
麥當勞將於明年中開張第一家素食門市，位置在北印度錫克聖城阿姆利澤的黃金神廟附近。
在阿姆利澤開幕後，這家美國連鎖企業計畫在印屬喀什米爾維埃史諾締維石窟神殿附近的格德拉再開另一家素食門市，該地區是受到崇敬的印度教朝聖聖地，當地每年有數以萬計印度教信徒拜訪。
印度麥當勞的菜單已有五成是素食。印度每天有五十萬名顧客光顧麥當勞。麥當勞在全球一百多個國家中，每天有五千萬名顧客光顧。
佔印度人口八成的印度教徒，認為牛是神聖的。對穆斯林來說，可蘭經禁止教徒吃豬肉 。
不過，高脂肪食物攝取的增加，激發外界疑慮，擔心印度會引進西方的肥胖疾病，造成滴答響的公共衛生定時炸彈。
(自由時報／翻譯：陳維真)
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