Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce

Have it your way. Oh, wait, that's that other place. The Canadian one. Never mind. The golden arches arrived in the town across the river from us a few years ago. They're strategically located on the road between the autoroute exit and the zoo. We haven't been, although a few days ago I saw a sign in town advertising their Montbéliard burger. Montbéliard is a small city in the Franche-Comté region of northeastern France near the border with Switzerland. It's mainly known as the place where Montbéliard sausage comes from, a smoked pork sausage that's among my favorites. Montbéliard is apparently known for dairy cows, too. I wondered if the restaurant was making smoked pork burgers. Alas, no. The burgers are made from the dairy cows.

This sign is not for the restaurant closest to us.

If this year is anything like 2013, at least 43.6% of the beef* (100% pure muscle) in that burger is from the race of cows known as "Montbéliard," raised in France. The rest (the majority) of the "beef" in the burger comes either from Irish, Dutch, or Italian cows, or any combination thereof. I suppose that when the Montbéliard cows are ready to retire from their dairy careers, 43.6% of them are sold to that burger place. According to the restaurant's web site, they have very rigorous criteria for their "beef," a word that they are very careful to tell readers is defined by whichever laws are currently on the books. You can look them up if you like reading French legislation. The web site also points out that the muscles used for the "beef" come mostly from the front end of the cow; cuts like the shoulder, neck, and short ribs, for example. Or some other ones that are like those. Mostly. Bon appétit !

*To be fair, the web site says that this is a general figure applied to all the "beef" they bought for their restaurants in France. Last year. It probably doesn't apply to each individual burger. Or this year.