McMoscow

<p><br></p><p>McDonald’s invested $50million to establish an outpost in the Soviet Union, and after 14 years of preparation, their first Russian restaurant opened in Moscow’s Pushkinskaya Square on 31st January, 1990.</p><br><p>30,000 residents lined up in the freezing cold to be amongst the first customers to get a taste of America - although the restaurant, at the time the world’s largest, was technically an offshoot of McDonald’s of Canada.</p><br><p>In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how the Soviet authorities clamped down on ‘burger scalping’; compare and contrast the golden arches with Communist iconography; and explain how it wasn’t just the Big Macs, but the customer service, that felt entirely foreign to the Muscovites…</p><br><p>Photo credit: <a href="https://russiainphoto.ru/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Alexander Steshanov/МАММ/MDF/russiainphoto.ru</a></p><br><p><strong>Further Reading:</strong></p><ul><li>‘The first McDonald’s in Moscow that drove the city mad, 1990’ (Rare Historical Photos, 2021): <a href="https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/first-mcdonalds-moscow-soviet-union-1990/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/first-mcdonalds-moscow-soviet-union-1990/</a></li><li>‘The Evolution of Russia, as Seen From McDonald’s’ (The New York Times, 2010): <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/global/02mcdonalds.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/02/business/global/02mcdonalds.html</a></li><li>‘McDonald's opens in hungry Moscow, but costs half-a-day's wages for lunch’ (CBC, 1990): <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckbfS99N6jY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckbfS99N6jY</a></li></ul><p><br></p><p><strong>For bonus material and to support the show, visit</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/Patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://patreon.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>Patreon.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><p><strong>We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts:</strong><a href="https://create.acast.com/episodes/ca1f94a1-0921-446a-ae00-4d4bfd2ba3ef/podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong> </strong></a><a href="http://podfollow.com/Retrospectors" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>podfollow.com/Retrospectors</strong></a></p><br><p><em>The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.</em></p><p><em>Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.</em></p><p><em>Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.</em></p><br><p><em>#90s #Food #Russia #US</em></p><br /><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>

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