LETTER FROM UKRAINE

by Marta Kolomayets

"Big Mac Index" comes to Ukraine

KYIV - There's a certain comfort factor for me in the fact that McDonald's has finally arrived in Ukraine. I don't know whether it's because it reminds me of home: there's a McDonalds just a few blocks from my parents' house in Chicago where I would meet with friends for heart to heart conversations. Or because it reminds me of my childhood: we always had McDonald's hamburgers at our birthday parties, so a trip to McD's was always considered a special occasion. Or because when I have to use a bathroom midday, while running around town, now I know that I will be able to pop into the brand new, sparkling facilities at one of the two new McDonalds, and enjoy a McPyrih (as the apple pies are called) as well. No matter where I travel in Europe, be it Prague, Rome or Warsaw, I always identify where the nearest McDonalds, is for precisely these relief reasons.

The Golden Arches are a reassuring symbol that things are all right in this world; Thomas Friedman, of the New York Times recently wrote in a column that McDonald's also plays the role of peacekeeper, pointing out that no countries that are hosts to McDonald's have ever been at war with each other. Open a McDonald's in your country and you are less likely to go to war with other countries and if we follow this logic, we can rest assured that Ukraine and Russia will not go to war with each other.

All kidding aside, McDonald's is definitely a measure of a country's well-being and growth. Based upon the theory of purchasing power parity (PPP) - the notion that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries, even the Economist recently reported that for more than a decade, its "Big Mac Index" has been used to show whether currencies are at their "correct level." Recent research also suggests that a currency's deviation from the "Big Mac Index" over the past year predicts the direction of exchange rate movements for eight of 12 currencies of large industrial economies.

The first customers at the first McDonald's, which opened at the Lukianivska metro station on May 24, were an elderly Ukrainian couple. They had camped out in front of the McDonald's almost all night in order to be the first customers to order "two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun" in Ukraine. They then proceeded to order two of each on the currently limited McDonald's menu.

According to Karl Fritz, the general director of McDonald's Ukraine, they came to see what freedom tasted like because they were convinced that once McDonald's came to Ukraine, there was no going back.

This story reminds me of my husband's reaction to McDonald's. I remember the first time I introduced my then fiance to this fast-food haven. It was in Moscow in 1993 and he was pleasantly surprised with the conveniences of this typically American phenomenon now found in 102 countries in the world. (Ukraine was No. 102). He liked the food; he liked the fact that it was fast and affordable. To this day I remember his reaction: "For your typical Soviet person, this is an opportunity to experience a bit of American culture. When McDonald's comes to Ukraine, I know we will never go back to Soviet times."

Over the past several weeks, I have observed the long, long lines of young children with parents, teenagers and college students line up to order their hamburgers, Bih Maks (Big Macs) and fries (kartoplia fri as it is called here). They are looking to a future that will provide them with the same kind of comforts we have in the West, a future that will allow them to experience the same kind of things their Western colleagues have known for many years and will make them feel that they are not some kind of backward cousins.

And perhaps the most telling episode of what kind of symbol McDonald's is to the people of this region of the world happened in Belarus a few weeks ago. McDonald's opened its doors to the people of Belarus a few months ago in Miensk. The lines have been long and the burgers have been in great demand. Apparently, "Dictator" Alyaksandr Lukashenka did not like the fact that Ronald McDonald was more popular among the young people than their fearless leader. He began criticizing the McD menu, saying that the prices were too high; he was also displeased that the menu did not feature "Belarusian cuisine." And there were rumors that he wanted to change the name to "Lukashenka's."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 6, 1997, No. 27, Vol. LXV

| Home Page |