MaDonal

MaDonalds (Sorani Kurdish: مادۆنال‎) is a restaurant located in the city of Sulaymaniyah, Iraqi Kurdistan. It is designed to resemble the fast food chain McDonald's both in appearance and in menu;[1][2][3][4] for instance, MaDonal's menu includes "Big Macks."[5][6] It is one of two McDonald's-like restaurants in the town; the other one, Matbax, claims that MaDonal is "cheap quality".[7]

Not to be confused with McDonald's.
MaDonal
Restaurant information
Owner(s)Suleiman Qassab
Previous owner(s)Mukesh Ausesb
Head chefWill Sacseb
CitySulaymaniyah
CountryIraq

The owner, Suleiman Qassab, fought in the Kurdish resistance during the 1970s. He became a refugee in Vienna, Austria, where he got a job as a cook at McDonald's. In the 1990s, he applied for permits to create a McDonald's in Iraq, but the McDonald's Corporation turned him down, due to economic sanctions imposed during the regime of Saddam Hussein, as well as the controlled economy of Iraq at the time. In response, he established MaDonal Restaurant, which is still in business.[8] Since establishing MaDonal, Qassab has offered free food to U.S. forces, been threatened,[9][10][11][12][13][14] and has become a "Kurdish celebrity."[15] Qassab hopes to one day turn MaDonal into an actual McDonald's restaurant.[16][17]

MaDonal is popular with Sulaymaniyah's youth,[18][19] and the upper middle class.[20] It is open even during Ramadan, the month of fasting in Islam.[21]

Sociologist George Ritzer sees MaDonal as part of a trend of other countries developing their own regional variations of McDonald's.[22][23] Journalist Christopher Hitchens said it was "reassuring" to see signs of progress like MaDonal "in an atmosphere that only a few years ago was heavy with miasmic decay and the reek of poison gas."[24]

Qassab is just one of many who have requested permission to open up a McDonald's in Iraq.[25][26] Should this happen, there has been speculation by some about whether McDonald's will eventually take legal action against MaDonal.[27][28][29][30] However, MaDonal appears safe for now, as one journalist notes: "The flow of applications to open an Iraqi McDonald's stopped as quickly as it started, and the corporate lawyers never came to Sulaymaniyah."[31] The first McDonald's in Iraq was opened in Baghdad in 2006. It only served U.S. soldiers at first; another store for Iraqi civilians was opened later.

See also

References
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  2. Fam, Mariam: "Grateful Kurds in Iraq's north embrace Americans and their culture," Archived 2006-11-30 at the Wayback Machine Associated Press 3/20/04
  3. "Iraq's "McDonald's"". Nanfang Daily (in Chinese). 2003-06-09. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
  4. Wheeler, Tony (2007-05-08). "Iraq: A foreigner in the axis of evil". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-05-11.
  5. Constable, Pamela: "Kurds Adapt to a New Order in Iraq; Leaders Give Up Dream of Statehood, Urge Federalist Rule to Protect Status," Archived 2004-01-13 at the Wayback Machine The Washington Post, August 12, 2003 Tuesday, Final Edition, A SECTION; Pg. A08, 1268 words.
  6. Serchuk, Vance: "Erbil Remedy Federalism is not a panacea for Kurdistan," Archived 2008-03-28 at the Wayback Machine The Weekly Standard, January 19, 2004, Monday, Articles; Vol. 9; No. 18, 1987 words.
  7. Goodman, Peter S. (26 May 2003). "Familiar Logo On Unfamiliar Eateries in Iraq: Kurdish Entrepreneurs Bring In a Taste of the West". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 19 July 2005. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
  8. McCarthy, Terry (March 14, 2007). "WHERE THEY DON'T SHOOT AMERICANS". ABC News Blogs. Archived from the original on March 23, 2007. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  9. Xulamm Kani: "Striving for Cultural Acceptance: the Kurdish Experience," Archived 2007-12-22 at the Wayback Machine Keynote Address, School of International Training (SIT), Brattleboro, Vermont, August 17, 2004
  10. Rothwell, Nicolas: "Kurdish rebel cooks up Big Mac’s little brother," The Australian, 7/23/2004
  11. Daragahi, Borzou: "Guns And Burgers," Archived 2008-03-29 at the Wayback Machine CNNMoney.com, May 1, 2003
  12. Daragahi, Borzou: "Iraqis in north eager to display feelings and enthusiasm for GIs," The Washington Times, April 1, 2003
  13. Saulnier, John M.: "Time flies, french fries, American pie and haven't we had enough boycotting already?," Archived 2008-03-29 at the Wayback Machine Quick Frozen Foods International, April 2003.
  14. Daragahi, Borzou (March 30, 2003). "In Kurdistan, an abandoned checkpoint". The Anniston Star. Retrieved 2007-04-21.
  15. Rothwell, Nicolas (July 24, 2004). "Key piece of Iraq jigsaw wants out of picture". The Weekend Australian. p. 14. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-24.
  16. Wright, Robin: "Kurdish Enclave May Lead Way for New Iraq," Los Angeles Times, December 1, 2002
  17. McCarthy, Terry: "Golden Arches With a Twist: Iraqi Burger Joint," Archived 2008-03-30 at the Wayback Machine ABC News, Aug. 16, 2006.
  18. Al-Marashi, Ibrahim: "Battle of flags," Archived 2008-01-11 at the Wayback Machine Al-Ahram Weekly, June 17–23, 2004, Issue No. 695.
  19. Rothwell, Nicolas: "Coming To Suleimaniyah?" Critical Tolerance, Jul 22nd, 2004.
  20. Boag, Michael (2003-10-27). "From Iraq with Love: Michael Boag traces his journey from Istanbul to Suleimaniya". The McGill Daily. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-04-08.
  21. Odenheimer, Micha (2003-11-21). "Such fragile threads". WorldSecurityNetwork. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  22. Ritzer, George: “The McDonaldization of Society” (Revised New Century Edition), page 4. Pine Forge Press, 2004. (Limited Preview Available on Google Books) Archived 2012-11-13 at the Wayback Machine
  23. Sakkinen, Riiko (2007-05-30). "Madonaldization". Archived from the original on 2007-07-03. Retrieved 2007-06-13.
  24. Hitchens, Christopher (April 2007). "Holiday In Iraq; Over Christmas Break, The Author Took His Son To Northern Iraq, Which The U.S. Had Made A No-Fly Zone In 1991, Ending Saddam's Chemical Genocide. Now Reborn, Iraqi Kurdistan Is A Heartrending Glimpse Of What Might Have Been". Vanity Fair. p. 130. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
  25. Hawkes, Steve: “McDonald's swamped by offers to open in Iraq,” Evening Standard (London), Aug 14, 2003
  26. Docena, Herbert (October 24, 2003). "Dying for a McDonald's in Iraq". Asia Times. Archived from the original on April 10, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
  27. "Ritzer, p. xi-xii" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2008-01-02.
  28. Sundström, Eric (2005-07-15). "Everyday observations in Iraq" Archived 2011-05-11 at the Wayback Machine
  29. Scott (2003-05-01). "What's Next -- Kurdish Idol on Fox?" Archived 2007-08-12 at the Wayback Machine
  30. Schwan, Ben (2003-05-27). "MaDonal und Matbax". NETBLOG (in German). NETZEITUNG. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2007-04-20.
  31. MacKinnon, Mark (March 23, 2007). "In the shadow of real war, a burger war". The Globe and Mail. pp. B8. Retrieved 2007-04-20.

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