Burgers overtake jambon-beurre

Burgers outsold France's traditional jambon-beurre sandwich for the first time in 2017, a report has revealed.

Restaurant marketing firm Gira Conseil described the French obsession with burgers as 'hysteria' after a total 1.46billion were sold last year, compared to 1.2billion sandwiches.

The burger sales figure shows an increase of 9% on 2016, when sales of were burgers and jambon-beurre sandwiches were 'neck and neck'.

Just 12 months later, burgers are reportedly 'well ahead' in sales - though sales from fast food outlets accounted for just 30% of the burgers sold in France. Most were sold at restaurants with full-table service, suggesting that the French have taken a junk food staple and given it something of an haute-cuisine twist.

Despite the rise in popularity of diner-style burgers, France remains the world's second biggest market for fast-food multinational McDonald's.