(Source) — Want a side salad with that Big Mac?

McDonald’s says it will start giving customers the choice of a salad, fruit or vegetable as a substitute for french fries in its value meals.

McDonald’s Corp. will roll out the change early next year in the U.S., where people will be able to pick a salad instead of fries at no extra cost. McDonald’s says it already lets customers make such swaps in some countries, such as France.

But now it says it now work to make the options available in 20 of its biggest markets around the world, which represent 85 percent of sales. McDonald’s, which has more than 34,000 locations around the world, said the change will be in place in 30 to 50 percent of the areas within the next three years and 100 percent the regions by 2020.

The world’s biggest hamburger chain made the announcement at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City, where CEO Don Thompson made an appearance on stage with former President Bill Clinton.

In an interview before the announcement, Thompson said McDonald’s is looking at developing other healthy sides that will appeal to customers. He noted that the company could also take the fruits and vegetables it offers in other parts of the world, such as cups of corn and kiwi on a stick, and make them more widely available.

“What is it that customers will choose, and what will they eat?” Thompson said. “What we don’t want to do is just put something on the menu and say, hey, we did it. We really want consumption.”

You know when you go to a burger joint and they have some exotic seafood dish on the menu, and you think to yourself “I would never eat that here”? That’s how I feel about McDonalds now serving fruits and vegetables as a substitute for french fries. So if I eat three Big Mac’s, but get a side of cantaloupe I’ll be healthy as an ox? I don’t think that’s how it works. If you’re going to McDonalds, you’re already chalking that day up as a loss. Have you ever been inside a McDonalds? It’s one of the saddest places on Earth. Kind of like an anti-Disneyland. The employees don’t want to be there, all the customers look awful, patiently waiting for their 10 minutes of satisfaction stuffing a burger down their throat. That’s what McDonald’s was built on, the tears of depressed Americans who hate their life. Now you’re going to take that away and replace it with fruit and vegetables? Shame on you, McDonalds. Let us be fat and miserable in peace.

-Ryan