Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Every time that I travel overseas, I make it a point to try the McDonalds there; I'll sometimes try other American fast food joints, too. I think its just interesting to see and try the different menu items outside of the US.
Sometimes, the fare isn't anything to write home about, like the taro and pineapple pies I ate at a Beijing McDonalds.
But, other times, the food actually has been pretty darn good and I'm bummed that they don't have the items stateside. I'm thinking of things like the Ayam Gorem McD fried spicy chicken (wings, thighs, etc.) that they serve at Malaysia McDonalds:
Its always an adventure for me! Is this all I eat when overseas? No. In fact, its only one of many meals that I'll eat. I know there are others out there who do the same
After almost three weeks of eating exclusively Indian meals, we stumbled on a McDonalds in Mumbai on our last day. YAY! Climbed the stairs and found half our group there chowing down guiltily....LOL.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,741 posts, read 58,090,525 times
Reputation: 46231
The kids were all into a Mc D full breakfast (pancakes) after 8 months in Europe eating melba toast, cheese and Hamon for Euro style breakfast,
Similar after a yr in Asia eating chicken and rice for Breakfast.
I don't mind a Tony Romas All-you-can-eat rib dinner after a few months eating international cuisine. (which is fine, but equally tiring (even in Thailand, but less so).)
The $0.50 - $1, (local currency) Soft Serve cones are a treat internationally, (KFC / McD)
As was Pizza Hut and Domino $5 personal pan pizza in NZ and AU (where $8 'fast-food' meals are pretty common). Yes... I did do the NZ / AU version of FF / 'Pie', but a 80mm Pot Pie for $3.75 is not quite the sustenance of a 300mm full load Pizza. (when feeding (2)) for <$5/ day.
In USA $1 - $2 will buy you a FF meal. (not often for us).
Was nice to return to the USA for $1 Whoppers after Euro assignment. ($5-$8 min for a quick lunch in Spain and France. Italy a bit better. )
KFC, McDonalds, BK, Pizza Hut, and Subway seem to be the most common. Popeyes shows up in weird places, like Korea. There are Taco Bells in Central America (and Korea), but I've never seen one in Mexico. Dairy Queen is also common.
I'd say my favorite was Whataburger in Guadalajara, Mexico. It's relatively expensive but those burgers are as good as fancier burger places and you can order a beer.
In China, Starbucks was a good place to have breakfast and McDonalds was a good place for either lunch or dinner. The only reason to go to these places for me was that they had English language menus which was a good option when I was traveling around China rather than at the my Chinese "home base" where I was working at the time. (In my Chinese "hometown" I made a point of going to local restaurants rather than American chains.)
Out of all my trips to Europe I only hit a McDonalds once. We were staying in France just on our way to Spain and staying near the interstate. We drove into the nearby small town around dusk and not really comfortable with our surroundings so we went back to the interstate and checked out the McDonalds. It was surprisingly good and the burgers tasted a lot better than in the states. This was several years ago and it was my first experience ordering on stand alone kiosks also which was neat.
It does bother me though visiting other areas such as Amsterdam and seeing the growing number of American franchises gaining in popularity (my personal feelings).
I understand a lot of tourists like the comfort of eating something they are familiar with but I always think if you travel that far to see new things you should also try the local cuisine.
I understand a lot of tourists like the comfort of eating something they are familiar with but I always think if you travel that far to see new things you should also try the local cuisine.
Absolutely! To me food is great exposure to a culture and my favorite part of traveling.
However I find it funny when people act like since traveling every single meal should be local fare and someone tourists are doing themselves a disservice by trying a restaurant from home they are familiar with. What do you have on a two week vacation about 40 meals? There is nothing wrong with hitting a Taco Bell or something, not only for a taste of home but sometimes for the novelty of seeing what is different on the menu. Mutton Whopper at Burger King in India, Bulgogi Burger at McDonalds in Korea, Nasi Goreng at KFC in Indonesia, chuleta with rice and beans at Wendys in Guatemala, etc.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
