Food is a favorite in every culture. Everybody loves food, whether they want to or not. For this weeks blog post, I decided to add a little fun to our segment and talk about junk food. It’s not only American’s who like to have a cheat meal with fast food, other countries like to indulge as well. But how different are the burgers we eat here to the burgers in China or Japan?
I am putting this week’s spotlight on McDonald’s. Why? Because I bet you didn’t know McDonald’s could have shrimp on their menu.
When you are a giant international company, cultures, tastes and diet restrictions cannot be ignored. From not serving beef in India, to serving Halal meat in the Middle East, McDonald’s does a pretty good job of taking advantage of the freedom to customize and localize their menus.
I’m not going to lie, I do indulge in a spicy McChicken meal now and then. But let me tell you, the spicy McChicken patty in Dubai tastes completely different to the spicy McChicken we get here, and will say that I prefer what I get back home.
I have added a little sneak peak on what I thought was interesting on the international menu:
Country: Japan
What? Ebi Filet-O-Shrimp Burger
Mmm, who want’s to say no to a shrimp burger? Essentially a shrimp tempura burger with with battered shrimp, Ebi shrimp tempura sauce and lettuce.
The Japanese folk love it making this item a popular go to on the menu.
Country: Austria
What? McNoodles
Stir-fry noodles with veggies is definitely not something you go to McDonald’s for, but Austrian’s sure did! A popular trend in Austria made McDonald’s jump on the bandwagon and serve this on the menu for a limited time.
Flavors such as Chicken curry and Sweet and Sour sauce were available to enjoy.
Country: India
What? Spicy Paneer Wrap
Beef is not served at restaurants in India, so what does McDonald’s do? They create a wrap with Paneer (cottage cheese) of course.
This wrap comes with lightly fried Paneer in a spicy batter, mustard, salad and a creamy dressing for you to try.
I find it very interesting how a restaurant such as McDonald’s, known for it’s Big Mac’s and McFlurry’s all around the world, has different favorites available in other countries. It is interesting to see how people’s tastes are different around the world where popular restaurants cater to these tastes and customize flavors and meats accordingly.
Even though I talked about junk food, we can see an on going trend of individuals starting to ditch the fast food habit and go for healthier options. Salads and wraps are slowly becoming people’s go to’s and we have noticed this fast food chain to implement changes to adhere to the trends.
My question to you is then will we see a demise of fast food chains in the next 20 years?
Sources: The Food Network, First We Feast