3timesalady

I live overseas and eat American fast/ chain food a couple times a month, I'd guess. My relatives here see this kind of stuff as an exciting treat; on my own, I'd probably eat American fast/ chain food once in a quarter, at most.

My issue with American fast/ chain food has very little to do with the fact that it is American and that I should be enjoying local stuff. It's more about the health factor. If I am in a food court at a mall and every place has burgers and fries, then at least with McDonald's, I'm getting a consistent taste (and a semi-assured promise that the fries are being cooked in vegetable oil that has not been used for meat).

kingalien

On a recent EU trip and with the exchange rate everything was so expensive I just ate almost exclusively at McDonalds or Burger King. Yeah it was still expensive $17US for a #1 whopper "value" meal but still better than other places and I know what I was getting. Besides, the burger more often than not came out looking like the menu picture unlike the mess thrown together here in the States.

braslvr

Huh? I've stayed in Japan for weeks at a time and find it insanely expensive to eat out. The only place that I've been to that was higher is Iceland. Sure if you want ramen soup, curry rice or 7-11 take out it's cheap. Simple dinners in restaurants or isakias with 2-3 beers easily run $60+, whereas equivalent meals in the US would be $25-30.

PVDProf

I find myself in American fast food places when I need food fast. While in principle I like other countries' norms that you should sit down and take your time with your food, sometimes that doesn't work when I want to catch a train/plane/one more museum. No time to sit? McFood to the rescue! (This is especially true at breakfast, when the street food isn't out yet.)

I'm not even going to count Starbuck's. A preference for iced americanos keeps me going there (or to other Americanized coffee shops)...most other countries barely know what ice is, let alone consider pouring coffee on it. I consider the miracle of Starbuck's to be that I can walk into stores in countries where I can't communicate at even the most basic level and yet order precisely the coffee beverage I want; this is a cure for my Lost in Translation-itis. (FWIW, I consider Starbuck's iced americanos to be good (7/10), and try to do better than that when I travel.)

wiredboy10003

I always stop at the McDonalds on the Plaza de Angel in Barcelona for a McFlurry. It's really the only fast food I eat when abroad. I luuuv ground up Oreos in soft ice cream. Mmmm.

RCyyz

I'll add my admimssion of guilt to this thread.

Lunch at McDonald's just outside of Casablanca on Dec 25 no less. We were on the road driving from Fez to Casa and just needed something fast when we saw the golden arches. What's perhaps most interesting is that it actually tasted good! Morroccan food is quite good and generally very healthy as well, but after a 10 days it's a little monotonous. McD's was a nice break.

Oxb

I do recall going to a McDs in Rome just for the novelty of having a McBeer.

ksandness

Braslvr, the way to eat out cheaply in Japan is to leave the hotel restaurants behind and refuse to eat anywhere that doesn't display either photos or plastic models of the food in the window. If you have to spend more than $10 for a complete meal, you're not really trying. The mom and pop restaurants are an especially good value, often with non-standard menu items. As a Japanese speaker, I sometimes find the owners willing to chat if they're not too busy.

Now, back to the question at hand. If my hotel in Japan doesn't include breakfast, I normally head for McD's so that I can get something more substantial than white toast, a hard-boiled egg, and tossed salad in a bowl the size of a teacup. The exception is when there's a Pronto (a local chain) in the neighborhood. I love going in and sampling the variety of sweet and savory pastries they serve in the morning, although I've never had the courage to try the "cod roe with extra mayonnaise."

Otherwise, I've eaten at McDonald's in Japan, Germany, and Taiwan, KFC and Pizza Hut in Japan, and at Starbuck's in the UK. I've been to China, but at the time, the only fast food place in the entire country was a KFC in Beijing.

After five weeks in China, I went to spend five weeks in Tokyo, and after all that time with nothing but Chinese food (good as it was), I went to the McDonald's nearest my lodgings and had a double cheeseburger, a shake, AND a sundae, desperate as I was for a dairy fix.

cockpitvisit

I eat at McD & Co quite often when travelling.

I go there to buy time, not food. For this reason, I always order familiar items.

work2fly

While I tend towards local food, I try to mix it up with an occasional American fast food meal. I don't like to eat the same things over again so the fast food option provides some variety and it's also interesting to look for differences between there and here.

McD's in the Philippines are refreshingly cheap (like $2 value meals) and the portions are reasonable (12oz coke, small french fires). I'm still looking for the banana ketchup that is supposedly served in the McDs in Davao - my second home. Have yet to find it. Have found fried chicken and spaghetti (flilpino style) however.

Pizza Hut is pretty bad when compared with local Philippine chains such as Yellow Cab - and it's no cheaper in Phils than in the US. After living in SF for 10 years, I'm used to sorry pizza.

I bought a cheeseburger at a McDs in Koh Samui just so I could break a big bill to buy beer from the local vendors. Of all the places I wouldn't expect a McDs, it was right off Chaweng beach in Koh Samui.

Maybe the most decadent McD sandwich I've ever had was in Osaka...a Double Big Mac with egg. Wow!

I spent close to a month in NZ last fall and after discovering how expensive eating out could be, I ate a fair number of my lunches at Subway where I could at least pretend I was being healthy and save money for the nightly Lamb or Beef roast / fish and chips / meat pie / etc.

abmj-jr

Wow! Except for the occasional special occasion celebratory meal in a high-end restaurant, I have never, in many visits, spent more than $20.00 on a meal in Japan, more often much less. As pointed out elsewhere, you just have to get away from the hotels and tourist traps and into the back streets and alleys. The local spots often have very good fare at very reasonable prices, particularly if you have the main meal of the day at lunch.

Back OT, I had the best McEbi (shrimp) sandwich in Takamatsu. Unfortunately it was a limited time item and I haven't found it again.

JR

Aldoman

I like the Japanese thing of having always a new burger/product for a limited time.

Some people have said that for a breakfast they prefer sometimes McD's, but have you found any countries where breakfasts are not served?

AnalogMan

I am not embarrassed to say that I, however rarely, eat American food (mostly McDonald's) when overseas. Convenience and assurance of tastiness is worthwhile trade-off sometimes. I also like trying the local fare at international McDonald's.

I didn't spend a lot of time looking, but the food options at TLV didn't look too tasty other than the McDonald's. Besides, how can one pass up the opportunity for some Kosher chicken nuggets? Kosher is one guarantee that there is no weird animal parts in it

For those who are curious, it's drier and stiffer than the ones in the US. The BBQ and Sweet&Sour sauces taste exactly the same as at home though.

braslvr

My time in Japan has all been in Hokaido, specifically Tomakomai. I've never eaten in a hotel there. We crawled through every alley and back street over weeks and weeks. The best we could find for dinner were isakias which always ended up at least $35 for food, plus $24ish for 3 beers. We alternated that with a Genghis Khan BBQ place we found which was a little cheaper ~$25, but only served meat, rice, and pickles. We saw only a couple of places there that had the color photos of dishes, and they were not cheap at all. Sounds like it must be much different in mainland Japan.

Back O/T, we ate at McDs for lunch about 3 times a week for $5, because ramen, curry, or 7-11 at $7-10 gets old real quick.

Contrast this to Thailand where I have also spent many months total. I have never once eaten any western food, let alone fast food there other than breakfast included with the room, and never even considered it.

mjm

Heck yes. At 5am on the way home after a couple dozen drinks, McD's is a righteous feed. In Tokyo where I make this exception to an otherwise fairly healthy diet, I find the McD's quality far superior to anywhere else I have eaten the stuff. Cleanliness, quality control, service, consistently good portions of fries, etc. Japan is a solid McD country. The UK, Singapore, China, bleh. Garbage from start to finish. Plus local junk food in those places is a winner over McD's for me every time. Wendy's here is fairly limp though.

And on Japan, McD's 3 times a week instead of the endless variety of Japanese food at under $10? That is indicative of wanting the McD as opposed to being at a loss for choices.