Scotland.

Forget the media myths of deep-fried Mars Bars etc. However walk into any self-respecting fish & chip shop and everything unless you ask otherwise will be battered/deep-fried.

My personal favourites - battered pizza, sausage, burger & haggis.

Wash it down with an ice cold glass bottle of Irn-Bru = Heaven.

I looked up Irn-Bru, didn't expect it to be pop. Does it have more of a coca cola-taste or is it more like another, say sprite or mirinda or what not?

Argentina -Empenadas
Greece - Gyros
Turkey - Kebab

Americans love fast food. I found the US fast food places best as compared to others in price and variety. Every country serves its traditional foods according to trends some become famous like Bangkok's mobile meal have maintained its repetition in some of the best. Same as you will never find the fast food comparison of Los Anegles. A number of vendors have taken their business on the road, mobile kitchens and every type of food. Just thinking about spicy burritos will make your mouth water. Just take a walk through the Centro Historico and opt for the chefs serving everything across the streets. With favorite street side snakes like hoagies, Italian ices and soft pretzel, its hard to resist the food revolution. But if there's one reason to hit the streets to satisfy your hunger, it's to get your hands on the famous Philly cheesesteak. These juicy sandwiches made from chopped up steak, onions and either American, Provolone or Cheese Wiz cheese have become an institution in the City of Brotherly Love.

In Taiwan - Dan Bing a breakfast "sandwich" with fresh brewed soy milk
In Japan - love the fast food in train stations, quick, fast and cheap - love Okonomiyaki
In Shanghai and much of China go to the noodle stalls where they make noodles fresh. Great taste and price.
In the US East of St. Louis find a White Castle. :cool:

It's an unusual taste, quite hard to compare to anything else. To me it has a slight 'coppery' taste.

I agree with the 'coppery' taste.

To me Irn-Bru can be compared with the beloved Tizer or Lucozade of my childhood (I prefer both of these to Irn-Bru, but I came to Irn-Bru later in life as I'm not Scottish).

Do you know what barley sugar tastes like (boiled down sugar, barley water/麥茶màichá/mugicha and cream of tartar)? If you do the best way to describe it might be barley sugar flavour with a citric & 'coppery' medicinal bite to it.

My husband thinks it is what you might get if you combined cheap supermarket generic lemonade and orangeade and cherryade together.

Surely that should be a slight 'iron-ey' taste given the ammonium ferric citrate! (Made is Scotland from girders!)

I'd go with a bit citrusy, very sweet, with a metallic (I'll leave others to argue copper / iron!) zing to it!

I would have asked the question differently since "best" is such a subjective thing. Best tasting? Best bargain? Best variety? I might have asked, what are your favorite fast foods by country?

It is impossible to compare Mexican street food, to Hanoi and to compare Doner Kabob to Singapore hawkers. And sometimes it is the experience along with the taste/value. One of my most memorable meals ever was a blazing hot day in Beirut, we were starving and we had some lamb shawarma, a lamp sfiha and an ice cold Coca Cola from a street vendor. Nothing ever tasted as good as that. It was over ten years ago and I can still taste it.

I normally don't have visceral reactions to images of foods that are unusual to me, but I have to admit that this one almost turned my stomach - oil, grease, lard, raw garlic...I presume it tastes better than it looks. I can barely tolerate a slight bit of schmaltz on bread

Irn-Bru reminds me of a mix between cream soda and 7-Up gold (remember that?). It's good stuff.

The fact is that fast food is delicious everywhere! and my big belly is proof of it! ;)

^ ^

You should come back then and sample it again :D

Agreed, there is no "one" item that really stands out. Each country/region has its street food/food vendors/hawker centers/fast food joints... But I can say that I lean more towards the Far East region for "fast food"; so much more variety...

Germany. Never met an Imbiss I didn't like. Always enjoyed the little joint under the Mannheim Bahnhof.
Nordsee is not bad.

Japan for me. Amazing variety of things you can find. Nearly always high quality, no matter what. Noodle places. and last but not least, the humble BENTO BOX.