One of the saddest things about leaving Singapore for the U.S. is, not only does McDonalds suck they also don’t have curry sauce. Which makes it impossible for me to eat nuggets
@essjax it’s awful and, the vegan McDonald’s clone across the street (Mr Charlie’s) feels and tastes more like McDonalds to me (even tho I am not vegan).
@skinnylatte True. Sadder still is that while we were visiting Helsinki a while back (9 years ago?) even they had curry sauce - we check out MCD's in any country we visit to see what's different and pretty much all of them had more interesting stuff than in the US.
I explain to Americans that McDonald’s is really good in the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore; even if we have great local foods we would actually still choose to eat at McDonalds sometimes (it’s just one of thousands of legitimately good meals)
Which makes them confused
Then I explain to southeast Asians that McDonalds is truly awful in the U.S., which confuses them, because they can’t compute awful with McDonalds
My hot take: the worse the food in your country, the worse your McDonalds. Good food countries have good McDonalds, cos they have to compete with good food!
There’s also a conversation around ‘McDonalds as third place’ in many parts of the world. Clean, air-conditioned seating, good toilets, usually 24/7, fast wifi and power.. it’s the library and cafe for many countries without many of those facilities. Basically, the opposite of its role in American society
I went viral on Indonesian Twitter exactly twice: once when I said ‘Bandung has better coffee than San Francisco’ and the second time when I said ‘omg McDonald’s sucks here’ and people couldn’t believe it
@skinnylatte When I travel, the last thing I would do is to eat American fast food, but I think you're right from things I've heard Europeans say about eating there. One would go specifically for the salads, as he thought them really fresh & tasty and inexpensive.
@CStamp McDonald’s in Malaysia for example is a legitimate cultural tradition. I wouldn’t perceive it as American fast food at all. It’s hyper localized and is just one of thousands of great food options. When I go home I have a big list of street foods to hit up. And there will always be a McDonald’s McSpicy and fried chicken. Which I see as Malaysian. I know other southeast Asians feel similarly.
@arfman I’ve seen the KFC here. I get it. I’ve also seen the KFCs back home that would honestly compete toe to toe with some of the good southern fried chicken over here.
@skinnylatte This reminds me of rural Subway vs urban Subway. At least here in the Midwest US, if you find a Subway in the middle of nowhere, it’s probably pretty decent. You don’t eat at Subway anywhere that might be big enough to have public transit, though; in the cities they’re basically dumpsters with bread.
@skinnylatte I still think about the first time I went to KFC in China. It was GOOD! I really miss it. They had a so-called ‘Mexican wrap’ at the time, which was very not Mexican, but very delicious.
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