I remember my first time walking into a Chinese McDonald’s I felt a rush of familiarity, almost as if I was home in America. A few more glances around the fast-food restaurant and I quickly realized that something was wrong.
When I think of McDonald’s I think of Ronald McDonald and bright yellow arches. It was those items that granted me the false hope of finding salvation. I was sick of not knowing how to order food in Chinese restaurants, so the minute a McDonald’s appeared, I was glad to be able to have the Big Mac I missed so much. All that changed the second I got in line waiting to take my order. A single glance at the menu, and my face was puzzled at the sight before me. It was completely different from the menu I normally see back in New York. It seemed like the menu in China was largely chicken-based. I got lucky as the Big Mac wasn’t extinct yet. Aside from the menu was the cleanup service. I just left my tray there and the staff would throw out the mess I left behind.
A little research showed me that a reason for McDonald’s chicken-based menu is due to cultural tastes. The truth is a lot of Chinese people love to eat chicken (I know I do). While McDonald’s is America’s biggest fast-food chain, the same cannot be said in China. McDonald’s trails behind KFC (What a big surprise! I told you guys that Chinese love chicken). I find it fascinating and a quite funny how culture can chane a burger-based fast food restaurant into a chicken one.
Look at all that chicken ;D
This is really interesting! But it’s not only in foreign countries that the menu differs. Even here in certain states there are differences. For example outside of NY they put mustard on burgers. And in Hawaii you can get a breakfast platter with spam, rice, eggs and sausage.
You must have really distinguished yourself as a Chinese-American in that Chinese McDonald’s then if the menu is mostly chicken-based! Did you went to a Chinese McDonald’s in China?
There seems to be a distinction when the store is in another country rather than Chinese-like. I know there’s a McDonald’s in Bowery St. in Chinatown whose name is in Chinese (麥當勞) instead of English. While it serves mostly Chinese customers (cashiers and workers are also Chinese if I remembered it correctly), it is nothing different from any other McDonald’s that I went to in New York City.
That’s very interesting that a burger-based fast food restaurant was adopted in Chinese culture as chicken-based. I know from experience that you can’t mess with an New York McDonald’s cheeseburger because I have been to various places where they change the toppings, and it just was not the same. I wonder if McDonald’s in China has the same reputation as being so unhealthy like American McDonald’s (being that it is chicken based)?