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On the other hand, I lived in NYC for a long time and was always surprised at how European travelers wound up eating at McDconalds in Chinatown, surrounded by amazing food.

I concluded that humans are very conservative when factoring “lunch risk”. The perceived cost of time, money, and disappointment if they don’t find food they like drives them to McDonalds where they know exactly what they are getting and the risk is zero.

A Swiss acquaintance of mine was the first to show me how this works first-hand. Lemongrass chicken? Congee? Pho? Let’s just get “a Mac”.

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It's something that's even more severe if you're traveling in more rural areas, where the non-chain food places are a lot more hit-or-miss (and can have awkward hours like just not being open at 14:00). Chains like McDonald's have a general predictable consistency, which is especially valuable if you've got kids in the prime picky eater phase who are unwilling to try anything they don't know.

OTOH, I'm actually somewhat interested in visiting McDonald's once in foreign countries because their menus aren't consistent across the world but rather somewhat adapted to the local tastes.

A big attraction of the chain for me is that the servers don't have a personal stake in the success of the restaurant. At smaller or more local places, the owners are working, and they really care. I just want to eat without dancing around their feelings.

The McDonald's at the HQ in Chicago at least used to have a rotating global menu (but I can't been there since the pandemic, so don't know if they still do that). It's also hilarious because it's on Randolph St in West loop (aka "restaurant row")

Yes. I'm far more likely to visit a major fast food chain in another country for this exact reason. It's like a fun little mashup of the familiar and the pseudo-exotic.

I'll have a slightly different take on this -- I suspect quite a bit of this might be a form of a "when in Rome" effect. I'm an immigrant myself, and the number of family members for whom going to a "original" McDonald's (and by original all that is meant is a mcdonalds in the land of where mcdonalds is from) is actually a thing. I suspect a significant portion of the folks who do go in as tourists are either in the "well this is just a quick bite that i know what I'll get cause we need to get to X place on time" or the "OMG A REAL* MCDONALDS" types for whom going to one in the US is an experience itself. Whereas we locals might recognize that perhaps the wealth of coming to somewhere like NYC is the incredible offerings available, I know for quite a few folks that the blander fast food experience actually may be the "novelty" they are seeking out!

Heck - I live in the Midwest and when I'm on the West Coast, I like to stop at Jack in the Box!

It's not that surprising. A lot of people travel for experiences other than food. Eating is just something that gets in the way of doing what they really want to do, and so a quick, safe burger is all they need before hopping to the next stop in their itinerary. Nothing wrong with that.

> always surprised at how European travelers wound up eating at McDconalds in Chinatown, surrounded by amazing food.

My kids were part of a group that recently hosted another school group from Europe. As they were leaving, we asked them about the experience. One of the kids said that it was comforting to find out that America also has McDonalds, and many other kids shook their head in agreement.

Yeah, McDonald's and friends have had no general need to close their places because of lack of customers in Europe.

Counting locations I think compared to other kinds of restaurants their market share is small. Measured in turnover it might be a different story. Few people might enjoy their meal at a McDonald's for 30-60 minutes.

When travelling I choose fast food from a big chain like McDonald's only because it carries the lowest probability of food poisoning as the first meal in a new place - I suppose many adopted the same approach.

Why do you think you risk food poisoning by eating at a local restaurant just because it is in another country? Do you think the locals are worried about food poisoning eating there?

Honestly I find this “I’m risking my safety unless it is a US chain” attitude both limiting and even a little ugly.

> Do you think the locals are worried about food poisoning eating there?

Locals have local gut bacteria and immune systems tuned to the local strains of pathogens. It's no revelation that if you travel far enough, there's going to be some level of incompatibility here.

> Honestly I find this “I’m risking my safety unless it is a US chain” attitude both limiting and even a little ugly.

No idea where you got this from, but I guess you assumed that I'm American and have a specific set of beliefs you observed in other Americans.

To be clear I'm not American and I don't prefer US chains. If I went to Saudi Arabia I would probably go to Hungry Bunny - even if only due to nostalgia.

> Why do you think you risk food poisoning by eating at a local restaurant just because it is in another country

I think you are investing too heavily in the 'poisoning' term. It wouldn't be per se, but it wouldn't help you if the next day you would feel extremely not good.

To be fair, the parent never mentioned traveling in another country. The strategy works equally well while traveling within one’s own country.

If your digestive system tends to have you issues when given unexpected inputs, as is the case for a lot of people, then this is just what you do to stay comfortable while away from home.

> To be fair, the parent never mentioned traveling in another country.

Yep totally missed that, making my comment a little off base. The rest of the thread was about traveling abroad but not the person I replied to.

Ironically the first time I had food poisoning abroad was the morning after a mcdonalds in NYC.

demographics and "long tail analysis" would tell a different story. It was your eyes that counted one population, at McDonalds. There is no direct, countable evidence to your eyes, how many meals were eaten by what people and how often, at the hundreds of food places nearby.

I didn't say all European travelers eat at McDonalds. I'm sure many, many travelers are far more adventurous and eat like Anthony Bourdain.

But I still find it remarkable that McDonalds strikes such a chord with people, particularly people like my Swiss friend who is as cultured and sophisticated as they come. If we were choosing a film, he'd want to see the most difficult, obscure documentary. But choosing lunch - there's just something about the fear of a bad culinary experience that trumps all other concerns.

McDonald's has locations all over the world for a good reason.

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