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Comment by spywaregorilla | Hacker News Reader

well the flip side take is that other countries put a premium on the american brands we consider trashy

This was a shock to me. During college back in India I had a friend who used to live in Canada. When I suggested going to McD for food, he was like no it's too trashy and the food is bad. I couldn't believe that cause the lines at McD were long.

After coming to the US I understood what he meant. Burger king in India is almost gourmet compared to what you get in USA

And Burger King in Italy IS gourmet. You have to compete with your competitors, in North America it’s a corporate franchise fast food wasteland and the bar is set exceptionally low.

McLuhan was right: "the medium is the message".

In this context, the "medium" is the country where KFC/McD is situated, and the "message" is the set of food standards or "the bar" as we're calling it in this discussion.

America truly has bad food standards in general, so the KFC/McD in America reflects that reality. In contrast, Italy has a much higher bar for what is considered food, and KFC/McD reflects that as well.

In Managua, Nicaragua ca. 2000 McDonalds was a sit down restaurant with waiters.

It was the same growing up in San Jose, CR. My friends would always meet up on Saturday nights at the Burger King next to the San Pedro mall. It was so fancy! American fast food wasn't cheap either, probably 2-3x more expensive than most other places you could eat in town.

Was it the same food as we get in the US, just with better service/setting?

In my experience, yes. A Big Mac is a Big Mac pretty much everywhere. The non-US stores do often have some menu items that are targeted to local tastes, that you would not see in a mainland US store.

The McDonalds in Rome near Termini had an amazing desert bar!

I wonder if the international franchises have more freedom to vary the menu? I'd guess the standard signature items like the Big Mac and fries are pretty much mandatory though.

sometimes. I remember trying a pizza from an US chain in mexico and it wasn't like the US version (not as good).

Of course it was fast food pizza, so you get what you get.

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