I ate a lot of McDonald's when I was a kid, and I would admit that it was a disproportionate amount compared to what nutritionists or dietitians would recommend to anyone. But McDonald's has been my favorite fast food restaurant from a very young age, and although I have been cutting down my consumption of processed food, McDonald's still remains my go-to for cheat days or cravings.
In the past two decades, many things have changed and although McDonald's was already a global force starting in the '90s and well into the '00s, their influence in the international fast food industry today has grown by leaps and bounds, and we can consider them a major player in the global economic scene, seeing how ubiquitous the McDonald's brand has become.
Without going into how McDonald's expanded their reach internationally over the past 30 years, we know that they have been very aggressive with their franchising strategy, opening stores in different locations all around the world. As of 2023, according to Statista, there were almost 42,000 McDonald's restaurants operating in more than 110 countries. Second only to McDonald's is Subway with around 37,000 chains in 2021. Starbucks, the largest coffeehouse chain in the world, has about 36,000 stores in operation globally in 2023.
From these statistics, we see just how much of a powerhouse McDonald's really is. But that doesn't mean that they aren't subject to cultural norms, practices, or trends, or that they can make universal decisions with impunity. As a matter of fact, McDonald's has had to adapt certain elements of their brand to local tastes, preferences, and aesthetics.
Changes, additions, or removal of food items from their menu have occurred with respect to what the local culture dictates. Although the main items on their menu stay the same, they have opened it up to variations. And photojournalist Gary He wanted to document all those changes. So, he traveled to more than 50 countries where McDonald's was, ordered food from their menu, and took pictures of his orders at his hotel room. He then compiled of these photographs in his upcoming book titled McAtlas: A Global Guide to the Golden Arches.
He shared some of his experiences with Gastro Obscura. According to He, his inspiration for going on this journey was simply to continue the "visual social anthropology" of McDonald's, how it shaped cultures and how it too was shaped by the cultures on which it landed. Taking his lead from John F. Love's own biography of McDonald's titled McDonald's: Behind the Arches, published in 1986 originally, and revised in 1995, He sought to continue that story.
Over the past six years, He collected not just photos of the food items unique to each locale, exhibiting the nuances of the cultural sphere in which McDonald's operated, but also the architectural differences that he noticed. A few such instances was the pagoda-style store in Shenzhen, the first McDonald's that opened in China, as well as the fancy-looking, dome-like, futuristic glass structure of the McDonald's store in Batumi, Georgia, pictured above.
Some notable food item changes or additions were the McBaguette in France, the Nasi Lemak burger in Malaysia and Singapore, cha chaan tengs in Hong Kong, and the McSpaghetti in the Philippines.
The last one actually has a very interesting story as, although the spaghetti dish was introduced in the 1970s, it was discontinued in 1980 except for the Philippines and Orlando, Florida. Furthermore, one particular difference in that spaghetti dish was the sauce. He explained how spaghetti in the Philippines was made with sweet sauce, since banana ketchup is the more popular condiment in the country over tomato ketchup, which has a more tangy flavor.
Culturally, the fact that McDonald's is in over 110 countries operating almost 42,000 stores is quite a feat and could also be a significant driving force in a culture. The way that McDonald's integrates parts of the local culture into its ecosystem can and is being used to export culture into different parts of the world. It's a diffusion phenomenon in which McDonald's becomes the vehicle by which culture has the ability to spread through food.
To know more about Gary He's project, and to reserve a copy of his book, check out McAtlas.
(Image credits: Ресторан всемирной сети/Wikimedia Commons; Gary He)