They Have *That* Here Too!

My first thought was that this was merely pandering to the tourists - it only took a couple of days to realise that it was just mad Anglophilia and they were like that all over the island.

Diet Coke in Peru and Mexico has something that is not aspartame as fake sweetener (and it is just as awful, but not as addictive). This may have something to do with fact that aspartame may be lethal, but who'da thought they'd give a fuck?

Special K in Oz has wheat in it. Just sos you guys kno, it's supposed to be just rice.

Since these two food(?) items together constitute 50% of orally ingested substances for me, each encounter was quite disconcerting.

Diet sodas in the U.S., Canada, and England = My # 1 source of caffeine, please!

The second time I went to Mexico, I found myself in a KFC. I was about 14 years old at the time and didn't know how globally far-reaching most fast food chains were at the time. I knew that McDonald's was everywhere, but I didn't know the other chains were going to be everywhere as well. The food tasted pretty much the same, interestingly enough. I knew better than to ask for a diet soda to drink, though.

Seeing North American products in developing nations makes me feel like throwing up. Anyone who doesn't feel this way should take a peek at Stephanie Balck's film "Life and Debt."

This thread actually reminded me of a lovely story about McDonald's in JA.

A blow to Big Mac in Jamaica
by John Vidal
Guardian Ecosoundings;17th July 1996, UK
Press Index

The global corporation with a reputation for lengthy trials has been told to Mac Off by a high court judge in Kingston. The case goes back several years. There has been a McDonald's Corporation Limited, selling traditional food, in Jamaica since 1971. In 1994, our giant friends announced they wanted a slice of the pie and last year they opened in Montego Bay. But just a month later they served a statement of claim on the Jamaican McDonald's trying to stop them trading under the name anywhere in Jamaica. Bit of a nerve? What's more they built a $3 million restaurant in Kingston, hired the workers and hung a sign saying opening soon...

Whoa, said Mr Justice Orr, ruling last week for the local McDonald's after some serious mudslinging in a preliminary trial. Awarding costs against McHasty, he banned them from opening in Kingston until the full legal action is complete. That will probably be 1998 - or later, given that evidence from the two-year-old McLibel trial in London will now be admissible. The workers that Big Mac employed are furious, the restaurant is good for nothing and the internet McSpotlight website (http://www.mcspotlight.org/) is getting busier by the day: 2.5 million hits so far.

Final verdict: Jamaican McDonald's won!

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Travel/Pix/gallery/2001/02/06/apfood.gif

Actually it pisses me off that when I get homesick and want Stupid Huge Supersize portions, 'supersize' here is the equivalent of 'medium' in North America.

Subway too - every country I've visited in the last three years except Jordan I think. I first saw Subway in Canada....did it originate there, or was it originally from the US?

Also, authentic Oirish pubs to thread!

http://www.oemsupplies.com.au/images/IGA_Logo3.gif

It throws me that IGAs are all over the place in Australia. Here in the South, they're usually found in little towns with less than a 1,000 people, usually with a coke bottle machine out front and bags of fertilizer on a dock out back.

If you're in a town with an IGA, it's likely because a Big Star or Piggly Wiggly would be too much for the place. So to see them in not just an urban area, but the largest metropolitan region on the continent, was a bit weird.

Heh i just made the comment last night that IGA's (in Queensland anyway) are either wanky, expensive nonsense, or totally povvo cheap shitpits.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1206/595139772_938d711be1.jpg?v=0

You all come back to IGA now, y'hear?

Starbucks franchises are multiplying alarmingly quickly in Madrid, despite the fact that delicious café con leche can be had at any hole in the wall bar or fancy restaurant for a quarter of the price.

Yeah they multiplied alarmingly in australia too, but now they're retracting satisfactorily

Not only does Japan have Mentos, they have a bunch of wacky flavors we don't have in America. Same with KitKats too. Also, Wendy's is really big there.

zomg Mr. Plains that would flip me out. In Idaho/Utah, they show up in the kind of towns that have Arctic Circle as the only fast food chain.

Haha wilter, can ANY non-native thing enter Australia without taking it over almost entirely?

Some years ago I was quite surprised to find Smirnoff Ice widely available in Kenya - even in rural areas. It was the favourite tipple of the guy I was staying with for a bit, and he didn't like it when I told him it's seen as a drink for girls in England.

It's kind of mind-blowing to imagine a land where it ISN'T seen as a cheerleader srink.

xxpost krispy kreme is the latest one i can think of

xpost - It's what hip young guys drink there, or so he claimed.