Europe is full of thriving cultures and vastly distinctive gastronomic experiences throughout the continent. From fine French food (look out for bourguignon de poulain if you’re a horse lover) to hearty Italian dishes to spicy Hungarian meals the food tourist can have a wealth of experiences trying novel flavors sure to tantalize.

So why in the world would one wish to visit an American fast food establishment with all these options available? McDonald’s France is opening new stores at the rate of one every six days. I suppose the French grow tired of their fancy sauces and pasta dishes and have to sink their teeth into a greasy Big Mac. Don’t try to order french fries in France, there they are known as pommes frites (potato chips).

Personally my experience with fast food was in Germany and I had the urge for a Big Mac. I suppose many Americans spending extended periods of time overseas may have gone through this at one time or another. Call it homesickness, perhaps a longing for Americana, call it whatever…I think this is a common experience for all expatriates.

The Big Mac I had in Germany just wasn’t the Big Mac I knew back home. Tasting it I knew there had to be something different about it. It was terrible. I told myself that it must be that a McDonald’s in Germany seems so out of place, that my subconscious mind held McDonald’s to be a distinctly American institution that didn’t belong in Germany. I also had the thought that Germans just couldn’t prepare a Big Mac the way that it is supposed to be prepared. Maybe the German franchises weren’t allowed access to the secret sauce. I was able to make one positive observation about the German McDonald’s. The awful Big Mac was served with German beer.

So, after my McDonald’s experience, I refused to have any more fast food as long as I was on the Continent. I resolved to do my fast food eating back In America when I returned home. I retained my prejudices and judgments about the Big Mac I tried in Germany and refused to try any of the other American fast food joints I saw – Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken. I wouldn’t even try Pizza Hut though I was tempted.

Years later I stumbled across an article comparing Big Macs all over the world. It turns out that the Big Mac I had in Germany was different than the Big Macs in America that I had been accustomed to feasting on since I was a small child. It turns out that McDonald’s tweaks the flavor of its Big Macs depending on the culture where it is being sold. The differences are supposedly mild, but it was enough for me to never try one again. However, McDonald’s must know what it is doing when it modifies its Big Macs…same store sales grew 7.7 percent in the average European store in the last year.

So it must be that German McDonald’s are good for Germans and American McDonald’s are good for Americans. McDonald’s really has this thing figured out.

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