Can anyone say "Supersize Me"?
Not only do I not like McDonalds, but it's full of garbage! When I'm in Europe I want to eat local food, even if it's just a cheese sandwich from the local deli or bistro.

Show me a single "restaurant" guide anywhere outside North America that features McDoginabun.

It is an eaterie...a poor one at that.

Is there a qualified chef anywhere on the premises? In fact anyone who has studied catering at all?

OK - I'm a qualified chef and do home catering. What question do you have? Sorry - I did not read the entire thread.

Uh...funny post about the Amish and all their activity keeping them healthy. Sure they keep busy for most of the day but I work a desk job, train with weights, no cardio whatsoever and keep very trim. People eat like pigs, simple as that...Its the same as people that can't control their drinking, gambling or smoking. In the case of the Amish, theres just that tiny detail of selective breeding you forget about. What kind of workers will your children be if you marry into a fat family..I live very close to a large Amish population, theres a reason they all look so similar.

Oh, and danon...you are an elitist ;)

The only thing that amazes me is that some people are amazed that at European McDs or BKs the majority of customers are locals :-)

You will find some pretty nice McDs or BKs in Europe which are bit different than your every day fast food joint at the next freeway exit:

Budapest, Keleti train station, in a former/ historic waiting hall
Innsbruck, historic city center, nice old building
Stockholm/ Slussen, great view of Old Town and the downtown waterfronts

RE: Where did the idea that any McDonald's food ingredients are not high quality?

Are you serious?

Do you really think McDonald's is high quality food?

Have you ever read anything about nutrition ?

Do you really not know that high fat, high salt, high processed , high caloric, extremely low nutrient food is extremely bad for humans?

Do you own a franchise or lots of stock in McDonalds?

I can see some liking to eat there at times, but most people who do are aware that they are eating high fat, poor quality, junk food.

Have you read Fast Food Nation?

Saw the movie. Was anyone really surprised with Spurlocks results? I thought it was definitely interesting. But come on now, who in their right mind is going to eat that much McDonalds? Someone should do a piece on those folks that smoke through the hole in their throat too. An experiment such as that only serves to educate the weak and stupid. The ingredients that McDonalds uses are certainly "safe" for consumption but the nutritional values are grossly out of balance with what one should be eating. Say what you want but I have been in many a podunk establishment which I could not even guess what kind of ingredients they were using. I'm talking places such as road-side smoke houses, soulfood kitchens and Mexican restaurants. If you think because they are local in whatever country, they are likely cleaner and use better ingredients than MCDs then you are very naive. Nobody disputes that McDs is fine only in moderation. What is funny to me is that everyone that has posted seems to "never eat fast food" poleease. You are not counting Hot Pockets, Hungry man's, Stouffers or even the salt-cured contents of a supposed Lean Cuisine. I would love to know the BF% of those folks consuming such superior, nutritionally sound food.

Well, I am sure there are many countries around the world where one can find worst places to eat than MD's.

Having meals made from fresh ingredients seems to be unimaginable
for the fast food junkies. To them frozen foods like Lean Cuisine or Stoffers are " high class".
They are not .

I eat at McDonald's but not every day, just as I would not eat broccoli every day.

While I am not a frequent visitor to McD's, here or at home, visiting them in other countries is a fun experience to see what's different on the menu-ramen with fish cake in Hawaii, goat cheese salad in France, gelato and espresso in Rome!

If your idea of eating well is having free toilets, good managment and company policies, and eating junk food, than why should other fodorites abhor McDonalds??? Really???? I woner why...?

maybe we don't know how to eat, we like to eat in places we have to pay to go to the toilet...LOL. You can only make me laugh!!!! True!!

BTW, yesterday I was checking a calorie chatter and do you know how many calories you get with a cheeseburger, a small pack of fries and an apple pie in McDonalds? JUST 820 calories!!! Imagine the trash you eat with only these 3 small items!!!!!

danon, I agree. I read these McD's threads and wonder why they get the bad rap all the time. I guess because they are such a presence. There are so many other bad places to eat, much worse than a cheesburger at McD's. At least I think they are held to some standard, unlike privately owned places.

Something similar to this thread seems to pop up every once in a while.

Whether or not you like going there (I eat once every two months.... and I must say I really like their fat-full, odd smelling but still tasty fries), you have to give some credit to a company that serves 50 Million customers every day from its 31,000 outlets around the world. So, who are these customers because reading this thread, it appears no proud local outside-of-U.S. likes to eat there? :)

Lastly, ever heard of Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention? I remember reading a Thomas Friedman (of NYT) quote that to-date, no country that has a McD has ever gone to war with another. Hmm... World peace within reach :) Just kidding. :)

Well I guess the bombing of Belgrade a few years ago didn't count as a war then.

kerouac wrote: "Well I guess the bombing of Belgrade a few years ago didn't count as a war then."

Of course it didn't. The Serbs didn't bomb Washington DC.

The quote was written <b>before</b> the Serbia bombing, so just chill out.

<i>In his book, The Lexus and the Olive Tree, Thomas L. Friedman proposed The Golden Arches Theory of Conflict Prevention, observing that no two countries with a McDonald's franchise had ever gone to war with one another, a version of the democratic peace theory. Shortly after the book was published, the NATO bombing of Serbia proved the theory wrong</i>

'no country that has a McD has ever gone to war with another. &quot;

may be so, but why almost ever time there is some sort of demonstration in a country where there is MD's the place gets trashed? ( like not so long ago in Belgrade - Serbia).
It must be seen as some strange symbol of American power, influence, consumerism, pollution (?).....