Hold the Pickles, Hold the Lettuce

In a few days, I promise a fuller discussion of food in Taiwan, but for the moment, a short discussion of fast food in the Republic of China.

I can't say whether most of the fast food chains that operate Stateside also operate in Taiwan. McDonald's seems to be everywhere, and I have seen outlets for Pizza Hut, Domino's, and of course Starbucks. But for the moment, I'll concentrate on McDonald's, as this is the only one I've really been in.

Nothing, in my view, sums up the differences between America and Taiwan more than the diffrence in experience going into a Taiwan McDonald's and going into an American McDonald's. I have eaten at McDonald's semi-regularly since my arrival, largely because I am now in what I call the point-and-eat stage of cuisine: I favor any restaurnat where I can point at a picture and menu and get service. Many restaurants in Taiwan do, in fact, have menus in both Chinese and English, but waitstaff knowledge of English can be spotty.

Not so at McDonald's, I'm finding. Every sortie I have made into McDonald's has followed the following pattern:

First, I go in and hold up a number of fingers, corresponding to the value meal I want (more on Taiwanese value meals later). This invariably gets me a response in English, which allows me to complete the order without fumbling through my Mandarin phrasebook.

Now, I think this says a lot about Taiwan. In America, McDonald's employees are usually only semi-conversant in English and have absolutely no interest in getting your order right. I cannot imagine a McDonald's employee in America knowing a word of Chinese unless it was located right in the heart of New York or San Francisco Chinatown. Here, I find the McDonald's staff is conscientious and generally speaks very good English.

The menu at a McDonald's here is slightly different than in the States. The Big Mac, chicken McNuggets, and the other usual favorites are all there. But there are a few local differences. For instance, the value meal I usually get consists of two chicken pieces (legs or wings), available in either mild or spicy flavor. In fact, the menu does seem noticably more chicken-based than in the States. I have not seen the Angus Burger or any of the other speciality burgers that McDonald's promotes from time to time. Also, local McDonald's also have what is called McCafe, offering Starbucks-style coffee drinks at least in the evening.

The one thing I have NOT found to be true of McDonald's is any aspiration to promoting themselves as more upper-class than they do in the States. When I took a Chinese history class in college, I recall learning that, on the Mainland, McDonald's has assumed a higher market niche than would be true in the United States, mainly because China has its own traditions of street food that serve what would be the "fast food" niche in America. I had even heard that, on the Mainland, a meal for 4 at McDonald's might cost as much as a whole month's salary for an urban factory worker, though the Golden Arches is nonetheless a popular spot for children's birthday parties, due mainly to the aggressive marketing of "Auntie McDonald" (roughly equivalent to Ronald McDonald).

In Taiwan, as on the Mainland, McDonald's has to compete with a fairly well established native Taiwanese tradition of street food, which offers better, and probably more nutritious, alternatives. Noodle stands seem to be everywhere, as are places that sell a kind of egg wrapped in a pancake. 7-Elevens, which sometimes truly seem to be the centers of Taiwanese life, also sell a variety of bowls of things that can be heated up in a microwave on premises.