Pizza Hut, Moscow. 1995
There are many great posts about the delicious, disgusting or plain bizarre food on offer in every corner of the world. It’s fair to say that most of the bloggers who write about the food they enjoy on holiday are adventurous in their willingness to try the local cuisine. It is a wonderful way to learn a little about an important part of any culture; after all, what communities do not value food as a central part of their lives?
I also love to try anything and everything (almost) that is on offer when we travel. However If I want to eat where many local people eat, watch them as they enjoy a family meal, and immerse myself in a bit of the native culture, there are few places better than the American fast food outlets found in almost every part of the world. Travelling through eastern Europe in the early 1990s new McDonalds were springing up in every major city. Most had long queues waiting to get in and families would dress up and make an occasion of the visit. This was the place to immerse yourself in the local culture; more so even than in the ‘authentic’ restaurant serving native food.
We were extremely frustrated last year when travelling through Kyrgyzstan. Having spent a week in the mountains eating home cooked food in yurt camps, our group of 10 were heading back to the capital and a scheduled dinner in an Italian pizza restaurant. I was really looking forward to this: not because I had heard about the awesome reputation of Kyrgyz pizza toppings or because I had a craving for familiar food. Having eaten a couple of meals in the large Kyrgyz grills and kebab restaurants, I wanted to see where the teenagers and young couples of Bishkek were hanging out, how they acted, how they dressed and just get a fleeting glimpse of their lives. We were outvoted by the rest of the group, some of whom felt that they didn’t want to waste an evening in Kyrgyzstan eating Italian food as it wasn’t the ‘authentic’ (there’s that word again: don’t you just hate it) experience. This illustrated one of the reasons why we choose independent travel over being in a group unless unavoidable.
A visit to Burger King will not provide a taste of the real China or Brazil. It is unlikely to be the culinary highlight of your trip. It is however still a slice of local life that goes on where tourists are greeted with relative disinterest and left to their own devices. It might also bring you into closer and more natural contact with the people of a country than almost any other eating place. And I haven’t even mentioned the free toilets.
what an interesting perspective, and a very funny post:) also the picture of a pizza hut in moscow in the nineties is hilarious to me as an eastern european:D:D
pizza hut in 1995 moscow…priceless!
pizza hut in India makes a mean tandoori chicken pizza!
yea the Indian Pizza Hut chain has taylored the pizza to Indian tastes. So you find a lot of cheese, spices and meat, all cooked in Indian style!
Funny you should tweet this just now. Had this experience just last night. Some friends visiting and on a budget; free, open air jazz concert in one of the resort towns which we wanted to go to, so couldn’t eat inland away from tourist restaurants. I opted for the local Asian all-you-can-eat buffet, which was not only cheap and full of locals, but proved the first sushi experience for one friend, who’d not tried it before because of the cost, but at a buffet she could have just left it. It proved to be a great success, and made me realize they were seeing how I live in RL, and experiencing 3 cultures all at the same time!
Haha, those Asian buffets are everywhere – and yes, like you say, are a great example of eating local, wherever you are in the world. Glad your meal was a success