Fast Food

When I first arrived in China I noticed that the chain restaurants in the USA were also here and I was fully against them. I refused to go inside any McDonald's, Starbucks, or KFC as I wanted to immerse myself in the culture and saw these restaurants as annoying reminders of American consumerism.
Then I got hecka lost in Hong Kong. My phone was not working in Hong Kong and I was starving. I suddenly remembered that every McDonald's ever has wifi. I also knew that their menus had pictures and numbers and thankfully I knew my numbers in Chinese so I could order food.
When I got inside they actually had kiosks that people were ordering from and the customer could choose Chinese or English as their language! I paid with my WeChat account through a bar code scanner and got a reciept with a number on it. Then I waited for a screen at the counter to show my number and  recieved my food. I sat down at a large banquet table with other people, logged into the wifi, found my hotel, and was saved.

My other experiences with the fast food here have not been so herioc as that McDonald's but I did learn something else. Even if there are chain restaurants here that are similar to the USA they do not always have the same menu items, so you still get to experience the food culture of that country.

Starbucks is here but it has way less options for drinks and snacks. However, they each sell mugs and coffee containers with the city or country they are selling from on the container. Every Starbucks in China that I have been to so far has these espresso cups with China and a dragon on the side. They had a mug for the October Festival, New Year's, and Christmas.

KFC sells moon cakes during the October Festival that are a big hit. They also sell rice bowls and "golden chicken" which looks like extra crispy chicken that I can tell. Not to mention milk tea is one of their big beverage sellers. They sell hashbrowns too but I think it is for their breakfast or lunch menu. I was unable to get it for supper.

Pizza Hut has calamari, durian, and pineapple as options for their toppings. They include noodles as a side dish and finger cakes for dessert.

McDonald's big seller is a bowl of corn as a side dish. They also sell rice bowls and for a limited time they sold buns that were black and marketed as "gourmet." Sadly, no all day breakfast like in the USA.
I noticed that the marketing for McDonald's is very different than the USA. The USA shows the restaurant as family friendly and even has playgrounds for kids at some locations (those places were awesome as a kid.) The ads show families eating together and having a wholesome time. In China, McDonald's is seen as a cool place for young people to hang out. Their ads consist of boys wearing leather jackets and spikey earrings eating a burger or a gourmet chef throwing spices and ingredients around to make a black bun burger.

Burger King is not too common here but it did save my butt once. I was in a train station and had about 15 minutes to eat and the person I was traveling with was a huge picky eater. They wanted noodles and I knew there was no way in this good green earth we were getting noodles to go in 15 minutes. I told her to find her noodle place and I would find something else. Burger King was my first stop and of course my language skills sucked to kingdom come. But, I knew Chinese numbers and that Burger King had a picture menu. The lady at the counter saw my plight and pulled out a smaller hand held menu for me and I pointed to what I wanted, paid, got it in a bag, ate half of it, got my partner, and ran to the train. My travel partner was able to eat 15% of her noodle meal, getting it to go was a hassle, and on the train it was a mess to eat. Meanwhile I got napkins to boot in my bag and it was easy to eat and clean up.

Last thing, there is an app here that should be EVERYWHERE. I call it the Kangaroo App because their logo is a kangaroo (IDK how to say it in English). You can order from any restaurant, anywhere, and the kangaroo people will get it for you and deliver it to your house. You may see these delivery people around China. They wear these huge boxes on their backs or carry it in their hands with a kangaroo on the side (the boxes are insulated for food warmth or coolness).
Here is how it works. I order food and pay for shipping through my phone. The Kangaroo Delivery Person (KDP from now on) who is close by my restaurant gets a notification on their phone and chooses to accept the mission. The restaurant has also recieved a notification and makes the food. The money is split among these people through the app. The KDP picks up the food by showing the verification code to the restaurant and then they head to my house. Through Kangaroo App I can see what time my food will come to my house and even where that person is on my map. They come to my house, I get my food, the KDP gets paid when they drop it off, and all is well with the world.

So to the fast food chains I would like to say sorry for thinking you were sucky and dumb because I only saw you as a way for American companies to make more money. You make ordering easy and you still sell items that the people want.
And to the inventor of the Kangaroo App, I love you. Please come to the states with this idea. You will make my and everyone else's life easier.