Does anyone really like to eat a McDonalds hamburger?

stumpy wrote:

I bet a lot of the 'fragrant grease' changed hands in order to facilitate these fast food outlets to open.

sshhhh   

mikeymyke wrote:

I don't see how it's a class thing considering McDs are pretty much everywhere.

Well, if most in a country don't earn enough to eat there, it will be considered high class, even if the box taste better, and it gives than the food you heart disease.

stumpy wrote:

I bet a lot of the 'fragrant grease' changed hands in order to facilitate these fast food outlets to open.

No need to grease hands when you are the son-in-law of the prime minister of Vietnam.

You can keep children occupied ... and learning animal anatomy ... by having them determine what part of a cow each little hamburger morsel comes from.

After all - they are all beef ... McBarfs just didn't say which part.

Tony_Nguyen wrote:

I agreed that fast food is unhealthy in case of regularly consumption as containing high volume of Cholesterol, saturated fat, salt and so on.
But TBH, some of McDonald's hamburgers are very tasty. I'd worked for a McDonald restaurant for 2 years when I were a student and from my experience, comparing to Vietnamese dishes, eating McDonald's stuffs is safer than many Vietnamese foods you have. Cooking process, origin and quality of ingredients and hygiene of Vietnamese food, especially the use of MSG popularly made me feel sick. If owners of food stalls/ restaurants in Vietnam can improve that source of things. I'll def vote for them.

Not sure if we can compare but in my opinion, I used to like Mcds a lot when I was a kid but quality has changed a lot over the years (not sure if most of you agree). Will not eat it unless I have the craving for it,mm maybe once a year. All the chemicals in it might make you sick in the long run. Ex. Cancer. (No prof yet but there is a risk).
As for the msg, I have to agree but I find if you eat outside in any country, many or almost all restaurants will put it in to make the food tastier. If you don't want msg then, cooking at home is the best option.

Hello Easterbunny,

If I may say, that post date quite a while now.

But nevertheless I hope you get some revert. 

Marjorie

In Vietnam they don't sell "revert".

Yes definitely McD tasted good as a kid, when they used honest ingredients. Today its not the same food at all. Even the basic original burger tastes so weird you dont know WHAT it is. I too get a craving about once a year anyway.

MSG....i get sick when eating it but too bad,  it comes with the territory. In US they sell MSG in a small little bottle. You know something is wrong when you come to asia and see it sold in 5kg and 10kg bags!  lol

Jaitch wrote:

You can keep children occupied ... and learning animal anatomy ... by having them determine what part of a cow each little hamburger morsel comes from.

After all - they are all beef ... McBarfs just didn't say which part.

Nope! You may have to google around a bit but last year McD described the offerings as a term they coined in the 1980s, "manufactured food." Its assembled in a laboratory. If I recall, beef wasnt on the ingredients list. Actually, they are very forthcoming about it and dont hide whats really in it. But thats not going to make slide down any better.

I will never go back to Burger King, my favorite burger (fast food) restaurant in the US! They are Aussie burgers with onion powder, bread crumbs, beet root and whatever! We call this "meatloaf" in the US! There are only 2 kinds of meatloaf (excluding the singer!): great or disgusting! Burger King is in the latter!

I have not yet been to Mickey D's in Sai Gon though! Just down the street from a, you guessed it!, a Burger King!

"The burgers are better at Hungry Jacks ".....

Hungry Jacks is a fast food franchise of Burger King which in turn a wholly owned subsidiary of Competitive Foods Australia  which is owned by a Jack Cowin.

dacabbie,

Actually the top moneymaker for McD isnt franchises, its TOYS. McD is the largest toystore in the world by sales and distribution. Wouldnt everyone think it was Walmart or ToysRUS?

This shows that kids are the top customers which wasnt the case when i was a kid. And kids want toys. The whole Happy Meal concept was about moving toys, not burgers. More profit!

Check the prices of old, unopened McD toys on ebay. Many collectors out there!

Take away kids and you lose toys. Take away both and thats the end of McD. Why do you think they started rides for kids? Its for birthdays. McD hosts more birthdays than anyone--not to mention all the toys they get to move those days too. wink wink nod nod

dacabbie yes we agree.

But I dont think business and altruism can be said together in the same breath. When McD Brothers sold the first burger, it cant be said they were trying to help the community more than themselves. Businesses today may appear to help a community and people, but dont tell me they dont want that buck.

I dont want to veer off too much but McD, though bad, isnt the true evil. There are several truly evil-- but they shouldnt be named in a public blog. One, in the 80s, said their plan was to create a world monopoly in food (because through food you can control societies even more than money does). Another famous one is basically the same, under the guise of, and im quoting them in paraphrase, "the goal of a leader in food is to ensure the highest amount of wellness and health on the part of human beings." But reading their product labels ...sugar...chemicals...god knows what in there that you cant even pronounce.

The worse thing about McD isnt the strange burger but what they spawned in the market. They gave rise to an industry that has done nothing but hurt human beings ever since, whether its chemicals to speed the process, garbage that has a half-life of 500 years, creation of dependency on low wages. No good has ever come from the industry except for them, money.

I had a prosperity burger yesterday.
Nice black pepper sauce.

Just because it's new, it's too expensive for Vietnamese generally income, it's expensive ~10 times of a bánh mì, so they think it's a class, they can be looking more like a luxury person when they come these place. SH bike, iphone the newest version, fast food restaurant...are stuff fabulous for them, like in USA, they use LV bag, Chanel Clothings, Vertu phone... Think so

When I was diabetic, the nutritionist suggested that I eat only Bur King Whoppers with only ketchup! Was i lucky! I was burned out on Micky D's after raising children for 36 years! Now, however, I can't eat a Whopper here as they are Aussie burgers with powdered onion, egg, beetroot and bread crumbs! They smell like spoiled meat BEFORE they are cooked and AFTER! I will make American burgers at Amelia's here in Ha Noi! We will also have American pizzas as well! That is all we will have! Plus beer and other libations!

I would rather have a good Banh Mi or Pho then a McD burger. However, not many good local hamburger around in HCM city so once awhile a McD is alright. Nowadays many local hamburger joints have sprung up in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. They taste great but is more premium then big Mac. I will not stop myself of eating McD burger especially on a hot humid day, when I am real hungry, nearest food is big Mac. The benefits of walking into these great American franchises are great service, you have a clean place / toilet and the air condition is very cooool.

I think it's a nice change, instead of eating Asian food all the time.
Yes, they're are better American fast food places to eat at, but not many to choose from in Vietnam.
I think VN food is rather boring.  Thai food is far better.

brubakertx wrote:

I think it's a nice change, instead of eating Asian food all the time.
Yes, they're are better American fast food places to eat at, but not many to choose from in Vietnam.
I think VN food is rather boring.  Thai food is far better.

Thats pretty much my take on it too.
1. Sometimes you just NEED a burger and fries, even if McD
2. To me, VN and China have the most boring food. Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore have the least boring food.
3. I cant take a 100% steady diet of Asian food no matter how good, even if it wasnt overloaded with oil, sugar and salt, which it is. VN would give me the hardest time, I couldnt eat it straight even for two weeks.

But Im not a whiner or whinging pom, im here 15 years and love asian food. Im just getting, i dont know the word--jaded?

So really we come around full circle again. "Does anyone really like to eat a McDonalds hamburger?" That question is moot or academic, it will be liked because there comes a point you simply cant eat anything else and at that moment McD is heaven. If that question were asked in USA, the automatic and truthful answer is NO. But this aint Kansas.

Im loving it, or should I say them! Living in Hanoi is an agony as there is no McDonalds around but I make sure that every bangkok or HCM trip I will pop in one of those places where I can get my fix..

Wald0 wrote:

Im loving it, or should I say them! Living in Hanoi is an agony as there is no McDonalds around but I make sure that every bangkok or HCM trip I will pop in one of those places where I can get my fix..

Thats exactly the reason I opened a donut shop in Malaysia, I couldnt find a donut! All I wanted was a good donut sometimes, was it too much to ask?  And that brings up a question I never thought of asking until I read this thread. Was it wrong? Should all this be left alone? If there are no burgers, pizza, donuts, western food, maybe there is a reason for it. Its not wanted and maybe its presence only annoys locals. If there was demand the market would have furnished all those things long ago. McD and others are there because corporately they must expand or die. But is it all wrong? Should McD and all others vacate?

If you think my post makes no sense, its been written about many times that westernization of the world destroys local cultures. I didnt pay the talk any mind because I figured unwarranted paranoia will rule someones mind sometime. But does anyone agree or disagree its true? Should western products and food like McD clear out?

khanh44 wrote:

stumpy wrote:

I bet a lot of the 'fragrant grease' changed hands in order to facilitate these fast food outlets to open.

No need to grease hands when you are the son-in-law of the prime minister of Vietnam.

Good point Mr Khanh.  They'd like to keep that quiet. 

That's how business is done .    The grease isn't in the food, it's on the palms of the hands that Let them in.   

Even though I eat a healthy diet and enjoy the local food , I have NEVER got excited or looked forward to going out for a meal here.  Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia leave Vietnam for dead in the variety of food offerred.  Even in Sihanoukville there are stacks of places that serve BOTH good western food and Asian food.   Nearly every place does both.

cvco wrote:

Wald0 wrote:

Im loving it, or should I say them! Living in Hanoi is an agony as there is no McDonalds around but I make sure that every bangkok or HCM trip I will pop in one of those places where I can get my fix..

Thats exactly the reason I opened a donut shop in Malaysia, I couldnt find a donut! All I wanted was a good donut sometimes, was it too much to ask?  And that brings up a question I never thought of asking until I read this thread. Was it wrong? Should all this be left alone? If there are no burgers, pizza, donuts, western food, maybe there is a reason for it. Its not wanted and maybe its presence only annoys locals. If there was demand the market would have furnished all those things long ago. McD and others are there because corporately they must expand or die. But is it all wrong? Should McD and all others vacate?

If you think my post makes no sense, its been written about many times that westernization of the world destroys local cultures. I didnt pay the talk any mind because I figured unwarranted paranoia will rule someones mind sometime. But does anyone agree or disagree its true? Should western products and food like McD clear out?

Well, its not like in Hanoi they don't have demand, there are many Lotteria, KFC and even now few BurgerKings filling that need, that said, They seem to do ok in HCM and im sure they would do great in Hanoi and what comes to clearing out.. then this place would come pretty boring as if those restaurants would leave then also Japanese,Italian,Indian,Pakistan, etc. restaurants should leave.. leaving only those Vietnamese ones...   terrible idea...

Awareness in terms of the environment or health issues are still relatively inconspicuous among locals, not to mention the government's aim is to expand the economy. But to state that the Vietnamese will be unhealthy as a result of McD is perhaps a bit patronizing. Everyone has the right to choose what they want or do not want to eat regardless of whatever food choices they make, needless to say they're taking responsibility for that as well.
I must add this though, there has been many cases of child obesity happening in Vietnam, more big little kids than there has ever been. I'm guessing this is due to parents who are spoiling their kids with the convenience of fried chicken or burgers, but honestly i personally think fast food is merely a comfortable option, not the main cause. I've seen several home cook meals that are chock-full of pig fats and chicken skin.