Fast Food (Con)Fusion

Fast Food (Con)Fusion

By DANIEL B. HABER

BANGKOK -- While the world is getting smaller and more uniform by the day, mixing cultures can still create some interesting culinary crossovers. Americans traveling to Asia this summer may be in for a surprise as they head for the familiar, ubiquitous icons of mainstream U.S. fast-food cuisine, the McDonald's Golden Arches, to munch on a burger, or the beckoning, avuncular cane-wielding colonel of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.

"McDonald's Drops Its Buns for Thailand," one of the Thai English dailies announced rather suggestively shortly after April Fool's Day. But it was no joke . McDonald's new burger will leave Thai customers asking not only "Where's the beef?" but also "Where's the bun?" The new burger product for Thailand is McDonald's first ever bread-free burger made from roast pork patties, and instead of the bun, the burger is sandwiched between two patties of sticky rice.

Sticky rice is the main staple for most of the northeast of Thailand, the home of many of Bangkok's laborers who are seen as a vast new fast-food market. The Sticky-Rice Roast Pork burger follows the recently introduced McSomtam shaker, the McDonald's version of the fiery green papaya salad, a popular Thai street-stall accompaniment to sticky rice dishes such as roast chicken.

Repackaging American fast-food dishes to appeal to regional tastes is part of an emerging corporate global strategy, and Southeast Asia -- with its distinct cuisines -- is not being looked over. In predominantly Muslim Malaysia and Indonesia, burgers are halal -- the Muslim equivalent of kosher-forbidding pork -- and they are not even called hamburgers, lest there be any confusion about the "ham" prefix.

In predominantly Hindu India, sandwich lovers can enjoy McVeggie burgers; and instead of fries, there is the McAloo Tikki, a fried, potato-based patty -- but no beef. While Indians may relish meatless Macs and Thais may enjoy their bunless burgers, McDonald's customers in Singapore can skip the burgers altogether and breakfast on tra***ional Chinese rice porridge called Chicken SingaPorridge.

For dessert, the kids can crunch into an ice-cream cone topped with a mustardy-yellow durian dip, the stinky tropical fruit that is banned from Singapore's subways, buses, taxis and hotels for its penetrating, putrid odor. Yogurts in Thailand, aside from the usual strawberry flavor popular in the West, may be jazzed up with such tra***ional dessert toppings as water chestnuts, lotus seeds and red beans.

And speaking of porridge, if an American tourist is in an Asian supermarket looking for instant oatmeal -- which at home comes in a variety of sentimental flavors from maple to apple and cinnamon -- she might be surprised to find the familiar Quaker brand instant oatmeal flavored with anchovies. No taste for salty fish in your oatmeal, nevermind, there is also a chicken mushroom flavor. What would Goldilocks have said?

Not to be outdone by the Mac-less Macs, Singapore's KFCs are offering wacky Waikiki burgers with a ring of pineapple on a crispy chicken patty, generously topped with lime mayonnaise. Contrary to the West, many Asians restaurants -- from fast-food joints to swanky hotels -- don't usually follow any "hold the mayo" creed, but seem to put it on everything, including fresh fruits, as one can observe at a salad bar.

No doubt Asians are accustomed to adding sauces to their foods, which can add flavor to otherwise bland dishes. But the habit has expanded to cover American fast food. Pizza Huts in Asia routinely throw in numerous packets of ketchup and even soy sauce for their take-away pizza orders; in Singapore they advertise that their (chicken-based) cheese stuffed-crust pizzas come with a tangy tomato dip for those used to dipping sauces with their food. The ad even teases, "Just take a rip of the crunchy, baked crust and start dip, dip, dipping!"

While Burma has no multinational fast-food chains yet, there is one local franchise run by a Lebanese with branches in India and Pakistan where the pizza sauces have a marked hint of curry.

There are some unique ergonomic problems too. For example, it can take some practice to master the art of scarfing down a super-sized order of French fries with a pair of chopsticks, as is customary in some places.

While French fries may be popular in Southeast Asia, as in the rest of the world, baked potatoes are still not appealing to local taste buds. At Sizzler's in Bangkok, baked potatoes are commonly left on the platters untouched by less-than-Epicurean diners. No slouch potatoes, the U.S. Potato Board is trying to make baked potatoes more appealing to Asian tastes by spicing them up with chicken curry and Thai sweet-and-sour toppings, which Asian restaurateurs sampled at Singapore's recent Food and Hospitality Asia trade exposition.

Just maybe there's an American market for Asian junk food. When hitting the couch to watch football or a movie, nothing quite hits the spot like potato chips flavored with curry, chicken and chili. And for diversity's sake, for those looking for more exotic chips than the pedestrian potato to add a little excitement to an otherwise boring bagged lunch, in Asia you have a wide choice of basic ingredients, including banana, durian, jackfruit, pumpkin or even taro for your crisps.

There are still many unanswered questions about expansion of the global economy. What countries will prosper? What will be the impact of labor shifts? Will Americans ever eat ginseng chips? And is there a market for the McCurry? The jury is still out, but don't hold the mayo.

Mr. Haber is a Katmandu-based writer.

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