I watched Super Size Me a couple of weeks ago. Somehow, I’d missed it in the eight years since it’s been released. I acknowledged the terrible illness that a diet of McDonalds can inflict on a person, and I looked on in horror at the sheer amount of food Morgan Spurlock ate.

Then I went out and got a McDonalds.

It’s like crack. The McDonalds branding gets you so young that you can’t wean yourself off it, so even if the voiceover is saying “McDonalds could kill me if I continue this diet”, I’m still seeing the golden arches and associating that with happy memories.

But fast food doesn’t have to be all burgers and shakes laden with salt and sugar. There are some national fast food cuisines out there that ought to be tried and tasted.

Souvlaki

I’ve not met a single person that doesn’t like souvlaki. A lot of Greek food is pretty meh. They use filo pastry (the dullest pastry known to man) and their cheese can be hella rubbery. But souvlaki is good. You might know it as gyros. It’s just griddled meat (pork, chicken or lamb usually) served with a garlicky mayo. Yum.

Pizza

Italy gave us the pizza, and lo, it was good. You don’t get much better than a crisp, thin crust pizza from Naples. Forget your multitude of toppings, though. The real thing has two options: tomato and cheese (with basil to make a Margherita, named after a princess), or just tomato.

French fries

You Americans are wack. Not only do you rename French fries Freedom fries when France refuses to invade Iraq with you, but you also insult the Belgians, who are the ones who invented the food. It’s like foreigners calling you all Canadians. It’s not nice.

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