And that’s when, in you’re moment of need, you look up and like a pair of descending halos, you see the golden arches of McDonalds.

Is it the best burger? No. Does it have the best coffee? No, but then again the coffee is pretty good and I’m not the only one who thinks so.

But the redeeming thing about McDonalds is this, they’re all the same. The food, the coffee, the black visors, are the same. I could be in Seattle, or Tokyo, or Rome but when I step into McDonalds I feel like, yeah, I know this.

And for Americans living abroad who grew up bombarded with McDonalds happy meal toys and ball pens, you start to look at those arches as much of a symbol of American as the star and stripes.

But here’s the twist, the first McDonalds I went to as a child was in Japan and that was in the 80s.

There are now generations of people all around the world who too grew up with McDonalds and other fast food chains. When they travel or live abroad, I wonder if they too feel a little bit of comfort, a little bit of familiarity when they step into a McDonalds?

Or do they associate McDonalds as just, foreign American food?

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