Joanna's Singapore adventures

It is one of those commonly held bits of wisdom that McDonald’s restaurants and McDonald’s food are exactly the same regardless of where in the world you are. That’s not entirely true. There’s a few quite noticeable differences between McDonald’s in Australia and in Singapore.

The food does taste a bit different. I think one of the reasons is that here in Singapore it is halal which means it contains no pig products and is therefore suitable for Muslims to eat. The food is also different because McDonald’s in Singapore seems to have made little effort to make their food healthier. I think some of the items are even greasier than in other countries. There is also a few items you don't find in other countries like a spicy chicken burger and cups of corn. They certainly seem to like the food over here- Singapore has one of the highest per-capita rates of McDonald's burger consumption of anywhere in the world.

Another big difference is the kind of people you see in McDonald’s. Here many of the front counter staff are older. They are sometimes known as McAunties and McUncles. There’s also very often students using McDonald’s as a place to study. I even saw some study in the McDonald’s at Changi airport at 4 in the morning! McDonald’s is a popular place to study because many students don’t have much space to study at home and McDonald’s is air-conditioned. I don’t think most Australian students would dare be seen studying in public!