A Fast Food Nation

It's hard to imagine until you get here just how many American fast food franchises there really are in Riyadh.  McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, Hardees, Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Baskin Robbins, Quiznos, Subway, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Little Caesar's, Texas Chicken*. And it's not like there's only one of each.  On the way to work today I counted 8 McDonald's.   It's astounding.  It doesn't stop at fast food franchises either.  There are chain restaurants as well.  Chili's, TGI Fridays, Hard Rock Cafe, and Applebee's are common.  You can 'eat good in the neighborhood' in Saudi Arabia!  It's enough to blow your mind.  And it's not just the expatriate community that is keeping these establishments afloat.  And it's not like they're just barely scraping by.  Saudis can't get enough, and business is booming.

Maybe it's the fascination with everything American.  Maybe it's the fact that since everyone drives, fast food is just more conducive to the lifestyle.  Maybe it's that Saudi food just really isn't all that interesting -- mostly what my students talk about is a dish called Kabsa, which is basically a large plate of seasoned rice with a huge chunk of animal in the middle, usually chicken or lamb (but sometimes camel), served family style with flat bread and eaten with the hands.  But whatever the reason, this is a nation obsessed with fast food.  Their own franchise brands have popped up as well--  Kudu and Herfy's to name a few.  They offer Saudified versions of burgers, fries, and wraps.  There are also Baskin Robbins and Subway knockoffs.  My personal favorite, and something not in any way Americanized, are the falafel joints which while serving fried things quickly are at least vegetarian making the experience somewhat less guilting.

My students are aware that fast food isn't healthy -- some students are rather quick to point it out-- but they'll all concede it's delicious and rank burgers among their favorite foods.  It's very similar to their feelings about cigarettes and let me tell you that the number of young smokers here is equally astonishing.  But for some reason the message seems to have no affect on the public in general, not very much unlike a lot of folks back home in the States.  Healthy food options are not easy to come by at the grocery store but especially when eating out and it seems like the one's they do have are there simply to cater to health-conscious westerners.  The reasons could be that warnings to the contrary either aren't taken seriously or people just don't really care, but the effects, along with those of the extremely sedentary lifestyle, are plainly visible.  Lot's of students walking around campus are easily what you would call 'pudgy', more than a few would be termed obese, and everyday like clockwork you see them coming in with their McDonald's cup in their hand, holding a bag containing burgers for their friends who didn't feel like making the 100 yard walk.   It's alarming, it's sad, and it makes me wonder what exactly we're exporting not only in terms of business but in terms of culture.

*Texas Chicken is the Middle Eastern off-shoot of Church's Chicken in the States, but because of the connotation with Christianity, the owners felt obliged to change the name for franchising in the Muslim world.