Joe: From calorie count to portion sizes,
we wanted to find out all the differences between McDonald's in India and the US.
Joe: This is "Food Wars."
Drinks in McDonald's India come in three sizes:
regular, medium, and large.
Drinks in the McDonald's in the US, four sizes:
extra small, small, medium, and large.
Time to keep 'em honest.
Lost a couple drops. 26, 27 fluid ounces.
Whoo!
Hm.
Fries in India come in three sizes:
regular, medium, and large.
In America, our fries come in four sizes, I think.
We have a small, kids,
or kids, small —
I can't tell the difference either —
medium, and large.
The medium and large come in these really cool
new packaging where you can just open it up like that
and it's nice and easy to share.
It's a little plate.
Good job, McDonald's. Very innovative.
But now it's time to measure
and see how much we're really getting.
Joe: First things first, the large.
175 grams.
Obviously it's different per scoops or whatever.
Yeah, let's go here.
This one, almost exactly 100 grams.
This one,
80 grams.
Fry math, hang on.
This is, like...
yep, there you go.
That's a 20-gram difference right there.
So, you tell me, internet.
Is the kids and the small different sizes?
I don't think they are.
"Food Wars" is on it! We're on it, baby!
What about McNuggets?
Here in India, you can order them in three sizes:
six pieces, nine pieces, and 20 pieces.
They gave it to us in two boxes of 10 each.
Oh, is that it, India? Cute.
Our McNuggets start at four,
then you got six,
10,
20,
and not to be outdone,
booyah, 40 McNuggets.
All the mathheads watching will be quick to point out
that that is double India's largest nugget option.
The only burger that India shares with the US
is the McChicken, the humble McChicken.
Not even gonna bother with the analog scale now.
Boop!
149 grams.
Ah, just so frustrating.
Just one more gram and it would be perfect.
With the paper? I mean, we'll do this and
shave off an eighth of an ounce.
Our McChicken weighs 140 grams.
Here is everything you'll find on the menu
at McDonald's India that you will not find in the USA.
And here's all the McDonald's menu items
from the US you won't find in India.
Here in India, we can't really recreate
the iconic McDonald's Big Mac
because it's made from a beef patty,
and to keep to the religious sentiments
of Hindus and even Muslims,
we don't serve beef or pork
in a lot of fast-food restaurants.
We have something called the chicken Maharaja Mac.
As you can see, it's got three buns, two patties,
a lot of cheese and mayonnaise,
some tomatoes, onions, lettuce.
Lettuce try it now. [ba-dum tish]
Oh, my God.
That is truly a Maharaja Mac.
If you're wondering, a raja is a king,
and a maharaja is like an emperor.
So this is clearly our answer to the Big Mac.
Now let's taste the veg Maharaja Mac.
I think it's actually a very cool challenge
that a lot of fast-food restaurants here
have had to adapt to the Indian palate,
as well as sensibilities of food.
We have come up with such cool, iconic fast food
that you won't get anywhere else in the world.
Like, look at this! This is outrageous!
There's no way to eat this without being messy.
There's literally no way.
Mm!
Oh, my God. That's really good.
Yes to all that, looks really good.
Because of India's lack of beef,
all the American beef options are technically exclusives.
All right.
Big Mac.
There it is, just brimming with stuff.
My go-to for, like, 20 years.
I still get it occasionally.
The classic McDonald's hamburger.
Beef patty, ketchup, and mustard.
Of course, you can get it with cheese. Hi.
You can upgrade to a double cheeseburger or a McDouble.
What's the difference, you ask?
I'm not sure either.
So let's start with the double cheeseburger.
Look at that. Look how yellow that is.
Beef, cheese, beef, cheese, toppos.
The McDouble is beef, cheese, beef.
So it's just one slice of cheese
in the middle, but not on top.
What's the price difference? Can we get that on-screen?
And how much is a slice of cheese?
Joe's hack, get yourself a McDouble
and bring your own slice of American cheese.
Booyah. Save yourself this amount of money.
The problem with millennials today,
the reason you guys can't buy houses is
you're spending all your money at Starbucks,
you're getting your double cheeseburgers
instead of a McDouble and bringing your own cheese slice.
I mean, you guys are terrible with money!
You're eating, what, seven,
eight McDoubles a day like me, right?
And that adds up to, like, at the end of the year, $18?
10,000 years later, that's a down payment on a house.
What are you guys doing?
All right, next up is the iconic McAloo tikki burger.
You take mashed potato, and you fry it in breadcrumbs,
and you get this really delicious cutlet.
Here in India, they adapted it into this burger
with a very special sauce,
some tomato, and chopped onions.
Mm. It's just so classic.
They nailed this burger.
Next up, there is a Mexican McAloo tikki,
which I assume has some stereotypical Mexican ingredients
and flavors like jalapeño.
Yes! Jalapeño.
Mm, nice.
It's way more spicy. Good twist.
Next up, they have a McEgg burger.
McEgg. McEgg, McEgg.
I don't know why I did that.
Let's see what that looks like.
Ugh!
Sorry.
I did not expect... pesto?
Next up is a chicken kebab burger.
Every time an Indian fast-food chain tries to adapt
an Indian special food into a burger,
I take it with a pinch of salt
because this is not what we're used to seeing
when we think of kebabs,
but I'm going to try it, and let's see what happens.
Mm.
It's very, very dry.
Patty has almost a cardboard-y taste to it.
I wouldn't put those flavors together
if I was thinking kebab.
McCardboard tikki, maybe? No? OK.
That's a bit harsh. I'm sorry.
Next up is the McVeggie,
which is the vegetarian counterpart to our McChicken.
If I had to eat this versus the chicken one,
I would not be upset at all.
Really good.
Next up, we have two "American" burgers:
the American Cheese Supreme veg
and the American Cheese Supreme chicken.
My hunch for what makes them American
is that they will have a nice big square of cheese
and they will not be spicy at all.
Except they have a lot of jalapeños on them.
Joe, let me know if this constitutes "American."
That's American cheese, my man.
That's what makes it American.
I don't know about those other toppings, but,
yeah, it sounds about right.
All right, so this is what the McDonald's website
says is in this burger.
"Whole-wheat buns sourced from Maharashtra,
tangy jalapeños from Karnataka,
shredded onions grown in local Indian farms,
and cheese from Amaravati, also in India."
Quite close to home, this burger.
Currently, this would probably be my favorite order,
a McSpicy chicken, and there's the vegetarian option,
which is a McSpicy paneer, which is just leaking lettuce.
For those of you who don't know what paneer is,
it's basically cottage cheese.
We love our paneer.
We put it in curries, we eat it plain, we put it in kebabs.
It is so delicious. Let's try this.
Mm. It has just the right kick,
and it goes really well with the paneer.
Fair warning, while this may have a light kick
of spice for us, it might be a hard kick for you.
So, take everything with a pinch of chili powder.
Gonna move up to something called the Quarter Pounder,
and that's, like, their big burger.
So you can get a Quarter Pounder with cheese.
Here it is.
I mean, it looks fake, right?
Like, "Just kidding, it's cake!"
Or the new one is, "It's actually a candle!"
And then you can get a Quarter Pounder with cheese deluxe.
More veggies on it, all the junk that I brush off.
You can upgrade to a double Quarter Pounder with cheese.
Let's take a look. Oh, man. Look how thick this is!
And then you can get that same double with bacon.
Yeah!
Oh, man. Skimping on the bacon. Guys!
What we lack in beef burgers we make up for
in gourmet burgers.
That's right. Here at McDonald's India,
we have our own collection of
chef's special gourmet burgers.
Delicious.
And I think this is a rolling menu.
I think they introduce new things from time to time.
The buns themselves look a lot more gourmet.
You know, there's a nice rift down the middle.
Kind of looks like a butt, but that's OK.
We're not gonna concentrate on that.
First up, we have triple cheese American veg burger
and triple cheese American chicken burger.
Same thing. Cheese, jalapeño, some sauce, lettuce,
simple chicken patty, gourmet bun.
Does this scream "American" to you?
Next up, Cheese Lava American veg burger
and Cheese Lava American chicken burger,
again with American
and again with the strange relation
of food to volcanoes and lava.
OK.
This burger is very spicy.
This qualifies as a volcano product, for sure.
Congratulations, McDonald's.
The lava in the title of this burger works.
The McSpicy chicken premium, though,
has an egg patty inside of it.
Mm-mm.
Mm, that's pretty good.
I just feel so existential right now.
Imagine sitting here at this table
and just tasting every single burger on a McDonald's menu.
Amazing.
But also, s---.
We also have some exclusive wrap options.
We have Big Spicy paneer and Big Spicy chicken.
I think this is the same McSpicy chicken patty,
and it's wrapped around a tortilla,
which is actually way closer to an Indian chapati
than most other fast-food restaurants.
It doesn't feel as synthetic.
Our McDonald's in the US
had wraps for a brief period of time.
One day they were gone. Nobody noticed.
Yeah, you guys got some chicken stuff that we don't have,
but we got a few of our own.
More recently than you think,
they finally introduced their chicken sandwich
to an already-crowded chicken-sandwich market,
and that is of course their crispy chicken sandwich,
and this thing is fantastic.
It's one of the best ones.
They were late to the game,
and they kind of took it over, in my opinion.
And what I like about it, it's simple. Look at this.
You just got crispy chicken, pickles that suck.
It's baller. It tastes great.
Like it a little spicy, India?
It probably doesn't compare to what you guys
are rocking in India but, you know,
this one has a little nice heat to it.
Pickles, sauce.
Want to take it up a notch?
Gotta go deluxe.
The cool crispness of the vegetables
just clash so well with the spicy sauce.
It's good. It's good.
Nikhil, say the word,
and I'm putting one in the post for you tomorrow.
So when it arrives in three weeks,
you can throw it out.
Now we're getting into exclusive side dishes.
Here in India, we have these add-ons.
No. 1, the veg pizza McPuff.
This is one of the most delicious things we have here.
It's basically a pizza Hot Pocket.
Masala wedges. These are potato wedges
with classic Indian masala flavor to them.
Ooh, boy.
Masalas are basically what we use
to spice and flavor dishes,
and they consist primarily of ground-up spices
like cardamom, cloves,
red chilies, Kashmiri chilies.
You go to every Indian home, the mums,
the grandmums will have their own random, you know,
masala mix that they use and that's guarded
and treasured in their family, forever.
Next up, we have cheesy masala wedges.
They're also serving a classic cup of boiled corn,
which is so unique, and they give you a side of Amul butter.
Guys, Amul butter is part of our culture.
Makhan. Makhan!
This is probably going to be
the most delicious bite of the day.
I love corn.
Next up, chicken strips.
They come in packs of two, three, or five.
Cheesy nugget veg bites.
Yeah, this is just a vegetarian version
of the chicken nuggets,
and it's got some corn, some tomato.
Mm, it's OK.
Next, we have the double cheese McMuffin.
And lastly, we have Mexican cheesy fries.
On the McDonald's India website,
one British customer said
that these Mexican cheesy fries are "the real deal."
I have no idea how a British person can say
that Mexican cheesy fries are the real deal,
but anytime a British person says
that another culture's food is "the real deal,"
it puts a little fear in our small Indian hearts.
Yeah those fries look like ass.
And the next exclusive side that we have is apple slices.
Cut 'em up, put 'em in a plastic bag.
'Bout to get saucy. That's right, ladies and gentlemen.
Sauce talk.
Thank you.
Spicy Buffalo.
Not that good.
We got a tangy barbecue.
Ooh.
Much better.
Mm. Honey mustard.
Tastes like salad dressing.
Sweet and sour.
I would tie it with the tangy barbecue
because it's so different, so we'll keep these guys
same tier.
Ranch, I don't know. America, we love our ranch.
Ranch is just OK.
That's right, I said it. Ranch is just OK.
Oh, and all ranch tastes the same. Yeah.
And finally, honey.
How do you like that?
Honey's the best one.
And all that money, all that energy,
all that time creating all these recipes,
trying to sway the American mind,
and you got beat by a bunch of bees.
Power to the bees!
We have one exclusive spice mix
as well as one exclusive sauce here in India.
We have chili sauce, which is pretty straightforward.
It's chili sauce.
But let me tell you about
peri-peri spice mix.
So, McDonald's launched this in 2013 here in India,
and it was so popular, there were riots
when they said they were going to discontinue it.
And so now, it's a permanent addition to the menu.
First, you get this shake bag,
then you grab your fries,
and then you just pour that in there.
Ah.
Boom! Oh, boy.
Can we cut to a before of the fries?
You saw how they were. Now look at these.
You can see the little flecks of spice
just adorning each fry.
Hello, it's Crystelle.
And I know Nikhil has peri-peri McDonald's chips,
but in the UK, it is all about Nando's.
Cheeky Nando's.
Let's talk about peri-peri.
Peri means pepper. And it's a blend of spices,
so it's got things like paprika, ground bird's eye chili,
a bit of oregano, a pinch of ginger and cardamom,
but it's a Portuguese spice blend.
It's funny because obviously Nikhil mentioned
that the peri-peri fries just blew off in India,
and it makes sense, because I'm from Goa,
which is in the south of India.
Goa was colonized by the Portuguese.
And so I really think that Indians
are accustomed to that Portuguese taste palate,
which is why peri-peri fries are doing so well in India.
But enough of the talking.
I want to dig into these fries, because they look great.
Mm. Oh, this is so good.
Harry, get involved.
You're not eating chips without me, are you?
Oh, sorry, I've already had a head start.
Harry: Cheers. Crystelle: Cheers.
God damn, if that isn't like crack.
For the early risers,
there's plenty of exclusive breakfast items
at the US McDonald's.
Sausage biscuit with egg.
Next one,
sausage biscuit.
I mean, they take the egg out, so it's just ...
This, of course, is bacon, egg, and cheese.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we've reached the point of the breakfast
where we get into the McGriddles.
I love McGriddles.
What's a McGriddle, you ask, India? Fantastic question.
McDonald's had this genius idea
to replace the breakfast sandwiches they already had
with pancakes.
And they also, like, inject syrup into it somehow?
But it is a breakfast sandwich with pancakes for buns,
and it's the best idea anyone's ever had, anywhere, ever.
[Joe laughing]
Look at this! Look at this, look at this.
They've even got a little M on there.
This mini pancake.
I know I'm wearing the gloves, but this one's mine.
Mm.
We have a veg McMuffin and a sausage McMuffin.
Mm.
The sausage here in India is not made out of pork,
like it is in the US.
Instead, it's made out of simple chicken.
Speaking of sausage, you can get a breakfast burrito.
Bro, I could put five of these away, easy. Easy.
If you're, like, a total drag
and you want oatmeal in the morning, we have it.
It's about as inspiring as you would think.
Hotcakes and sausage.
Of course, it comes with hot syrup.
This here,
the big breakfast with hotcakes.
And it's big.
A lot of eggs, kind of wimpy-looking bacon,
got yourself two English muffins here.
And, of course, comes with a hash brown.
Potatoes. Who doesn't love 'em?
McDonald's hash brown, undefeated.
These things are so good.
India exclusive desserts.
We have a Black Forest McFlurry,
a vanilla chocolate muffin,
and a chocolate chip muffin.
It's kind of like a McFlurry soup right now.
This would be really good when it was actually a McFlurry.
Desserts! USA, we got 'em.
So, starting down here, very simple,
chocolate chip cookies.
This next thing, apple fritter, right?
Mm.
This right here is called a glazed pull-apart doughnut.
Blueberry muffin.
If you've had one, you've had them all.
This is a what type of pie?
Anders: A guava and cream pie.
Let's see what's inside.
OK. I'm suddenly more interested. Yeah!
Guava and cream.
How about we'll call it the cream and guava pie?
Nah, this sucks.
[Anders laughing]
I don't f--- with it.
Standard menu item, the McDonald's apple pie.
Everyone knows about this.
I don't want a pizza version of this.
Eh! And last but not least, cinnamon roll.
Too sticky. I don't feel like eating it.
Update: It's not sticky.
It's actually [knocks on cinnamon roll].
Exclusive drinks, starting with,
we have something called
B Natural's mixed fruit juice.
Next up, we have something
that they call raw mango fruit splash.
Oh!
It's a bit too sweet.
Berry lemonade splash.
All of these come in these very unique
reusable bottles, apparently.
Next up, strawberry chiller, green apple chiller,
and lemon chiller.
It's just flavored water. That's exactly what it is.
It's flavored water, and I kind of like it.
This is a mixed berry smoothie.
It's still quite sweet, but quite good.
Next up, American mud pie shake.
Mm. That's pretty yum.
Drink roulette.
Ooh, and the ice melted. Fantastic.
Dr. Pepper. Let's go!
Coke, nonexclusive. Let's go.
Sweet tea, too sweet.
Ugh, yeah. Unsweetened tea, not sweet enough.
You guys combine.
For the kids watching, why are you watching?
Where are your parents or supervisors?
You can get yourself apple juice, milk.
Come on, you're drinking milk?
The thought of drinking straight milk,
like, hurts my stomach.
There's also chocolate milk on the menu.
Once upon a time,
this was an iced French vanilla latte.
Now it's more of a room-temperature French vanilla latte.
That's just OK. It's, like, really sweet.
Strawberry banana smoothie.
Yeah, I always loved getting these.
These are good.
So I'm going to assume they're not good for me.
Exclusive hot drinks.
First off, we have strawberry green tea.
Next up, English breakfast tea
and Moroccan tea.
Next up, a flat white coffee.
India, a land where we run on chai,
and McDonald's does not have a chai option.
Caramel macchiato,
cappuccino,
caramel latte,
a vanilla cappuccino.
The V does look like a U.
McDonald's premium roast coffee.
I'm going to hang on to this one.
In India, a chicken Maharaja Mac will cost you 231 rupees
for just the sandwich.
That's around $3.03.
We do not have the chicken Maharaja Mac,
but we do have the Big Mac,
and a Big Mac in the US costs $4.89.
That is a 61% price increase.
Now, what if you turn this into a meal?
A McSaver Maharaja Mac combo comes with regular fries
and a regular drink and will cost you 356 rupees.
That is $4.67, still less than the price
of the American sandwich on its own.
But does the combo meal make a difference in the US?
A medium Big Mac combo,
so Big Mac, medium fries, medium drink,
is $8.99.
That's a 92% cost increase,
even worse than if you just bought the sandwich on its own.
On the Indian McDonald's menu,
you'll find a two-person meal,
which contains a chicken Maharaja Mac, a veg Maharaja Mac,
large fries, two pizza McPuffs, and a drink.
All of this will cost you 681 rupees, or $8.93.
So, basically, you're getting food for two people
for the price of one person's meal in the US.
However, while it seems a lot cheaper
than the food in the US,
it's still very expensive
and aspirational to people over here.
Your minimum wage per hour
is equal to our daily minimum wage.
And so, yeah,
a lot of people can't really afford this kind of food.
The English-speaking Indians that you see
in a lot of YouTube videos on the internet
aren't really a proper reflection
of the majority of people that live in this country,
who still can't afford food like this.
So, I'm checking my privilege,
and we should all make sure we check ours.
But let's play devil's advocate.
McDonald's India has definitely included
a lot more affordable options on their menu.
And so they are more approachable
to the average urban Indian than other fast-food chains.
Let's compare some items
to see who has the least healthy McDonald's food.
In the US, a McChicken contains 400 calories,
21 grams of fat, 39 grams of carbs.
5 of those are sugar,
and 560 milligrams of sodium.
How about the Indian McChicken?
One of these contains 398 calories,
15 grams of total fat, 48 grams of carbs,
5 grams of which are sugars,
787 milligrams of sodium.
So the Indian version has slightly fewer calories,
way lesser fats, but much more carbs and sodium.
What if we made that a combo meal?
Well, a medium fry in the US contains the following:
320 calories, 15 grams of total fat,
43 grams of carbs, no sugar,
and 260 milligrams of sodium.
While a medium fries in India contains 340 calories,
17 grams of total fat, 41 grams of carbs,
0 grams of sugars,
and 256 milligrams of sodium.
And if we add the medium Coke,
that is adding 210 calories, no fat,
56 grams of carbs, 56 of those are sugar,
and 55 milligrams of sodium.
Ooh, a nice salty Coke.
We'll do the same. Here in India,
one medium Coke will cost you 151 calories,
0 grams of fat, 38 grams of carbs,
38 grams of which are sugars,
and there are 0 grams of sodium, but my God,
that is a lot of sugar packed in this cup.
That leaves the Indian meal at a grand total
of 889 calories, 32 grams of fat,
127 grams of carbs,
out of which 43 grams are sugars,
and 1,043 milligrams of sodium.
Sheesh.
Which means this whole bad boy altogether
is 930 calories,
36 grams of total fat,
138 grams of carbs,
61 of those grams are sugar,
875 milligrams of sodium.
Little bit lower sodium than India,
but we got you guys beat in calorie, fats, carbs, and sugar.
Mm, mm, mm, mm! We win. We win.
Ah!
Unfortunately for India,
the combo stats are a little misleading,
and the difference maker is the Coke,
because the American meal has a larger portion.
If you order the Coke Zero in both countries,
the Indian meal will actually have a higher calorie count.
McDonald's India does not share a full list
of their ingredients,
but there are some things we do know about their food.
Like, did you know that McDonald's India
actually changed Indian farming practices
just so they could grow the kind of potato that they wanted?
When they first launched in India in 1996,
McDonald's promised the government
that they would use products grown
and sourced right here in India.
But people who had eaten McDonald's abroad
realized that the fries didn't taste quite the same.
The reason for this is that Indian potatoes
were too small, round,
had way too much moisture and sugar content.
And so the fries made out of them were not long enough,
they didn't get crispy enough, and they didn't have
that distinctive McDonald's oomph to them.
So, McDonald's partnered with McCain Foods,
and they spent nine years trying to perfect their potato.
They imported saplings which had the perfect shape
and starch content that they needed.
They also chose Gujarat as their farming location
for its climate, and they switched
from a flood irrigation to a sprinkler system
to reduce moisture content and save water.
The result: bigger and more starchy potatoes
that can be used to make the McDonald's fries
that you know and love.
McDonald's in the US mostly uses russet Burbank
or Shepody, "shep-a-tee," potatoes.
Potato me.
So, these are big enough that the distinctive long fry,
yeah, look how long this is. Wow!
Known to be low moisture and low sugar content.
This means they can remain crispy when fried
and don't caramelize too fast,
so you can get a nice, even browning.
McDonald's in the US actually discloses
all of its ingredients,
so we can figure out a few other differences.
In the US, for instance,
our mayonnaise contains egg yolk,
as does most American mayo.
Thanks to the FAQ page on the McDonald's India website,
we found out that the mayonnaise is eggless,
along with all of the other sauces
except for the tartar sauce.
When people describe things as vegetarian here in India,
they typically mean it doesn't contain egg.
Did we quietly retire Ronald and the crew?
If we did, thank God.
It was very bizarre, the whole Ronald McDonald thing.
It's kind of nightmarish. So, away he goes.