George: From calorie count to portion sizes,
we wanted to find out all the differences
between Taco Bell in Japan and the US.
This is "Food Wars."
In Japan, Taco Bell's standard tacos
come in orders of one,
two tacos with fries and a drink,
or you can get five-pack,
or you can get 10-pack.
In the US, our standard Taco Bell tacos
come in orders of one,
three with a medium drink,
or this, the 12-taco party pack.
Check this out.
I mean, they're not kidding when they say this is a party.
You roll into any party with this,
you are the party winner, right?
So, this is a Beef Taco Supreme.
It measures 5 inches.
Our Beef Taco Supreme
that's falling apart 'cause I'm an idiot
is exactly 5 3/4 inches.
And let's weigh this.
And it weighs ...
Boom!
It weighs 100 grams.
Looks like about 120 grams.
And this one is our burrito in Japan.
Now let's measure it.
5 inches.
Our bean burrito is
6 3/8 inches long.
And it weighs ...
guh!
It weighs 220 grams.
Just a hair over 250 grams.
Yeah, ours weighs more!
Hooray!
Here's our Crunchwrap Supreme.
It measures 6 inches across.
Let's go. Boom!
It weighs exactly 250 grams.
A personal favorite, the Crunchwrap Supr --
oh, man!
Aww, guys!
I mean, you get the idea, but it's just,
it's just like a thing of beauty
when they have the whole thing folded properly.
Plus also now, all my ...
everything inside's kind of exposed.
Across, it's exactly
6 inches.
Eh?
Illuminati stuff coming at you.
Six sides, 6 inches.
Oh, [beep].
We're on to them. Here they come.
If we go point to point,
it is the less interesting 6 1/2 inches.
So, we'll weigh it.
You have no idea how bad
I just want to take a huge bite out of this thing.
It weighs a respectable 300 grams.
That to me sounds exactly right.
At the Japanese Taco Bell,
the biggest menu item is ...
[drumroll]
Boom!
The variety set pack.
It includes two grilled burritos, which is chicken,
and two Chickstars,
which is fried-chicken Crunchwrap Supreme,
and here is four crunchy tacos, which is beef,
and here is nachos,
all for 5,000 yen,
or around $45.49.
Did George just say $45.49 for just the largest menu item?
That can't be right. That is so much money.
Everything on this end is $157.
Just their largest thing was almost 46 bucks.
That's wild.
The biggest single menu item
we have here in the United States
is the before-mentioned Taco Bell party box.
This is exactly what it looks like,
is a pack of 12 tacos,
and in America, this runs you $22.99,
or around 2,526.80 Japanese yen.
Here is everything
you can only get at Taco Bell in Japan,
you cannot get in the US.
And here's everything you can get at a US Taco Bell
you can't get in Japan.
Probably. I'm very confused.
I don't know what half of this stuff is.
So, these are Japan's special menu items.
But before we get it started,
I gotta mention one thing.
It's that I have never tried Taco Bell before.
This is my first time. I'm so excited.
George, I can't believe
this is your first time trying Taco Bell.
Congratulations, and I'm sorry.
So, here is Naked Chicken Taco.
I don't know why it's called naked.
Let me try.
Itadakimasu!
Mm!
This shell is not a usual taco shell.
It's actually chicken shell.
You rock my world.
So, here is DIY taco kit.
I'm going to make my own special tacos,
which is called George's Special Tacos.
GST, yo!
I'm gonna go with this crunchy shell.
I don't have spoons, so I have to do like this.
[shell cracks]
One more time.
You've gotta be gentle.
[shell cracks]
[Taco Bell bell ringing]
I'm going to use this one.
I have a good idea.
I gotcha!
Put some lettuce.
Put some cheese.
Tomato.
Hoi!
I prefer mild.
Ooh!
This is what we call GST.
Itadakimasu.
George just made his special taco,
and it is, like, the most average taco.
He was like, meat, cheese, tomatoes, and sauce.
Hate to break it to you, George, but you made, like,
you just made a ...
a soft-shell taco.
What would my taco be?
What would my Joe's Signature Taco Bell Taco?
Dorito shell, right?
Everyone's nodding their head. Follow me so far?
Wrapped in a gordita, right?
Then the steak, OK?
Then Tapatío.
I don't know if that's on the menu there.
That queso from Chipotle.
It's good, right?
I can put that on there.
Guacamole.
There's a taco chain in the Midwest called Taco John's,
and they have these little potato things called Potato Olés.
So I put some Potato Olés from Taco John's on there.
So we have it, then we deep-fry it.
I need a dipping sauce. What would I,
if I was to dip it, what would I dip it in?
Give me a sauce.
Sour cream, are you out of your mind?
Terrible. What do you think?
You guys are terrible. You don't know
what the hell you're talking about.
Uh, ranch. We'll go with ranch.
Spicy mayo?
This guy's cream over here,
like, it's Taco Bell, guys, get real!
There's Joe's, and only Joe's,
Signature Taco.
Get it going. They just gotta collab
with Chipotle and Taco John's.
USA.
Exclusive tacos at the Taco Bell.
Taco Bell, or Doritos, or both,
had the brilliant idea of going,
"Why don't we make our shell like a Dorito?"
And for some strange reason,
they still have non-Dorito-shell tacos,
which I don't understand why,
because it is far superior to any other
regular taco shell they have on their menu.
Look at this thing. Look at this thing.
I'm salivating looking at this.
Nothing, including oranges, are this orange naturally.
This is just a whole level of food chemical engineering,
and I applaud it.
Doritos, Taco Bell, here we go.
Oh, my God, so good!
George, you gotta come to America, and you gotta try this.
Chalupa Supreme, I'm assuming that's this.
The black bean chalupa.
Yeah, we saw that.
Yeah, that was the thing that looked like it [beep] itself.
The Cantina Crispy Melt.
It has a deep-fried shell.
And then other than that, I see beans, all the veggies.
And then this must be a crispy melt.
The Gordita Crunches are, they take a regular taco
cover it in melted cheese, nacho cheese,
and then wrap a tortilla around it.
Taco Bell answered my prayers
by making a Gordita Crunch that has, in fact,
the Dorito shell inside of it.
They use ...
yeah, and they use cheese to melt it to the hard shell.
Best idea ever. You gotta know.
Yeah, yeah!
Something stuffed in something, with melted cheese.
This is everything I want.
Is it good?
Are you a vegetarian? Is that why you've had it?
Oh. Why would you get not meat at Taco Bell?
OK, I understand. All right, to each their own.
The spicy potato soft taco.
I hear from a very good source, a very reliable source,
that this is good.
So, gotta know.
Oh, yeah, dude!
This is good. What's that sauce that's on here?
We did not have available the loaded chicken flatbread
or the loaded black bean flatbread.
They are on the website.
They weren't available here.
We've got cheesy core burrito.
We've got cheesy beef burrito.
We've got Chickstar,
which is fried-chicken Crunchwrap Supreme.
Burritos. I'm already tired.
Quesarito, beefy five-layer burrito, burrito Supreme,
black bean Crunchwrap Supreme, cheesy roll-up.
Did we see the chicken chipotle melt?
Yeah, that was the one that ripped open,
was the chicken chipotle melt.
So, here is Japan's only side menu.
We've got crispy chicken.
Our Taco Bell in the US,
you can get a side of black beans and rice or guacamole.
So, here are a few menu items that are the same,
but so different, between Japan and the US.
Our nachos come like this.
The chips and toppings are separate.
I got two avocado sauce
and tomato and cheese
and sour cream.
And in the US, and also Mexico, I assume,
you get your nachos with everything
already piled on the chips.
Up until recently,
I thought one of the key descriptors of nachos
is that it's chips with stuff piled on it.
But in Japan, they give you chips, as you could see,
and they have, like, each ingredient in a cup,
and you can kind of mix it.
I think that is ridiculous.
This is what nachos -
I know, like, these are Taco Bell nachos.
They also have the make-your-own-taco kits,
and then they got the make-your-own-nacho kits.
Don't do that.
We call our chips Mexican chips.
And they are tortilla chips that are flavored.
Doing a complete 180,
I am very jealous that Japan has flavored tortilla chips.
I like tortilla chips just fine.
The nacho cheese at Taco Bell,
I'm gonna be honest with you, it's just OK.
But I think flavored chips with this cheese
would actually be really good.
We'll take an L on that one,
but it's the only one we've taken this whole video, so,
that's fine.
Our loaded fries in Japan are topped with beef
and cheese and sour cream.
And here in the US, our loaded fries are not existent.
Wasn't on the menu at the one I went at.
They are on the website.
I don't know if it's just
a Southern California Taco Bell thing.
Our loaded fries have beef, lettuce, ranch,
red strips, cheese, and tomatoes.
Sounds very good.
We were supposed to have Taco Bell desserts as well,
but the store I went to didn't have them.
So here's a list:
ice cream,
premium ice cream,
cinnamon tostada,
and Chocodilla.
I want to try Chocodilla.
That's all I can say.
Our desserts, we have these little guys, Cinnabon Delights.
We all know what Cinnabon is.
We all like to be delighted.
It looks like a little munchkin
that may or may not be Cinnabon flavored.
Let's find out together.
Holy shit.
So, these are our Japan-only drinks.
We've got Coke and Coke Zero.
Drinks!
Sip, sip, baby!
Look at all these colorful drinks.
You eat and drink with your eyes, so I've been told,
so naturally the whole color
of the banned-chemical rainbow,
right in front of me here, with every yellow number this,
red number that, blue and the whatever, so.
I'm going to assume none of these are in Japan
because of whatever's inside of them.
I'm just going to list -- I'll just do a few hits.
Pepsi. We know that, right?
They got Coke, we got Pepsi.
Sierra Mist. I hate that so much.
Baja Blast. Oh, God.
This is Mountain Dew Baja Blast, right here.
More on this in a moment.
[coughing] Oh, good God.
Also we have here is Mountain Dew Kickstart Orange.
This actually rules.
So, this urine-Pantone-color beverage
can only mean one thing:
that it was swiped off the side of a dewy mountain.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mountain Dew.
I will go to my grave knowing that flavor all too well.
I don't know why they just don't get regular fruit punch.
They have the Gatorade, the G2 Gatorade fruit punch.
Pink lemonade.
So, I heard that pink lemonade
is just lemonade that's dyed pink.
Just tastes like lemonade.
What's in pink lemonade that makes it pink?
It was originally, like, it was invented by,
I think, a traveling circus.
And they just did it kind of to get people to buy it.
Like, it was a novelty.
It was pink instead of regular lemonade color.
But I'm assuming now they do something,
they must do something to pink lemonade to make it taste ...
That's lemonade.
What makes pink lemonade different from lemonade?
I want to know.
Our Taco Bell also has coffee and iced coffee.
And although I would never drink this, unsweetened iced tea.
Taco Bell's got breakfast in the US, and I have to say,
I think that their breakfast menu is fantastic.
If it looks a little scarce,
it is because I don't think they gave me everything.
And I'm confused on what some of these things are,
because everything's kind of wrapped.
They used to have, like,
didn't they used to have, like, a waffle taco?
Maybe I'm just imagining that.
They got a cheesy toasted breakfast burrito
and a cheesy toasted breakfast burrito with potato.
And, of course, they have a
hash brown toasted breakfast burrito,
which I think is this.
Hash brown toasted breakfast burrito with steak,
which is right here.
And, of course, the grande toasted breakfast burrito,
which is right here.
And, of course, they have
the grande toasted breakfast burrito with steak.
And then they have a breakfast Crunchwrap.
Yo, this one has eggs
and potato in it.
It looks ridiculous.
But for real, when these are hot,
at, like, 9:30 in the morning, you can't beat this.
As a matter of fact ...
This is so good.
Even sitting out for a couple hours, it's still awesome.
Taco Bell's breakfast is great.
They're no McGriddles,
but if a McDonald's isn't available,
I'll go right to Taco Bell breakfast.
You can also get ...
Hash brown. Can you see him there?
Breakfast salsas. These are really good.
Orange juice.
The homies over at Tropicana holding it down.
Let's talk about nutrition.
In Japan, a beef crunchy taco
is 164.4 calories.
It has 87.2 grams of protein,
5.5 grams of fat,
14.7 grams of carbs,
and 293 milligrams of sodium.
In the US, our standard beef crunchy taco
is 170 calories,
8 grams of protein, 9 grams of fat,
13 grams of carbs, and 310 milligrams of sodium.
So we lead in calories, fat, and sodium,
where Japan has more protein and carbs.
The next one is the chicken quesadilla.
Ours has 492.51 calories.
This one has 510 calories.
One thing to note:
that in both countries, one of these quesadillas
hovers around half of your daily sodium.
Sodium at Taco Bell appears to be such an issue
that in the US menu online, certain combos and items,
like this one right here, are labeled with sodium warnings.
In Japan, a Crunchwrap Supreme
has 1,290 milligrams of sodium.
That's 56% of your daily allowance.
Our Crunchwrap Supreme is 52% your daily sodium.
That's more than half, right?
Man, so both countries, way too much sodium.
Are you looking for the most calories in one menu item?
In Japan, it's our loaded fries.
One order is 718 calories.
It has a third of your daily calories,
almost half of your daily fat,
and 66% of your daily sodium.
In the US, the biggest thing
you should look out for are the nachos.
The very popular Nachos BellGrande,
I love you guys,
is 740 calories,
1,050 milligrams of sodium.
OK. Now, the Cinnabon Delights do have more calories, 930.
But technically that's a 12-pack,
which is supposed to be for four people.
I'm certain, if you're like me,
you're getting 12 and you're not sharing them.
Some do, most don't, but obviously
the Nachos BellGrande is for one person.
But the most calories lie in an item
that's on Taco Bell's cantina menu,
which is only available
at certain locations here in the US.
There, you can get something called the grande beef nachos,
which has 1,120 calories,
which is more than half of your daily allowance,
and 68% of your daily sodium.
[sighs]
Now, it's just not the food at Taco Bell.
You also have to watch out for the drinks.
Here it is, everyone.
30 fluid ounces of Mountain Dew Baja Blast.
A beverage that answers the question,
"What if we combined Mountain Dew's bold,
refreshing tropical flavor with crystal meth?"
This totally logical 30 fluid ounces of nightmare fuel
is 420 calories, very cool,
and 110 grams of sugar.
I don't know. Sorry.
This stuff is making me delirious.
In the US, there are a few ingredients at our Taco Bell
you should look out for.
Both are in the beverages on Taco Bell's cantina menu.
First is brominated vegetable oil,
aka BVO,
which is banned in Japan.
BVO is an emulsifier found in citrus-flavored sodas
and is specifically used with citrus oils,
and it's considered a health risk
when ingested in large amounts.
It was brought to public attention
when it was discovered in popular beverages
like Mountain Dew and Powerade, but due to public pressure,
it was removed from Coke and Pepsi products
in 2014, which is good.
Now, unfortunately, you can still find this ingredient
in three cantina menu freezes.
The beach berry freeze, the ginger mule freeze,
and the party punch freeze.
Luckily, they weren't in any of the freezes
you'd find in the regular menu, only on the cantina menu.
Ugh!
OK. When it comes to citrus-flavored soda,
we have CC Lemon.
That's one of the most popular
citrus-flavored soda in Japan.
CCL Lemon contains the following:
sugars, which is fructose-glucose syrup
and sugar, lemon juice, flavoring, vitamin C,
acidulant, safflower dye, calcium pantothenate,
vitamin B6, carotene pigment.
That's it.
See? It doesn't have brominated vegetable oil.
It tastes really good.
So that means you can make it delicious
without BVO.
The last one, party punch freeze,
also contains Yellow No. 5, aka tartrazine,
which is subject to restrictions outside of the US
in places like the EU and Japan,
as it may have "adverse effect
on activity and attention in children."
What the hell?
You can tell this color is yellow, right?
So why don't you use something else that isn't harmful?
Just like CC Lemon.
♪ CC lemon, hey ♪
Oh, God.
Too much Taco Bell.