One of the things I noticed throughout Europe was the fast food. In all the places I went, the place with the most American chains was easily London. And aside from Starbucks, the most common American chain seemed to be Subway, not McDonalds as you'd expect. My friend Richard in Munich and my friend Andrew in London both noted that Starbucks very aggressively bought up locations seemingly on every corner (sounds familiar). Richard said they didn't expect Starbucks to be successful in Munich, which has a coffeehouse culture of its own, but it turns out that the people love going there because the employees are - nice! Go figure. I was amused by the special offerings of the fast food places in London. Burger King was featuring the "Angry Whopper". Eek. Though I loved the posters that said "Get one whilst one can." And McDonald's was featuring "the Tastes of America" with special burgers each week - like the Chicago Burger. Yeah, I don't know what a Chicago Burger would be either. Maybe they put pizza in it? And the following week is a Las Vegas Burger. Yup, stumped on that one too. The next week is a Texas Burger - at least that one makes some sense. Needless to say, I didn't try any. One fast food I did try was a great and ubiquitous place called Pret a Manger. The food there was amazing. All fresh, healthy stuff made that day on-site. It made me wish they had em here, but when I called up their website, I found out they already do. Unfortunately, only in New York. I hope they decide to launch in LA. That's what fast food should be.

Pret A Manger