Writing the Journey: June 1999 | Department of English

"Big Mac Attack--Abroad: A Travelers' Culinary Conundrum"

Cathy Rickey
Folklore, Memorial University of Newfoundland
crickey@morgan.ucs.mun.ca

While compiling notes on the folklore and folklife material contained in accounts written by travelers Mary Henrietta Kingsley and Christina Dodwell, I found myself being distracted by extensive descriptions of foods and foodways of the various cultures which they encountered. While these and other so-called "intrepid" travelers consumed foods which make the armchair travel reader squirm with discomfort, I was pleased to see that even seasoned travelers occasionally admitted to longing for the familiar repast.

Most travelers experience what my colleague Wendy Welch and I call "Big Mac Attacks-Abroad"--that longing for the familiar comfort of a recognizable franchise restaurant. Food writer Fred Ferretti says, "The appetite American have for their fast food--historical, regional, and ethnic--is intense and endless. We seek them out. We taste. We opine. We proselytize" ("In Fast Food We Trust" Gourmet, April 1993: 64). We hunger for a place where we will temporarily shed the liminal mantle of "foreigner" and experience a feeling of competence often lacking in the world immediately outside.

Ironically, the "attack" often happens to individuals like myself who seldom, if ever, eat in fast food restaurants at home and who appreciate exposure to foreign cuisines. Yet we are willing to spend considerable time and effort to satisfy this need. As we collected and compared narratives about this phenomenon, we discovered recurring issues relating to cultural world view, competence, hygiene, personal safety, and finances all playing a part in this culinary cultural complex.

My informal presentation will look at our research thus far and solicit additional narratives about similar travel experiences from conference participants.

Cathy Rickey
Folklore,
Memorial University of Newfoundland,
St. John's, Newfoundland,
Canada.
(709) 895-3159.
crickey@morgan.ucs.mun.ca

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Updated May 23, 1999