Burger King and McDonald's are certainly trying to take over the Buenos Aires meat market! You cannot walk more than about 3-4 city blocks on the main streets without encountering one or the other. That is sad to me. It is another sign of globalization, which is not totally bad, yet it is also a sign of the homogenization of world culture. And the Burger King's and McDonald's seem to be doing as much business as in the United States. One of my fellow students thought it was because it was cheap food, but I went inside to check the prices and they are about the same prices as in the U.S. and they are not much cheaper than what you pay for a much nicer lunch in a cafe, restaurant or bar.
One positive sign was how the Buenos Aires culture has influenced McDonald's. Here most of them have McCafe's. These are separate sections in the restaurant where you can buy a variety of coffee drinks, hot tea, and little pastry and dessert type snacks. It is evidence of the importance for portenos of their afternoon snack time, and of their consumption of coffee. At the regular counter the coffee you can purchase is regular McDonald's coffee, but at the McCafe you can find espresso, cortados, cafe con leche, etc. At least McDonald's has had to adjust somewhat.
There are other signs of North American influence around town. The bank where I have been using the ATM is a CITIbank. For some activities it is nice to see a familiar name. There is a greater level of trust and feeling that everything will go right. I saw a familiar real estate sign, plus there are establishments clearly run by North Americans, like the Alamo Bar and the Amerikan Restaurant, to name a couple. I even saw a California Burrito the other day, but it did not appear to be all that successful.
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