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Pack(age) Rat: Budget Kattemad
I think I said I would stop buying cat food while abroad. I had to make an exception for this sardine-flavored can of Danish kattemad, though.
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Corporate Culture: Pret A Manger
So I haven't been granted any previews of The Elm or The Butterfly. But I did get a peek (and almost typed sneak peak because it's been seared [seered?] into my brain from repeated viewings) inside a...
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No Horsemeat Jokes
So I went to Ikea in Sweden. The first thing people say is "It's the same, right?" Well, yes. Not exactly. There's an empty parking lot, for one. On a Friday afternoon, I practically had the place to...
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Oh, Canada
Topical and/or newsy isn't my forte, but let's lightly touch on Canada Day in a roundabout manner. There is an uproar up north over the new creepy iteration of Kraft peanut butter's teddy bear...
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Week in International Intrigue: Whoppers, Wine Bars, Wing Zones
New York Fries, which doesn't exist in New York–or anywhere in the US–will be opening two shops in Istanbul shortly. The Candian chain is no stranger to cross-cultural items; butter chicken poutine...
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The Week in International Intrigue: Man Salads, Standing Restaurants, Turkey...
The founders of Australian SumoSalad must not read The New York Times because they think Americans lack healthy lunch options like salads. If the chain wants to get with it, it should really consider...
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Two Things
So, I wrote a few things elsewhere recently. Read about OddFellows Ice Cream on Real Cheap Eats. I love the miso cherry butterscotch. I also need to go back for a sundae. And Wok to Walk, a Dutch...
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The Week in International Intrigue: Quiznos Borscht, Pie Donuts,...
Cronuts, the NYC baked good anomaly that just won't quit, reproduced by an American chain abroad? Now everyone's obsessed with Dunkin' Donuts in South Korea's New York Pie Donuts. The world has...
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Chain Links: BoCoCa, Panini in Doha
The world’s love affair with what it thinks to be Brooklyn continues to blossom. We’ve come to expect this treatment from Paris and Tokyo, and now the Russians (fresh off their taste of Shake Shack)...
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The Week in International Intrigue: Ping Pong, Pizza Hat, Philly Steaks
Remember when Susan Sarandon got all into ping pong and opened SPiN with her super-young boyfriend? Now Dubai is having that experience, but with gold-plated tables, naturally. Those ping-pongers will...
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24 Hours in Dubai
People may complain about the pervasiveness of American culture, but abroad it’s Britishisms all the time. At the airport Costa Coffee (yes, yes, a British chain) the advertisement for mince pies...
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Pack(age) Rat: Mr. Krisps Corn Tortillas
The United Arab Emirates do not have an innovative chip, and yes I mean that in the American sense, culture on par with , say, Thailand (seaweed, soft-shell crab, and blueberry and hazelnut Pringles)...
View ArticlePhotos, Finished
If photos are your thing, here is my Dubai Flickr set that’s a million times more full of stuff than what I posted to Instagram. I ate some real food from all corners of the Middle East. I also ate at...
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The Week In International Intrigue: Starbucks Style, Drunk and Disorderly...
Dazaifu Tenmangu shrine Starbucks in Japan: Starbucks via Wired Even if you hate seeing Starbucks when abroad (or on your own corner) you must concede that the beyond-ubiquitous coffee chain does...
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The Week in International Intrigue: Peri-Peri, Big Pictures, Lamb Burgers
The Guardian generated over 1,200 comments when Jay Rayner defended Nando’s (and mildly insulted the monotonous cuisine of Dordogne). Quartz is one of those endless scroll sites with big photos that...
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Top Six Chains I Didn’t Expect in Dubai
Yeah, we all know about Shake Shack’s world domination (I saw three of Dubai’s four without even trying) and at this point P.F. Chang’s, Red Lobster, IHOP, Cheesecake Factory, and even Texas Roadhouse...
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Two Weeks in International Intrigue: Red Beans, Red Sauce, Spam
Photo: Facebook/Dairy Queen Vietnam I posted no stray links last weekend because I knocked out a good portion of my front two teeth and somehow that kept me from posting online for a few days. These...
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Ranch-Style
WBIR.com Things are bleak for the middle class, and could be made no clearer than the Darden brand examples given at the end of The New York Times’ recent report. Traffic is declining at Olive Garden...
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The Week In International Intrigue: Burgers Not Baguettes, Banh Mi
Facebook/Little Fernand The French love burgers. No, make that hotdogs. We still have a love affair with macarons, and now there’s a second NYC Ladurée. South Korean Caffé Bene is also on an NYC tear....
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The Week In International Intrigue: Hot Pots, Hot Nabes, Weird Places
Photo: Bedford-Stuyvesant If you find yourself in Madrid in desperate need of Goldfish crackers, Teddy Grahams, Newman’s Own salad dressings or Smucker’s Goober (strawberry and grape) head to a chain...
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