Always think it’s odd when a restaurant advertises they have a “world famous” cheeseburger with “world famous” sauce on it.
I would imagine the list of things that would be recognized by a woman on a farm in the middle of a field in Niger is actually fairly short.
I think Coca-Cola’s pretty damn near globally recognized. I guess the Big Mac is reasonably close (the recent “never tasted a whopper ads” notwithstanding).
I might buy that tea at Harrod’s in London is fairly “world-famous”. Maybe one of the cheesesteak places in Philadelphia.
Any other thoughts as to what really IS world-famous fare?
You might be looking more for a style than a brand.
For example, years ago on “Wall Street Week” (yes, both the show and it’s star are long gone and the facts presented may have changed) a specialist in soft drinks was asked what was the most popular soft drink in the world…Coke or Pepsi.
The answer was neither. At that time the most popular soft drink in the world would have been an Orange Soda under a bunch of different brand names.
TABASCO® sauce has an amazing amount of brand recognition for a company that isn’t that big. Most gas station mini-marts here in New England carrier it in their (tiny) food section. I have also seen it in small places in Canada and several countries in Europe. I suspect it is really world famous or, at least, close to it.
For starters, that fact that a woman on a farm in the middle of a field in Niger doesn’t recognize it doesn’t mean it’s not world famous. “World Famous” just means that it’s recognized around the world, not that every human on the face of the planet has heard of it.
And second, you’re over-parsing the phrase. “Our world-famous cheeseburger” doesn’t mean our cheeseburger if famous world over. It means cheeseburgers are famous world over, and here is our version of it.
Okay, I’m fan-wanking the argument. But there you go, you’ve been fan wanked.
Steaks from Delmonico’s
Pizza from Lombardi’s or the original Pizzeria Uno/Due
Seafood from Fisherman’s Wharf
Kobe beef
We’re not talking about food that’s well known everywhere from Anatevka to Tierra del Fuego, just well-known by foodies far away from where it’s served.
I’m going to have to go with Lipton. If you were to buy tea from a cafe in Turkey and it was from a teabag, they’d call it Lipton. Most of the time it actually was Lipton brand too.
Huh. I don’t know Delmonico’s (I know the cut, though). Never heard of Lombardi’s. Obviously, I know Uno/Due, but I don’t think most people know Uno’s outside the States, and I’d figure Due is pretty much unknown outside Chicago (hell, I know Chicagoans who have never heard of Due.) I know Fisherman’s Wharf, but didn’t realize the seafood there is particularly prized, and, well, sure, Kobe. But I have the feeling that Kobe isn’t as well known in Europe as it is here in the States, though I could be wrong about that.
But, on second thought, maybe they do qualify as “world famous.” I don’t know. But they’re not “world famous” in the same way, say, Tabasco, Coke, and McDonald’s are, for instance.
I would say that at least two of these three are well-known because of their aggressive marketing campaigns and not their culinary merits. Twinkies are “world famous” this way.
There are great burgers out there to be eaten, but the famous ones aren’t the best. The best burger I ever ate was a Black Angus burger at a Chadwick’s in Georgetown (Washington, DC). I’ve gotten burgers at other Chadwick’s and been unable to duplicate the experience. Maybe I was just really hungry that day?
What’s a really good, famous hamburger? Five Guys is pretty good locally; no idea if the quality survived the mad rush to mass-franchise. How good is Carl’s Jr.?
“World famous” probably has to be something pretty cheap, and easily distributed, like Coca Cola. Not many people in the world have the opportunity or finances to be able to go to Chicago, New York or Philadelphia in order to have a steak or soup or something like that. And it’s not like people who can’t afford it go around talking about it. I myself didn’t even know what a “cheese steak” was until recently–I still haven’t had one. And while I’ve seen the name “Delmonico’s” before, I don’t know how any steak could be so good that it becomes famous to a person hundreds of miles away who never had one. Really. How good can a steak be? All you do is broil it.
It also needs to be something that can fit into various cultures. Seeing as Coca Cola is basically sugar water, that isn’t a problem. People drink sugar water everywhere. Tabasco is probably only known in countries where spicy condiments are liked. McDonald’s has been able to adapt to other countries’ cuisine cultures, like (largely vegetarian India) and Japan, but only in heavily populated urban areas.
So I think Coca Cola is probably the only brand that is truly “world famous.” Otherwise, the term just means, “Someone in another country has remarked on, and likes, our brand.”
They just opened a Five Guys locally, and, although I’ve had some pretty mixed reactions to it elsewhere, I have to say the Five Guys in Oak Park, at least, is pretty damned solid for a fast-food burger. I’ve never had a Carl’s Jr. that I’ve been particularly impressed with. Are Carl’s and Hardee’s exactly the same, or are they different? Because all the Hardee’s I’ve been to have been have been second-rate.
Coca Cola is universal. Once a year, that woman in a field in Niger invites her friends and relatives over for a party, and she serves them Coke. Same for the villagers in India, China, Guatemala…everywhere. I’ve seen people climbing mountains with crates of Coke on their head on their way to deliver it to distant villages without road access. The number of people on this planet without any access to Coke probably number in the thousands.
Thats the only thing I’ve seen that is that widespread. Nestle products (powdered milk, etc.) are pretty universal, but I don’t think anyone has any particular affection for them. Lipton is big elsewhere, but I’ve never seen it in China. Guinness is big in Africa, but not China.
I think KFC is more well represented than McDonalds, but neither one exists in huge chunks in the world (the enterprising chicken shack with a KFC sign in Yaounde, Cameroon aside.)
