It’s not surprising that the pyramids at Giza, which draw millions of tourists per year, also attract international franchise restaurants. People have been traveling to see the pyramids for a few thousand years now and business owners have historically taken advantage. But there is something disturbing about this video none-the-less.
It’s happening all over the world: You can stumble into a Pizza Hut in Muscat, Oman; or Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In Tokyo you can order a Pizza Hut pie with potatoes and mayonnaise; the favorite Pizza Hut pie in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is one covered in curry, mutton and onions. And in Moscow the most popular Pizza Hut pie has sardines, tuna, mackerel, salmon and onions.
Of course Pizza Hut has every right to set up shop wherever it can. It certainly isn’t the only chain restaurant in Giza. Immediately opposite the main ticket gates to the Pyramid enclosure stand a KFC and McDonald’s. It’s a great business strategy. To many, a restaurant with a familiar global brand and a huge insurance policy probably seems like a safe place to eat overseas – certainly safer than those kabob stands, right?
If the Pharaohs had been capitalists instead of God-Kings they would have been wise to build the pyramids anyway – to attract tourists and fire up the local economy. But how much does having an international chain like Pizza Hut actually help locals?
Many of the people who visit the pyramids there probably didn’t grow up in a town where the red roof of Pizza Hut can be seen rising from practically every corner. For them, eating American fast food in Egypt may be a fun treat. But the proliferation of these fast food chains around the globe is enough to make many travelers (including myself) sick to their stomachs.
[Via: Buzzfeed]
A personal note on this post:
I would rather get hassled by a hundred local merchants hawking camel rides and pharaonic trinkets than eat a single slice of the same stuffed-crust pizza that fuels suburban malaise across America. And yeah, I know – that’s a self-righteous sentence loaded with personal angst and superficiality. I admit it. And yes, with travel becoming easier, nobody can travel through a touristy region and expect it to be free from international chain restaurants. Still, as a traveler and an American the last thing I want is to turn away from one of the Seven Wonders of the World to find myself confronted by the same chain restaurant I would find at a mall in Columbus, Ohio.
I’ve found american fast food restaurants abroad to be quite useful for, you know, dropping the kids off at the pool.
Destroying the world, one satisfied customer a time.