McFelafel is in in the mix
September, 2000

Sometimes, globalization does go in the opposite direction... or at least it might seem to. The wider ranging socio-political and economic implications of McDonalds new McFelafel sandwich are sure to be discussed by academics for years to come.

The facts of the matter, however, can be stated loud and clear, right here and now:

1-Globalization is going rampant.
2-McDonalds Egypt has just introduced a new sandwich called McFalafel
3-It costs LE1.50
4-Shaaban Abdel-Rehim sings the jingle for the TV ad.

Desperation does some strange things, economists might argue, as the global hamburger giant tries yet again to engage its local customers. But would anyone want a "taamiya" from under the golden arches, even if the "combo" version of the meal is called "al-me'allim", as the McFelafel combo is?

Maybe...

After all, there was talk a few years ago of a famous Egyptian businessman deciding to open up a chain of McDonalds-like fast food fuul and taamiya restaurants, with the same uniform, sanitized look and feel of classic American fast food. It never actually happened, but the logic behind that idea was that people would be willing to pay a little more to have their favorite baladi meal in a predicatable format they could trust, no matter where they were.

Is McDonalds striving for that feeling, with McFelafel? Perhaps. But there may be another angle to it as well... As in, is this a practice run for the introduction of McFelafel worldwide? Is Egypt the test market for what may become the latest global fast food phenomenon. Will McFelafel become the next Big Mac? Why not? Felafel, served by homegrown Arab restaurants around the world, is already globally popular. The McDonalds version would become the standard, no frills, same everywhere, generic felafel taste. Speaking of taste, cairolive.com has taken the McFelafel taste test and is ready, as always, to be the first to let you know what's up:

So here's the low-down:

1-It's felafel alright, even though it looks exactly like a hamburger and is couched in a standard sesame seed McDonalds bun.
2-The shape is more hamburger than felafel.
3-The taste is pure falafel.
4-The dressing is lettuce, tomato, onion and tahina.
5-The spices hit hard.
6-It's filling, but is it worth 3 times more than the standard felafel sandwich?

Considering that the new sandwich was just introduced yesterday, it may take a few weeks to find out the answer to that last question. In any case, you can rest assured that this will not be the last time you read about this new phenomenon on cairolive.com...

It's just too McTelling...



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