Global Policy Forum

By Laura Durnford

Hong Kong is arguably the food capital of the world, with more than 10,000 restaurants with cuisine from Brazil, Nepal, Russia, and Egypt to choose from, not to mention the mouthwatering variety of Chinese dishes. But Hong Kongers have taken Western-style fast food to their hearts and stomachs. What effect has this taste for burgers, pizzas and French fries had on Hong Kong society, cuisine and business?

In the North of China they say that people in the South will eat anything with four legs - except a table! But in Hong Kong food is a serious business. Many homes are too small for entertaining guests and eating out is a popular social affair. With the wealth of choice and flavours

already available in the city, you might have thought that the relatively limited variety in burgers, fries and pizzas would have made Western-style fast food a flop. And yet, since the first McDonalds restaurant opened in the metropolis in January 1975, the number of outlets has reached almost 160 and more than 9,000 locals are now employed by the American giant.

Changing cultures

"Hong Kong's McDonalds gradually made the transition from a trendy exotic outpost of American culture to an ordinary purveyor of ordinary food for ordinary people," says James L. Watson - Professor of Chinese Society and Anthropology at Harvard University in the USA. He's devoted years to the study of fast food and was the editor of a recent book called ‘Golden Arches East'.

According to Watson, McDonalds has actually changed the local fabric in surprising ways. "In the late 1960s Hong Kong was not home for most people, it was a place to transit out of. In consequence, social consciousness was not very developed. So when McDonalds first opened it had trouble with queues and they employed young women to force everybody to wait their turn." And so, apparently, many older people credit the company with developing a middle class culture in Hong Kong. "Gradually the idea of queuing became more and more popular as people began to treat the place as home."

Objections

Prof. Watson is satisfied that McDonalds has become a part of everyday life in Asia. He rejects the idea that such Western food chains are undermining local cuisine and culture. But not everyone agrees. Locally based anthropologist, Professor Gordon Mathews of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, thinks there's an over-emphasis on the local feel of the fast food giants: "There's no doubt that McDonalds does lead to places becoming more and more similar. A Big Mac is a Big Mac wherever you are! Is that a terrible thing? I don't think it necessarily is, but it is a process of homogenisation."Of course many people simply object to fast food on principle. Local restaurateurs recently established the Hong Kong branch of the Slow Food movement to try and stem the tide. And of all the fast food chains, McDonalds is the biggest target for protestors. Within the past few years, Greenpeace Hong Kong has challenged the corporation over its use of genetically modified ingredients and a pressure group called the Christian Industrial Council has accused it of abusing workers rights.

Role model

Although such campaigns have raised awareness, in Hong Kong as elsewhere people still love to eat under the golden arches. And in fact the company is now serving as a model for new chains – this time selling Chinese style fast food.

Michael Chan is chairman of ‘Café de Coral' - a group of Hong Kong fast food restaurants that have been around since the 1960s, but grew dramatically after McDonalds' arrival in the city. "McDonalds gives the inspiration in terms of the labour deployment and how the self-service model works," he explains. "But the difficult thing is that the Chinese style menu ranges far wider than the McDonalds type."

Mr. Chan is trying to produce a wide, constantly changing menu, but also the consistent quality that comes with mass production at a central location. "If we can copy the McDonalds mode of operation we can save a lot of labour and reduce variation between branches," he says. Café de Coral already has more branches than its Western rival in Hong Kong and now it's going global too. Michael Chan recently bought up an American company called ‘Manchu Wok', making Café de Coral the largest Chinese fast food chain in the world. Now he's aiming to become as big as McDonalds.

No regrets

In the meantime, the man who started the whole situation by first bringing McDonalds into Hong Kong certainly loses no sleep over all the changes that have ensued. "I'm Chinese and I love Chinese food," says Daniel Ng. "Chinese culture is precious to me, but sometimes when you mix two cultures you create something even more exciting!"

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