Jetting off to faraway lands can seems more romantic in people’s imaginations than it may be in reality. In Hong Kong, what struck me most were not necessarily the displays of ancient porcelain tea sets at the airport, but the Starbucks filled with a line of about 30 people. Granted, an airport is not the best place for an authentic experience, that was a definite disappointment. Soon, I noticed Starbucks everywhere after landing in Jakarta.

The American chain, which appeared on every few corners or so was almost always populated with buyers. Here I was, in the land of Java (literally the island of Java gave the coffee its name), and the coffee served at these popular Starbucks was “Colombian,” “Ethiopian,” and other flavors that the company deems “exotic” for Indonesians. I wonder what coffee Starbucks serves people in Colombia and Ethiopia… probably Java.

So-called economic “experts” claim that the popularity of McDonald’s and the like are due to adapting to the local cultures and food tastes. Yet, never did I actually validate this theory in all my travels. We’ve all read how McDonald’s in India does not serve beef due to the sanctity of cows there. So, they substitute the main meat with chicken. This is not necessarily adapting to the local culture by any stretch of the imagination. True, McDonald’s outside the Opera Garnier is gorgeously furnished with marble columns, painted ceilings of classical scenes, and gold colored touches. But the menu is pretty much universal – pure American burgers with little to no variation between the US and other countries. No, my uninformed economists, McDonald’s does not adapt to the world. The world adapts to and embraces McDonald’s.

Indeed, it is fair to say that American franchises have taken over globally. McDonald’s dominates in France, despite the French mockingly stereotyping Americans for eating fast food. KFC and Pizza Hut are all the rage in Beijing. Starbucks had a stronghold in Indonesia. Even the Indian peasant on the side of the forgotten dirt road, bordering shanty towns, sold lays chips and Coca Cola outside of his shack to make a living. Thinking back to growing up in Albania, Coca Cola ranked among the most popular drinks.

Yet the encroachment of Americanism extends beyond food. American movies, actors, and singers are popular throughout the globe. In cafes around the world, American music plays in the background. Nightclubs in Beijing and everywhere play “world music” which usually consists of American Top 40s and then some.

In a desperate effort to escape the American cultural imperialism of food franchises, I retreated into a local coffee shop, tucked away in a forested area away from the city center. This was an exquisite experience – all locals, and flavors of classic coffee made in Indonesia, in a warm café rather than in an excessively air-conditioned franchise. You know it’s real when the baristas do not exactly speak fluent English. This satisfied my taste, literally, for the local. However, for the Indonesians around me, there was some allure to attending the American chain of Starbucks.

What is authentic to the entering foreigner may by trite and mundane to the local. Likewise, what is commonplace to the foreigner is exotic to the local. For this reason, American food franchises, music, and movies satisfy a taste for the American, and in some ways connect people to a global phenomenon. People like it, clearly – the American franchises that I passed by in different countries were all filled with locals (and a few foreigners).

Certainly, these places occupy a unique niche and offer value for their frequenters. Albeit cheap price is NOT one of them. Prices of McDonald’s burgers or Starbucks coffee in other countries can be quite expensive compared to local prices. In fact, McDonald’s in France is considered chique and upscale. I even recall running into one to use the restroom – in one glimpse, the patrons were nicely dressed French youth hanging out with their friends. Moreover, Starbucks is often used as a meeting place even in different countries, particularly for white collar professionals.

Furthermore, these businesses create jobs for the residents.  The most striking example that I witnessed was the poor man selling Lays and Coca Cola on the side of the street next to the slums. Where the Indian government had failed to help him escape abject poverty, Lays and Coca Cola stepped in to provide this man and his family a livelihood.

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Back in the USA, hallal food carts outside Columbia University are booming businesses, as students stop to grab lunch quickly before class. Little India is unique in Paris. Chinatowns in the US sport Chinese restaurants that attract the highest reviews on Yelp, albeit are shunned as unauthentic by Chinese food connoisseurs. Americans enjoy tastes of different parts of the world for the same reasons that people from different countries like McDonald’s. So perhaps there is nothing odd about this picture. It is natural human interest and curiosity to desire and experience what is rarer.

Except, McDonald’s is a massive corporation while the hallal food cart and Chinese restaurant are operated by small business owners. Contrasting,  behemoth multinational corporations with franchises globally profit with billions of dollars throughout the planet. Then stow away cash using tax loopholes. This still begs the question, is there more wrong here? Continuing further, in other cases, multinational corporations are infamous for exploiting local labor and causing dramatic environmental damage. But this gets into a topic of its own, too large to address here.

Inspired by my trip to Indonesia, I was struck by the dominating Starbucks on street corners in Jakarta. This post barely touches the colossal subjects of globalization, American influence, cultural adaption, and topics of friction like cultural appropriation, exploitation by big corporations, and a betrayal of authenticity. Yet, it conjures questions and a need for understanding of the changes by ultraglobalization, and its interaction with host cultures.

While deeper economic, political, and moral questions may spark from any peculiar observation, sometimes a traveler just needs to grab some food before getting back to work, and that Starbucks will be there waiting to serve.