“Makku Or Makudo?” That’s Right – McDonalds Demands An Answer!
Once again, Japan leads the way in wild food ideas, and this month, McDonalds wants you to decide which burger you like best: here they are, with more detail to follow – including a new scandal erupting as the voting is underway:
Of course, “RocketNews24” – now “SoraNews24” has the story – as they report:
“The Kanto region, centred on Tokyo, and the Kansai region, centred on Osaka and Kyoto, have a long history of cultural and culinary rivalry. They also have different words for some things, including, strangely enough, McDonald’s. Then again, in English there are plenty of names for the humble fast food chain: Maccy D’s, the Golden Arches and the Evil Face of Capitalism to name but a few. While normally in Japan it’s pronounced Makudonarudo (マクドナルド), people in Tokyo and the surrounding area tend to abbreviate the name to “Makku” (マック) with those in Kansai and the West of Japan go for “Makudo” (マクド). Now, McDonald’s Japan is playing up this rivalry by introducing differing limited-edition burgers to decide, at least burger-wise, who will be crowned champion.”
Here is the Osaka Beef Katsu Burger on the right:
“Osaka is the traditional culinary heart of Japan, encapsulated by the unofficial motto of the city, ‘kuidaore‘ (eat until you fall down). One of its most famous offerings is Kushi Katsu: meat, fish or vegetables placed on skewers, covered in breadcrumbs and deep-fried. The new McDonald’s burger follows in this tradition with a bread-crumbed and deep-fried beef patty with a good dollop of special Katsu sauce.”
Tokyo Roast Beef Burger is on the top of the picture above. As SoraNews24 reports:
“Yes, Tokyo, capital of Japan and almost a country in its own right, famous throughout the world for… roast beef? Rather than go with tradition, McDonald’s says it is responding to the current trend sweeping the capital. The Tokyo Roast Beef Burger will feature the delicious umami flavour of roast beef with a 100 percent beef patty in a baguette-style bun.”
Here is the TV ad currently running in Japan – filled with the kind of “full color psychedelic” you expect from ads in Japan!
Now – A McDonald’s Burger Scandal!
Just a few days after their original report, RocketNews24 has an update – shocking claims online that the “Roast Beef Burger” actually includes pork as well!
Here is their report:
The burger’s description as written in their campaign literature uses some rather misleading language to make us believe otherwise:
“It’s a burger with juicy 100 percent beef and roast beef with the strong sensation of delicious meat sandwiched between two baguette style buns.”
As RocketNews24 revealed:
“While not explicitly saying the roast beef was 100 percent, by deceptively putting it right next to the description of the 100-percent all beef patty, it would be easy to connect the two on a subconscious level. Voters online felt the same and registered their displeasure.
Further investigation into the creation of the Tokyo Roast Beef Burger shows that its eponymous topping is actually made from a processed meat which includes both beef and pork!”
This ingredients info does show pork as one of the ingredients – no idea how much, but this could impact the vote and send everyone to the Osaka Beef Katsu Burger!
Now, since this is just a vote about two burgers, it’s not really much of a scandal, but if you order a burger with roast beef, you don’t really expect to get pork as well, do you?
See the entire story here:
As always, thanks to the intrepid reporters at SoraNews24 for the story – a burger battle that has now become one of Japan’s biggest scandals! OK, hyperbole, but it’s still a tasty controversy that I’d bite into!
You can see more here, including some wild new breakfast sandwiches they are offering as well!
As the “Rocketnews24” story points out, a winner will be announced on August 22 – may the best burger win – and the “roast beef/pork” controversy be resolved!
This follows a story just last week about the wild new “pizza battle” going on at Japan’s dominos restaurants – see that wild ad here:
Let me know which version of McDonalds you’d try!
Categories: BACON, Books / Media, Exotic Travel, Food, food blog, Food Review, Hamburgers, Japan, Recipes, Restaurants, Technology, Tokyo!, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, TV Show, Uncategorized, Wacky Food
johnrieber 
Osaka Burger looks a tiny bit more appetizing.
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Reading your post, and also going by the product images, I’m with the Osaka Burger all the way. The other one with the slices of roast beef just looks wrong.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Agree Pete!
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