You Can Order Cheese Fries At This Country's McDonald's

McDonald's fries regularly get touted as the best fries in fast food, but for such a popular item, you don't actually get to customize them much, and if you want a classic like cheese on them, you'll have to do some real traveling. The fascination with international McDonald's items usually stems from how different they can be from the offerings in America, such as the falafel wrap in Egypt and breakfast crepes in Sweden. On the other hand, cheese fries seem like something that should obviously be an American staple, and they have actually been offered as a limited-time item in the past in the form of bacon cheese fries. But sadly, McDonald's seems content to keep that at arm's reach. Instead, the restaurant has gifted that item to Italy.

Yes, Italy. It's another curious choice that makes you wonder just how McDonald's decides what specialties get served where. It's not that Italians don't love cheese, just that the heavy cheddar cheese sauce doesn't quite fit with the country's reputation. But hey, maybe it's something else; while some people around the world may like McDonald's to cater to their local tastes, others just want the full American experience, even more so than the one actually offered here. Or maybe it's just a Mediterranean taste, as one of the few other countries McDonald's that offers cheese fries is Spain.

Italy actually has quite a few unique items that seem like they would be hits in the U.S. beyond the cheese fries. The most interesting, and the one that truly feels like a crossover between Italian and American varieties, is the My Selection BBQ burger, which features bacon, gouda cheese, and coleslaw, with a BBQ sauce that includes authentic balsamic vinegar of Modena. In fact, the sauces are often the most unique aspects of the burgers in Italy, as there is also an Asiago and Bacon Burger that features a caramelized onion sauce, and something that sounds like it really belongs in America — the Crispy McBacon, which is topped with an enigmatically named iconic crispy sauce.

However, Italy's love of fresh food does come through in one part of the menu you might call the complete opposite of cheese fries: salads. McDonald's in the U.S. recently dropped its salad options entirely, citing a lack of demand from customers. Meanwhile, McDonald's Italy boasts some pretty nice looking options that include olives, fresh corn, and real Parmigiano Reggiano shavings. The variety of unique items in these foreign McDonald's speaks to the fascinating intersection between exporting American culture and needing to cater to local tastes. But that still begs the question: if McDonald's is perfectly happy offering locals things it discontinued in America because they are still popular there, why doesn't it think the U.S. will support cheese fries permanently?