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10 strange fast food items abroad

In the US, fast food can get pretty predictable: Burgers, fries, chicken, and a taco or a fish sandwich, if you’re feeling adventurous. Leave it to our international brethren to show us how to loosen up and live a little. Take a look at ten wacky fast food items from around the world.

5. Shrimp burger (McDonald’s Japan)

Koji Sasahara/AP/File
People walk past a McDonald's Japan outlet in busy Shibuya commercial district in Tokyo in this file photo.

  • By Schuyler Velasco Correspondent

Let’s face it: the fish offerings among American fast food are severely limited, and sometimes you hanker for something more than a white fried fish filet sandwich. Enter McDonald’s Japan (again!) with the Ebi Filet-O shrimp burger. The company debuted the sandwich in 2005 amid slumping sales in Japan as a tactic to lure customers with fare that catered more specifically to Japanese palates. It worked: 10 million shrimp burgers were sold in the sandwich’s first three months, and the Tokyo-based branch of the McDonald’s corporation saw its profits perk up.

The Ebi-Filet-O looks a lot like the stateside Filet-O-Fish, but it comes with a patty made of bits of shrimp and topped with lettuce, spicy sauce, and the requisite McDonald’s sesame seed bun. It retails for 320 Japanese yen, or about $4 US

Would we eat it: McDonald’s Japan is looking like the place to be these days. Absolutely.

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Mark Sappenfield
Editor

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