McDonald's Around the World: Kosher McDonald's in Buenos Aires!

I love visiting McDonald's when I travel. Whether it is finding out about the McHotdog in Kyoto, trying some Swedish Pancakes in Stockholm, or the биф а-ля рус in Moscow, visiting McDonald's while you are traveling can often be surprising. Despite what many think, they are not all the same and in Buenos Aires there is one that is unique to the Americas: A Kosher McDonald's.

Buenos Aires is home to a strong Jewish community with a long history. Argentina is home to one of the largest Jewish populations in the world and is third in the Americas behind the United States and Canada. In Israel, there are kosher McDonald's, but outside of Israel they don't exist except for  here in Buenos Aires.

So, what is on the menu and how is it different? We start with the McNifica, which is identical to the Big and Tasty that was offered in the United States awhile back. The difference is in the name alone and that this one comes with no cheese. The Happy Meal is the same basic combination, but with a limited choice between a hamburger and chicken nuggets. If you are starting to wonder where the cheese is, it is because mixing meat and milk is not kosher. No cheeseburgers are on the menu at the kosher McDonald's.

Overall, the menu looks pretty normal. The Doble McNifica ends up being a half pound burger with the same toppings at the regular McNifica. The Big Mac here is just like the regular Big Mac, but without the cheese.

Want to see more of the menu and find out what makes a kosher McDonald's kosher? Read on after the break!



You know what they call a Quarter Pounder with Cheese in France? Le Royale Cheese. Here, however it is called the Cuarto con Queso. Without the cheese, it becomes cuarto de libra. Overall, the menu is pretty standard, except for the lack of cheese.

Unfortunately, South America in general had fairly ho-hum McDonald's menus (nothing exciting like the McArabia), with a little variation on the deserts. So what was the difference? The biggest difference that I could see was actually in the back. The woman below is doing something that would not ever happen in a non-kosher McDonalds: She is inspecting each piece of lettuce to make sure that it is clean and suitable for consumption. Her entire job is to inspect vegetables. Maybe that is why it took so long to get our meal. The other difference is that this McDonald's is under the supervision of a rabbi, who is in charge of making sure that it is prepared in accordance to kosher mandates.

In the end, I wanted to try the one sandwich that I didn't recognize: The McFiesta. It was on the value menu, hidden away at the bottom. It is a hamburger with lettuce, tomato, and mayo on a slightly different bun than usual (it is kosher with the rest). There you have it! My kosher McDonald's snack.