This occurred to me while reading a long story in The National’s business section about Taco Bell and its apparently new “crispy waffle taco” breakfast item.

(The assumption being, on the part of our business staff, that nearly everyone in the UAE knows what Taco Bell is.)

So, how is the UAE doing, when it comes to global fast-food brands?

Very well, thank you.

Very well, unfortunately.

Somewhere on this blog, I previously noted the massive popularity in the UAE of KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken). KFC is king of the hill, among fast food here.

People can be seen buying enormous amounts of KFC for what (we hope) must be extended families. Which they take away in oversized bags.

We also have McDonalds. Lots of them. Often wedged into the corner of office areas of gas stations. (High visibility there.)

But, too … Burger King, Hardees, Wendy’s, Fat Burger, Arby’s, Baja Fresh, Church’s Chicken (known as Texas Chicken, here, for obvious reasons), Popeyes Chicken, London Fish & Chips … Already in the UAE. And just about all the pizza brands.

And, now, most of the populist restaurant brands from north America. Cheesecake Factory, Oliver Garden, TGI Fridays, Red Lobster, Applebees, IHOP, Outback Steakhouse, PF Chang’s …

As much as we decry fast food, in the West, many of us continue to eat it.

And if my travels are any indication, it seems to be almost universally true that the big fast-food brands quickly gain traction almost anywhere else in the world, too.

Because of salt? Sugar? Fat?

Well, yes. But also because of (comparitively) low cost. And perhaps, for a time, the novelty of whatever it is that just opened. (A Tim Hortons? You’d think the Canadians had died and gone to Halifax.)

That’s why the business section of The National can run a long story on Taco Bell. Because people in the UAE already know about it.