Number of McDonalds Restaurants Worldwide

Number of McDonalds Restaurants Worldwide According to the McDonalds Corporation website (as of January 2018), McDonalds has locations in 101 countries. More than 36,000 restaurants around the world serve 69 million people every day. However, some of those locations listed as countries are not independent countries at all, such as Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, which are United States territories, and Hong Kong, which at the time of establishment was under British control, before its handoff to China. On the flipside, there is a McDonalds on the island of Cuba, though its technically not on Cuban soil - its on the American base at Guantanamo, so it qualifies as an American location. Regardless of country definition, 80 percent of the locations are owned and operated by franchisees, and 1.9 million people work for McDonalds. In 2017, revenue for the fast-food restaurant amounted to $22.8 billion. In 1955 Ray Kroc opened his first location in Illinois (the original restaurant being in California); by 1965 the company had 700 locations. Just two years later the company officially went international, opening in Canada (Richmond, British Columbia)  and Puerto Rico in 1967. Now, Canada has 1,400 McDonalds restaurants, and Puerto Rico boasts 104. Canadas McDonalds locations are the biggest restaurant buyer of Canadian beef in the country. Different McMenus Worldwide Besides buying their ingredients where they operate, around the world the restaurants also adapt the McDonalds menu to local tastes, such as Japan serving a pork patty teriyaki  burger and Seaweed Shaker or chocolate-drizzled fries, Germany serving shrimp cocktail, Italys burger being topped with  Parmigiano-Reggiano  cheese, Australia offering a guac salsa or a bacon cheese sauce as a topping for fries, and French customers being able to order a caramel banana shake. Available only in Switzerland is the McRaclette, a sandwich of beef that includes slices of raclette cheese, gherkin pickles, onions, and a special raclette sauce. But forget the beef in India. There the menu includes vegetarian options, and they specialize the cooks in the kitchen - people cooking meats, such as chicken, dont cook the vegetarian dishes.   Historically Significant Worldwide Locations During the Cold War, some of openings of the countries McDonalds restaurants were seen as historic events, such as the first ones in East Germany shortly after the Berlin Wall fell in late 1989, or in Russia (then the U.S.S.R.) in 1990 (thanks to prerestroika and glastnost) or other Eastern Bloc nations and China during the early 1990s as well.   Is McDonalds the Largest Fast-Food Chain in the World? McDonalds is a huge and mighty fast-food chain but is not the largest. Subway is the largest, with 43,985 stores in 112 countries  as of early 2018. Again, many of these countries are not independent and are merely territories. And Subways restaurant count certainly includes all those that are part of other buildings (as half of a convenience store, for example) rather than counting only standalone restaurant locations. The third runner-up is KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken), with 20,500 locations in 125 countries, according to its official website. Other widely spread worldwide food brands that the United States has exported include Pizza Hut (14,000 locations, 120 countries), and Starbucks (24,000 locations, 75 markets).

Understanding the Role of a Wet Nurse

Understanding the Role of a Wet Nurse A wet nurse is a lactating woman who breastfeeds a child who is not her own. Once a highly organized and well-paid profession, wet nurses had all but disappeared by 1900. Before the invention of infant formula and feeding bottles made wet nursing virtually obsolete in Western society, aristocratic women commonly hired wet nurses, as breastfeeding was seen as unfashionable. The wives of merchants, doctors, and lawyers also preferred to employ a wet nurse rather than breastfeed because it was cheaper than hiring help to run their husbands business or manage a household. A Career for Poor Women Wet nursing was a common career choice for poor women among the lower classes. In many cases, wet nurses were required to register and undergo medical exams. During the Industrial Revolution, lower-income families used wet nurses as more and more women began working and were unable to breastfeed. The rural poor- peasant women- began to assume the role of wet nurses. The Advent of Formula While animal milk was the most common source for replacing human milk, it was nutritionally inferior to breast milk. Advances in science enabled researchers to analyze human milk and attempts were made to create and improve on nonhuman milk so that it could more closely approximate human milk. In 1865 chemist Justus von Liebig patented an infant food consisting of cows milk, wheat and malt flour, and potassium bicarbonate. The introduction of infant formula, the greater availability of animal milk, and the development of the feeding bottle reduced the need for wet nurses throughout the latter half of the 19th century and well into the 20th century. What's Different Now? After the rise of formula and the decline of wet nursing, the once common service has become almost taboo in much of the West. But as breastfeeding is an increasingly acceptable practice once more, mothers of infants are feeling the pressure once again to nurse. However, uneven maternity leave benefits around the nation and the real difficulties of breastfeeding mean that some women would likely benefit from returning to the age-old tradition of wet nursing. As The New Republic reported in 2014, sharing nursing responsibilities- whether by formally hiring a wet nurse or by figuring out an informal arrangement among friends- was looking to be a reasonable solution that could relieve the burden on working mothers without compromising their babies’ feeding. The practice remains controversial. Even the breastfeeding advocacy group, La Leche League, was discouraging the practice in 2007. According to spokeswoman, Anna Burbidge: There are very strong reservations against it, both medically and psychologically. There are potential hazards. The biggest risk is that of infection being passed from the mother to the child. Breast-milk is a living substance expressly designed by your body for your baby, not someone elses. Despite these risks, its not surprising that in this age of ridesharing and spare-room sharing, milk sharing is a phenomenon that some families are now trying. A Facebook group and milk-sharing sites have appeared, and according to a Netmums.com piece from 2016, the practice is on the rise. Their 2016 informal poll found that one in 25 women had shared their milk, and 5 percent of families had used milk from the more regulated source of a milk bank. As the taboo slowly lifts, this age-old practice may just make a real comeback. Source Stevens, Emily E., RN, FNP, WHNP, Ph.D., Thelma E. Patrick, RN, Ph.D., and Rita Pickler, RN, PNP, Ph.D. A History of Infant Feeding. The Journal of Perinatal Education at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Spring 2009.