In the US, you generally get as much as you want. I might use 4 packets for a large order of fries. In Europe, I'm usually offered one, and if I ask for more, often they'll hand me only one more (and sometimes for a fee).
Do Europeans really manage to ration one packet across a large order of fries?
While ketchup with fries is a fairly common combination in Europe, it is not de rigueur as it is in the USA. And you have to order it separately. When Europeans eat fries with ketchup, they tend to use more than one packet, of course.
And you may not have noticed, but they charge for ketchup in Europe too, but this is not common — unheard of, really — in American fast food joints and restaurants.
Cultural difference. In Europe, you pay extra for condiments; in America they are complimentary.*
Of course, you are paying for it the USA, too, just not directly. And everyone shares the cost whether they are using it or not. Here you only pay if you get it. But the price seems pretty significant when you consider the price per bottle.
It’s just the way things are done.
I also notice that McDonald’s has its own brand of ketchup in Europe; while in the USA I always remember getting Heinz packets. McDonald’s European ketchup is considerably sweeter, it seems to me.
Perhaps someday, ketchup will be free at restaurants all over the globe, but for now that remains an imposible dream attainable only in the US of A.
*Edit: Through helpful comments, I have learned, thatin some countries in Europe,condiments (especially ketchup) are free.
In the country I live in, you get charged about 20 US cents for a packet of ketchup, which hardly seems fair. I demand the EU ensure free and equal treatment (as regards ketchup) in all EU states!
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