The McDonald's Happy Meal Option That's Not Available In The United States

Name a more iconic and quintessentially all-American fast food option than a Happy Meal — we'll wait. Though the kid-friendly packaging of a meal, side, drink, and a toy has been a staple offering from McDonald's for decades, with a somewhat complex history dating back to the 1970s, the iconic status of the Happy Meal extends far beyond just the States. 

As the massive fast food chain has spread its reach to nearly every corner of the globe, one major difference on menus within and outside the U.S. is the option of a vegetarian and vegan-friendly Happy Meal, which, sadly, is served at zero American locations. Though disappointing, this lack of options is not entirely surprising — the U.S. McDonald's menu is rather famously unaccommodating to the vegan and vegetarian crowd, with flopped attempts to launch a vegan burger in the States and little more than the chain's flaky, baked apple pies as a fully vegan option. 

In Great Britain though, customers can order a fully plant-based, vegan Happy Meal, that's even made with care to avoid cross contamination with meat products . The meal includes nugget-shaped Veggie Dippers, made from ingredients like split peas, tomato, rice, and sun-dried tomato pesto, accompanied with a side of carrot sticks, bottled water, and ketchup for dipping. In contrast, American diners are only given the options of Happy Meals served with a hamburger or chicken McNuggets, with no word from McDonalds on if the company has any plans to bring this plant-based offering to the U.S.

This is far from the only example of the chain's menu offerings differing in some pretty noteworthy ways from one country to the next. Though the Golden Arches remain homogenous no matter where in the world you are, the menus are another story altogether. Duck into a McDonald's on a different continent and you'll find ingredient lists are longer or shorter depending on the country you're dining in, with wildly different, regionally inspired options available, like mayo flavored fries in Japan and coconut pies in Singapore! 

Notably though, the Mickey D's menu differs quite significantly in terms of their vegan and vegetarian friendly options, too, which are far more substantial in the U.K. Countries like Canada, Portugal, and Germany also all boast more vegan options than you'll find in the States. Brits can not only pick up a veg-friendly Happy Meal for the kiddos, they also can snag a 100% vegan Spicy Veggie Wrap or, of course, the McPlant — McDonald's first and only plant-based burger, made with Beyond Meat. And sadly, American diners still need a passport to try both of those items out.