From calorie count to portion sizes, we wanted to find all the differences between Subway in the US and China. This, is "Food Wars."
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00:00 From calorie counts to portion sizes, we wanted to find out all the differences between Subway
00:04 in the US and in China.
00:06 This is Food Wars.
00:08 Here in China, standard Subway subs come in two sizes, 6-inch and 12-inch.
00:20 They've done us the favor of cutting our 12-inch sub in half.
00:26 How very kind.
00:27 In the US, our subs also come in two sizes, a 6-inch or a 12-inch, also known as the foot
00:32 long.
00:33 We're going to measure both of these with a tape measure to make sure that those lengths
00:35 are actually correct.
00:36 What does it look like?
00:38 Is it right?
00:39 Is it good?
00:41 I would say it's like maybe a few centimeters off of 12 inches, but it's close enough.
00:46 I don't think you're going to notice a few centimeters of sandwich missing.
00:49 I'll give you a pass, Subway.
00:50 That's fine.
00:51 That's about 30.8 centimeters.
00:54 12.12598 inches.
01:00 That one is 6 inches for sure.
01:02 About 15 centimeters.
01:05 5.9055 inches.
01:09 We can also get sub platters in the US.
01:12 Ours are the exact same size, 5 12-inch subs cut into 15 pieces.
01:16 That is a lot of sandwich.
01:18 It's very, very heavy.
01:19 It's really heavy.
01:20 I'm going to leave it there.
01:22 We used to have sub platters and party subs, but show's over, folks.
01:26 No more parties on this side of the Pacific.
01:28 How's it look for you, Nico?
01:30 We used to have party subs in the US, but Subway overhauled and streamlined its menu
01:34 last year and now seems to have stopped offering them.
01:38 Somebody check on Joe right now because I know he is devastated.
01:48 Moving on from subs, drinks at a Chinese Subway only come in one size, medium.
01:54 That's just sad.
01:56 Drinks at a US Subway come in four sizes, small 21 ounces, medium 30 ounces, or large,
02:02 which is 40 ounces.
02:04 You may have noticed I said we have four drink sizes, then only showed you three.
02:08 That's because on Subway's catering menu in the US, you'll find this.
02:11 Thank you to my beautiful assistant.
02:14 It's a gallon of Hubert's lemonade.
02:17 This supposedly serves eight people, which would be 16 fluid ounces each.
02:21 Why is the recommended serving size for this lemonade smaller than the usual small size?
02:26 That's very suspicious, Subway, but I do love this lemonade.
02:29 So the large is supposed to be 40 ounces.
02:31 We're going to measure it to see if I'm being lied to, basically.
02:35 The medium is meant to contain 473 milliliters of your drink.
02:41 Let's see how much is actually in there.
02:43 The Coke is really dark, so it's kind of hard for me to see the numbers, but it did go slightly
02:48 above 32 ounces, which is significantly less than the 40 I was promised.
02:54 And by the way, this was with no ice.
02:56 It's meant to be 473 milliliters, but I just wanted to show you, look how much is missing
03:01 from the top.
03:03 This here is about 425-ish.
03:07 And if that's the case, it's missing over 50 milliliters of my soda.
03:12 What gives, Subway?
03:16 Here's everything that you'll find at Subway China that you won't find in the US.
03:20 Here's everything that you'll find at a US Subway that you won't find in China.
03:24 Obviously, Subway's menu is highly customizable.
03:27 By combining different ingredients, Subway claims you can create over 2 million sandwiches.
03:34 I don't know if I believe that, but I also don't have the time and/or money to prove
03:39 it.
03:40 So let's just say it's true.
03:41 Now, let's start with the foundation of any sandwich, the bread.
03:44 Now, here in China, we have a couple of options.
03:47 And by a couple, I mean two that you don't have in the US.
03:52 First is honey oat, and the second is parmesan oregano.
03:56 Now, it's on the menu, but of all of the stores that we ordered from, they all changed out
04:02 the parmesan oregano for just regular bread.
04:05 So I don't know if they're offering it anymore or it's just still on the menu and they've
04:09 forgotten to take it out.
04:10 But in the US, we also have exclusive bread options like artisan flatbread and hearty
04:14 multigrain.
04:15 Once you've picked your bread, then it's time to choose your fillings.
04:19 These are all of China's exclusive fillings that you won't find in the US.
04:24 Starting with the black pepper thick cut steak.
04:28 Oh, they weren't joking when they said thick cut.
04:32 I know.
04:35 That's pretty decent.
04:38 Here, we have the Italian sausage and the chicken thigh chop.
04:47 It's always the chicken thigh when it comes to chicken meat in a burger because Chinese
04:53 people's thigh is the juicy part, not the breast.
04:56 Next, we've got the egg mayo series.
04:59 We love our egg mayo here.
05:01 We've got salami egg mayo.
05:04 I will need to ask for more salami next time.
05:08 Four pieces just doesn't cut it when you've got a six inch sub.
05:11 There's also the tuna egg mayo.
05:13 I'm just going to move swiftly on to the chicken teriyaki egg mayo.
05:18 The Chinese name is quite descriptive.
05:22 It's the parent and child sandwich because obviously chicken and egg.
05:29 Put egg mayo in a bun, I'm happy.
05:32 Here we've got the teriyaki chicken sandwich on honey oat bread.
05:37 It's not got egg mayo in it.
05:38 It's an inferior teriyaki chicken.
05:40 The full house, which is tuna and chicken.
05:45 Oh, it's a good thing none of you can smell my breath right now.
05:51 And here we've just got the bog standard ham.
05:54 Give the best for last, our pulled pork limited edition sandwich with chia seeds in our bread.
06:03 I'm quite pleased with the amount of meat that's found its way into the Subway subs.
06:12 A little bit too sweet for my taste, but the pulled pork is there.
06:17 We have a ton of subs in the US that aren't on the Chinese menu, so let's start with the
06:21 classic sandwiches.
06:22 So we've got the big hot pastrami, buffalo chicken, chicken and bacon ranch, cold cut
06:28 combo, meatball marinara, oven roasted turkey and ham, steak and cheese, and the veggie
06:33 patty.
06:34 A fast food meatball sub sounds difficult, so I kind of want to try it and see how it
06:39 tastes.
06:40 This is a very heavy sandwich, I just want to say.
06:43 It reminds me of school lunch, like the smell of walking into a cafeteria when you're in
06:48 like seventh grade.
06:50 That's the vibe I'm getting from it.
06:55 It's an okay meatball sub.
06:57 So this is the chicken bacon ranch.
06:59 I love chicken, I love bacon, and I love ranch, so hopefully I like this sandwich.
07:04 There's just something about how the meat looks that's making my tummy hurt a little.
07:08 I think it's just the paleness of the chicken and bread.
07:11 I mean, it tastes better than it looks.
07:18 Next we have the no-bready bowls, starting with the black pepper steak egg mayo no-bready
07:26 bowl.
07:27 This actually looks really good.
07:29 They've got some kidney beans and some kind of coarse grain at the bottom as well.
07:33 This actually looks decent.
07:36 This tastes really good.
07:38 Next we have the tuna egg mayo no-bready bowl.
07:44 That does not look appetizing.
07:47 The teriyaki chicken egg mayo no-bready bowl.
07:50 This is actually pretty decent.
07:52 I think the no-bready bowls I'll probably actually order again.
07:55 We also have the no-bready bowls, which according to the menu are different than a salad, although
08:00 they look exactly like a salad.
08:02 A salad hidden under a mountain of deli meats.
08:06 Here are all of the US exclusive bready bowls.
08:08 The exclusive sandwiches don't stop there.
08:10 In 2022, Subway in the US launched a range of menu items known as the Subway Series.
08:15 It's a list of 12 subs with predetermined ingredients designed to streamline the ordering
08:20 process.
08:21 So instead of going down the line and picking every individual thing that you want, you
08:24 can just order these off a menu.
08:26 While prepping for this shoot, we thought we had most of the subs on the Subway Series
08:30 menu, but since then we have found out that they have dropped more sandwiches on this
08:35 menu.
08:36 The list just seems to keep growing and I don't know when they're going to stop.
08:40 So let's just focus on the subs that we have in front of us right now.
08:43 I am very intrigued by the monster.
08:46 That name sounds awful and I'm hoping the sandwich will not be.
08:50 I think it looks pretty good to me.
08:52 Okay, so this is the monster, which is steak, bacon, and cheddar.
08:56 That's delicious.
09:03 It's good.
09:05 The Bella Matzah.
09:06 I think that if I was any of the sandwiches on this list, I would want to be this one
09:10 because why wouldn't I want to be the prettiest sandwich?
09:14 This one definitely has a more pleasing look to it.
09:17 There's just so much color in it.
09:18 It looks like it has a lot of fresh ingredients in it.
09:21 So in the Bella Matzah, we have ham, capicola, and mozzarella.
09:25 All delicious.
09:26 Let's taste it.
09:27 I don't know.
09:32 I really, really like it.
09:35 This feels very classic sandwich to me.
09:38 If I was going to a sandwich shop, I'd probably order something like this.
09:41 So this is the All-American, which has turkey, ham, and bacon.
09:45 She looks pretty good.
09:46 She's not really giving.
09:52 I think it's too much onions.
09:54 I really, really want to taste the sliced Avo Mexicali.
09:57 This one has rotisserie chicken, avocado, and pepper jack.
10:00 That all sounds so good to me.
10:02 Ooh, she's saucy.
10:04 I feel like I haven't seen much sauce going on, so this is different.
10:08 There's a lot of sauce in there.
10:09 It's good, but I think the sandwich has just been sitting here for so long that the bread
10:18 got soggy.
10:19 So the bread on the bottom is like very, very soft, but the actual taste of the sandwich
10:25 is really, really good.
10:26 It's honestly tasty.
10:27 And Subway also offers wraps.
10:29 So here we've got their black pepper steak wrap.
10:32 Oh yeah, I think I prefer this version.
10:35 Next we have the teriyaki chicken wrap.
10:39 Smells a bit wet.
10:41 The turkey breast wrap.
10:44 There's literally one slice of turkey breast.
10:47 Here we have the Italian sausage wrap.
10:50 The sausage has been butterflied.
10:52 It's just one sausage.
10:53 It's actually okay.
10:55 After doing all of this Subway research, they actually added wraps onto our menu.
11:00 Here are all of the wraps that you can get on the US menu.
11:03 We also have a couple of exclusive meat options in the US, pepperoni and capicola.
11:08 Here in China, we have some meaty toppings that you won't find in the US.
11:12 For example, shrimp, which they literally gave us in a paper bag.
11:19 Subway will ask you if you want cheese on your sub, and we definitely have a lot more
11:23 cheese options than they have in China.
11:26 Both countries offer American or shredded mozzarella, but the US also offers pepperjack,
11:30 provolone, Swiss or Monterey cheddar.
11:33 China has one sandwich topping that you won't find in the US, and that's egg mayo.
11:38 We love egg mayo here.
11:39 I love egg mayo.
11:40 It's basically just chunky mayo with eggs inside.
11:44 You'll find it in over half of our offerings here in China, Subway.
11:47 You have it in subs, you have it in wraps, and you have it in protein bowls as well.
11:52 All of these are egg mayo.
11:53 It's delicious.
11:54 When it comes to vegetable toppings, both the US and China offer tomatoes, lettuce,
11:59 cucumber, pickles, green pepper, black olives, red onions, and jalapenos, but the US also
12:05 carries banana peppers, my favorite, spinach, and avocado.
12:09 We also have some exclusive sauces like barbecue and Thousand Island dressing.
12:14 And then there's also mayo, honey mustard, black pepper sauce, and olive oil.
12:19 It's kind of shocking that we don't have Thousand Island dressing as an option.
12:23 It's not like a super common sandwich spread, at least not in my house, but you do see it
12:28 on Reuben's and stuff like that.
12:30 Exclusive sauces in the US include oil, red wine vinegar, creamy sriracha, buffalo sauce,
12:36 MVP Parmesan vinaigrette, and roasted garlic aioli.
12:39 They shove these words in everywhere.
12:43 You guys are trying to gaslight me into thinking that this is an athlete's favorite food, and
12:49 I know that's not true.
12:50 It's crazy.
12:51 It's crazy what's happening here.
12:52 MVP Parmesan vinaigrette isn't real.
12:55 You made that up.
12:56 Speaking of trying to make me think that athletes love Subway, here are the athlete collabs.
13:02 Here we have the avocado spike bowl by Rob Gronkowski, the NOLA chicken by Patrick Mahomes,
13:07 the front court feast by Charles Barkley, the meatball marksman by Steph Curry, and
13:12 then there's the Danger Witch.
13:15 Let's talk about the Danger Witch.
13:17 Once upon a time, this was Russell Wilson's Subway collab sandwich.
13:21 I don't know what happened, but at some point they removed his name from the sandwich.
13:26 I think it has something to do with this weird commercial they did promoting the Danger Witch.
13:31 You ever done anything dangerous?
13:37 I obviously can't confirm anything, but I'm dying to try this, so let's see what the Danger
13:42 Witch tastes like.
13:49 They probably should get rid of it in general, because it's also just not a very good sandwich.
13:54 It mostly just tastes like mustard.
13:56 Now it's tradition on Food Wars to combine all of one country's exclusives together.
14:01 I present to you the US-only Sub.
14:04 It has bacon, pepper jack cheese, banana peppers, spinach, buffalo sauce, all on jalapeno cheddar
14:10 bread.
14:11 I think our specific Subway didn't have jalapeno cheddar bread.
14:15 This is their other cheesy bread, but it's the closest thing we got.
14:20 It mostly just tastes like bacon, which I'm not upset about.
14:24 This is the China-only Sub.
14:27 Black pepper steak, egg mayo, Thousand Island dressing, on honey oat bread.
14:39 Let's see if you guys in the States are missing out.
14:41 You know, egg mayo goes on absolutely anything, and the thick cut steak gives it a nice oomph.
14:50 Yeah, I'd order this again.
14:52 Now let's see what side options we have in the US.
14:55 Chips in general seem to be more of a US exclusive.
14:59 Here are all of the flavors I was able to get my hands on at our location.
15:03 So we have three Lay's flavors.
15:06 There's sour cream and onion, classic, and barbecue.
15:10 We also have two baked Lay's flavors, the original and barbecue.
15:14 We have Doritos in both Cool Ranch and nacho cheese.
15:19 Two flavors of Miss Vicky's chips.
15:21 We have jalapeno and spicy dill pickle.
15:24 And we have three flavors of Sun Chips.
15:26 We have garden salsa, original, and harvest cheddar.
15:31 You can also get a Go Go Squeeze applesauce as a kid's side.
15:34 Subway also has sides, namely rat and pepper popcorn chicken.
15:39 So I would assume that this is meant to be Sichuanese-style chicken in that it should
15:45 be spicy and also make your mouth pleasantly numb.
15:51 Just the tiniest hint of chili heat.
15:55 Here we've got some potato balls.
15:58 They just taste like hash browns.
16:00 Now this is pretty unique.
16:02 This is called Western Region-style roast chicken wings.
16:06 Usually when you say something is Western Region flavored, they usually mean lamb or cumin.
16:16 That's pretty good.
16:17 No potato chips here.
16:18 We're super healthy.
16:20 But we do have cookies.
16:22 Now both the US and China each have an exclusive cookie.
16:26 Here in China, we have the peach oolong.
16:34 That's quite pleasant.
16:36 And Subway in the US offers the raspberry cheesecake cookie.
16:39 I love Subway cookies.
16:41 They are surprisingly soft and definitely the best cookie in fast food, in my opinion.
16:47 I just think that they're so good.
16:52 It's amazing, as I suspected.
16:54 And finally, we have drinks.
16:56 I am very happy that Subways in the US carry Coke products.
17:00 You can get a classic Coca-Cola, a little DC, Sprite, Dasani, which is not my favorite,
17:08 Vitamin Water XXX, Gold Peak Sweet Tea, Simply Lemonade, Orange or Apple, Honest Kid Superfruit
17:15 Punch or a Hubris Lemonade.
17:17 For drinks, China carries soy milk and PepsiCo products.
17:21 So you can get Pepsi, Pepsi Lite, 7-Up, Tropicana.
17:25 You can also get Aquafina water and its soda water variety, but I guess only in select
17:31 source because when we ordered, we ended up getting Nongfu Spring, which is kind of like
17:35 the Chinese version of Evian, I would say.
17:38 Now Subway entered China relatively late in 2005 and I believe nationwide they've got
17:44 about 700 stores.
17:46 When they first opened, they had a lot more presence than they do now.
17:52 They've kind of slid into obscurity and they're only really found in major cities like Beijing
17:58 and Shanghai.
18:00 Sandwiches aren't really hot in China.
18:03 People don't like cold bread, cold sandwiches.
18:05 Of course you can ask for your sandwich to be heated up, but just the fact that it's
18:08 kind of a cold sandwich as a default is a bit of a turn off.
18:13 I think you can tell there hasn't been much localization on the Subway menu.
18:17 I mean, there is the egg mayo, there's the Western region chicken, but cold custom made
18:23 sandwiches are not really the first thing you think of when you want food in China.
18:29 You can probably guess that Subway is in a bit of a sad state here in China.
18:33 In terms of competition, there's no need to even try to compete with KFC, Macchi Di.
18:38 They're so far ahead, completely left Subway in the dust.
18:43 Now let's see which country is getting their subs for less.
18:46 A footlong Italian BMT from a Chinese Subway costs 47 yuan, that's $6.79.
18:53 At the time of recording, a footlong Italian BMT from a US Subway costs $9.99.
18:58 I was so curious as to what BMT means and it apparently stands for Biggest, Meatiest,
19:04 Tastiest?
19:05 I don't know if I like that.
19:07 That makes the US sandwich this much more expensive.
19:10 Subway pricing has been a contentious subject in the US for a while now.
19:13 You guys might remember the infamous $5 footlong promotion Subway operated for a really long
19:18 time.
19:19 It was pulled after franchisees said it was costing them too much money.
19:23 Subway has repeatedly attempted to bring it back, but it's been quickly killed every
19:26 single time.
19:27 I have a feeling that US Subway will be more unhealthy than China's Subway, so let's
19:34 compare a classic turkey sub.
19:36 A 6-inch oven roasted turkey sub in the US is 270 calories.
19:40 Now Subway China hasn't released its nutritional information, but based on independent third
19:46 party research, I can tell you that a 6-inch oven roasted turkey sub here in China is 252
19:53 calories.
19:54 Or 270, depending on who you talk to.
19:58 The most calorific sandwich you can get is the chicken and bacon ranch, which clocks
20:02 in at 570 calories.
20:04 I want to guess the most caloric sandwich in Subway China.
20:08 I think it has to be the black pepper thick cut steak.
20:11 Am I right?
20:13 Close!
20:14 A 6-inch black pepper thick cut is 415 calories, but our heaviest hitter is in fact the 6-inch
20:23 tuna sandwich, clocking in at 450 calories.
20:27 Not only is it not tasty, it's also incredibly calorific.
20:31 The no look chicken by Austin Mahomes.
20:34 Mahomes?
20:35 Is it not Mahomes?
20:37 Austin Mahone is a singer and I literally changed his name.
20:46 You guys imagine if that went up.