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  • Harry: From calorie count to portion sizes,

  • we wanted to find out all the differences

  • between Pret A Manger in the UK and the US.

  • This is "Food Wars."

  • OK, slight problem.

  • There's only one Pret in LA, and it's at the airport.

  • And due to the pandemic, it's currently closed.

  • The Pret, not the airport.

  • Luckily, there's plenty of Prets in New York City,

  • where I have many colleagues and casual acquaintances

  • who would love to help me out.

  • Everyone, meet Irene.

  • Hi, everyone.

  • Sorry I'm not Joe, but I'll try not to let you down.

  • I did ask if I could wear one of these,

  • but they said no.

  • So you're stuck with my face. Sorry.

  • Here is everything you will only find on the menu

  • at a UK Pret A Manger.

  • And here's everything you can only find on the menu

  • at a US Pret.

  • We'll start with the drinks.

  • We have quite a few exclusive drink options in the UK,

  • starting with this one, a turmeric latte,

  • and also a matcha latte,

  • both of which are made with coconut milk

  • instead of regular milk.

  • I'm going to try the turmeric latte,

  • just because the color is so vivid

  • and a little bit off-putting.

  • I want to find out if it tastes as bad as it looks.

  • Oh, man.

  • No, no. It tastes like a chicken korma.

  • Which is great, don't get me wrong,

  • but I don't want to drink that from a coffee shop.

  • Then we have iced versions of both of these.

  • So we have an iced turmeric latte and an iced matcha latte.

  • Next up we've got some frappés.

  • We have a classic frappé here, which is just coffee,

  • and then we have a chocolate frappé at the back as well.

  • Then we have some bottled and canned

  • exclusive drinks as well.

  • For example, apple juice.

  • Sparkling lemon and rhubarb drink.

  • Then we have a sparkling ginger drink.

  • And over here we have a sparkling apple drink.

  • And, finally, a sparkling grape and elderflower drink.

  • Our exclusive drinks include

  • an organic, single-origin Ethiopia coffee,

  • salted caramel latte, salted caramel hot chocolate,

  • s'mores hot chocolate, cold-brew coffee,

  • iced green tea, classic lemonade,

  • grapefruit sparkling water,

  • and raspberry-lime sparkling water.

  • If you want to start your day off with a Pret breakfast,

  • here are some options you'll find in the UK.

  • We'll start with a classic, which is porridge.

  • In the UK, you can get porridge three ways.

  • You can get it plain, like we have here,

  • you can get it with a fruit compote on the top,

  • or you can get it with cranberries and seeds.

  • A Very Berry croissant.

  • Croissant?

  • Croissant.

  • Croissant.

  • Croissant.

  • At the front here we have a Very Berry croissant,

  • which is a kind of, like, folded croissant

  • with some berry jam in the middle.

  • At the back here we have a ham, bacon,

  • cheese, and tomato croissant.

  • Double the pork, double the fun.

  • Then we have some breakfast-roll options,

  • such as this one, which is a sausage and egg roll.

  • Then we have three breakfast baguettes.

  • Here, we have an egg and bacon baguette.

  • In the middle, we have an egg and salmon baguette.

  • And then, over here, we have an egg and avocado baguette.

  • On top of this, there's a couple of bits

  • that we couldn't get today because of a reduced menu.

  • These include a veggie roll, a five berry bowl,

  • and a Mango & Banana Sunshine Bowl,

  • which sounds just delightful.

  • Only exclusive breakfast item we were able to get

  • is the shakshuka frittata.

  • But the other menu items

  • are the egg and bacon brioche roll,

  • an egg and cheddar brioche roll,

  • an egg white Greek frittata,

  • a ham and spinach frittata,

  • a Morning Glory muffin,

  • and an everything bagel,

  • and an energy bagel.

  • We have two exclusive salads in the UK.

  • This one is the tuna Nicoise,

  • and this one is the Chef's Italian Chicken.

  • We have three exclusive salads.

  • The first is the chicken avocado salad.

  • This is the chicken Caesar salad.

  • Joe: Salads, ugh! Irene: Chipotle chicken salad

  • is my favorite.

  • Now we're on to sandwiches and wraps.

  • We have quite a few exclusive sandwiches

  • and wraps in the UK.

  • We have a personal favorite of mine,

  • which is a smoked salmon and cream cheese sandwich.

  • This one here is a jambon-beurre,

  • which is just a very simple

  • ham, butter, and pickle sandwich.

  • Then we have some baguette options, including this one,

  • which is an Avo, Olives & Toms baguette.

  • That's avocado, olives, and tomatoes, for the uninitiated.

  • Here we have a Posh Cheddar & Pickle sandwich.

  • Two things to note here.

  • One, I'm not sure why this is posh.

  • Two, when we say pickle in this context,

  • we don't mean gherkins.

  • We actually mean pickle, which is a British condiment

  • made with kind of, like, pickle juices,

  • but also some other vegetables in there as well.

  • The last baguette we were able to get today is this one,

  • which is a chicken Caesar and bacon baguette.

  • Then we have a couple of wrap options,

  • such as this one, which is a hoisin duck salad wrap,

  • and this one, which is a hummus and chipotle wrap.

  • The ones we were unable to get today include

  • a tuna and cucumber sandwich

  • and a Brie, tomato, and basil baguette.

  • Our sandwiches and wraps include

  • the cheddar and tomato,

  • chipotle and chicken avocado wrap,

  • Bang Bang Chicken Wrap.

  • It's not spicy but has, like, a kick to it.

  • This is good. I might start getting it.

  • The next ones we have up on our exclusive list

  • is the pesto chicken flatbread.

  • This is the falafel and hummus flatbread,

  • pesto caprese baguette,

  • and the balsamic chicken and mozzarella baguette.

  • Now, usually I'd have a bunch of exclusive soups

  • to show you from a UK Pret.

  • However, they've reduced the menu because of the pandemic.

  • Here's what we'd normally be able to find.

  • A chicken laksa,

  • a chicken, broccoli, and brown rice,

  • chicken pot pie soup,

  • miso soup,

  • pea and mint soup,

  • chicken katsu curry soup,

  • mushroom risotto soup,

  • and a red Thai veg soup.

  • So, our soup options include the Moroccan lentil,

  • turkey chili,

  • and the turmeric chicken and farro.

  • Far-oh? Fa – I think it's farro.

  • They came with all this bread, though,

  • which is pretty fun.

  • And it's the good kind of bread, too.

  • You know bread is good when it comes

  • in, like, a triangular shape.

  • That's just been my observation over the years.

  • Oh, that's good for cold soup.

  • Narrator: Live from New York, it's "What Shape Is It?"

  • [game-show music]

  • Corner, corner, triangular.

  • Yeah, Irene, I believe that's a rhombus.

  • It's not a triangle.

  • Triangle, to my understanding, means three sides, right?

  • Right?

  • Joe, you're a lot closer with a rhombus,

  • but I personally am gonna go with parallelogram.

  • [game-show music]

  • Narrator: "What Shape Is It?" is filmed

  • in front of a live studio audience.

  • I think this is a triangular shape.

  • But I guess fine. It's like a diamond shape.

  • But I'm just saying that when bread comes

  • in, like, a geometric shape, it's good bread.

  • The fanciest restaurants I've gone to,

  • they have bread that's shaped like this.

  • Or, like, even sharper.

  • What kind of bread are you eating that's sharp?

  • Where are you going?

  • Then, finally, we're on to the snacks.

  • At a UK Pret, you will be able to find

  • some mature cheddar and red onion crisps,

  • some smoked chipotle crisps,

  • some sweet and salt popcorn,

  • these little hazelnut truffles,

  • Pret A Mango, and a chocolate brownie bar.

  • [mocking Joe] Kettle corn? What even is kettle corn?

  • What evenwhat even is kettle corn?

  • We are so exclusive, we were only able to get

  • one of our exclusive snacks, which is kettle corn.

  • So, this was the only exclusive snack we were able to get,

  • but the other items on the menu are the nut bar,

  • popcorn bar, Pret bar, and some omega-3 mix.

  • Let's start with the drinks.

  • In the UK, the majority of hot drinks only come in one size,

  • which is 12 ounces.

  • Pret says this is to optimize efficiency

  • and to keep things simple for customers.

  • However, there are two exceptions to this rule.

  • Firstly, if you order a flat white from a UK Pret,

  • it's served as an 8-ounce drink.

  • Then, if you order an espresso or a macchiato,

  • it comes in one of these adorable little 4-ounce cups.

  • All right. So, in the US,

  • our hot coffees come in three sizes.

  • Small,

  • medium,

  • and large.

  • It's ridiculous.

  • But we also have some exceptions to the rules.

  • Our flat white is only served as an 8-ounce drink.

  • But our macchiato is 4 ounces, like the UK's.

  • And our espresso is actually just 2 ounces.

  • I guess they're trying to limit our caffeine intake.

  • Maybe.

  • Harry: We're going to measure our largest black coffee

  • to find out if you're actually getting

  • as much as you're told you are.

  • So, to Pret's credit, that is exactly 12 ounces.

  • We are not getting as much coffee as they say we are.

  • But ... maybe that's a good thing?

  • 20's kind of a lot.

  • Joe: Not getting as much coffee as advertised, huh, Irene?

  • Welcome to "Food Wars."

  • What about iced coffees?

  • Well, in the UK, these also just come in one size.

  • Well, over here, we can get iced black coffee

  • as either a 16- or

  • 24-ounce serving.

  • That's a lot of coffee.

  • I don't get people who drink black coffee.

  • Harry: We're both gonna measure our largest

  • iced black coffee to find out what they come to.

  • [coffee gurgling]

  • So, once again, this came to exactly 12 ounces.

  • So, the iced coffee is also not the advertised amount.

  • It's supposed to be 24 ounces,

  • but it looks like it's only about 21.

  • It's an international coffee conspiracy!

  • Season two, we're still dealing with this!

  • I mean, is someone gonna do something about this?

  • Once again, maybe not a bad thing.

  • I feel like a lot of people are going to disagree with that.

  • Do you need this much caffeine in your life?

  • Probably.

  • I don't know if Joe or Harry drinks this much coffee.

  • I feel like Joe might. He

  • he seems like he would. He has that energy.

  • Joe just looks like he just drinks, like,

  • five cups of black coffee a day,

  • and then he's up at, like, 2 a.m., just, like, haunted.

  • Joe: Mm-hmm. Yes, I do.

  • I drink a lot of coffee.

  • I should say that it's only April

  • and I've already passed three kidney stones this year.

  • What about some of the food options?

  • This is an egg salad sandwich from a UK Pret.

  • We're going to weigh this one to see how much it comes to.

  • Irene: It's exactly 250 grams.

  • Maybe our eggs are heavier.

  • It's all those preservatives.

  • If you were raised here, you wouldn't be worried.

  • We should probably be worried.

  • It's not that good. But I'm hungry.

  • Joe: ♪ Egg salad is gross! ♪

  • Like, it genuinely doesn't taste good,

  • but I'm just taking bites of it.

  • So, that was a classic sandwich,

  • but what about a baguette?

  • This is a ham and cheese baguette from a UK Pret.

  • So, our UK ham and cheese baguette

  • came to exactly 200 grams.

  • Well, here's our famous ham and cheese baguette.

  • It says it should weigh 251 grams.

  • It's exactly 251 grams.

  • That's impressive.

  • That's actually kind of scary.

  • I know it should weigh exactly the amount it says it should,

  • but, like, it's kind of cool when it actually does.

  • Next up, we've got this muffin.

  • This is a double berry muffin from a UK Pret,

  • which is a blueberry muffin

  • with some extra blueberry compote in the middle.

  • All right, so, we have our classic blueberry muffin,

  • without the extra compote in the middle.

  • Harry: Let's find out how much it weighs.

  • Do you know the muffin man?

  • The muffin man?

  • The muffin man!

  • Yes, I know the muffin man who lives on Drury Lane.

  • God, I love "Shrek."

  • Could we get a Harry Shrek?

  • Can we get Harry's face turned into Shrek, please?

  • You know I've never seen "Shrek"?

  • My surname's an anagram of Shrek.

  • Let's start with the nutritional information

  • for some of Pret's coffees.

  • An Americano in the UK contains nothing.

  • There's no calories, fat, sugar or salt in here.

  • So, that's also true here.

  • It's even the same for our largest size.

  • 20 ounces of US Americano

  • has basically no nutritional value.

  • There are more notable differences when milk gets involved.

  • Take the flat white, for example.

  • In the UK, one of these is 80 calories.

  • OK, well, in the US, a flat white contains 90 calories,

  • but it apparently has absolutely no fat,

  • while the UK version has 2.9 grams of fat.

  • So, this is because Pret's US website

  • bases the nutritionals for its coffees on skim milk,

  • whereas the UK bases its info on 2% milk.

  • If we add the nutritional info

  • for an 8-ounce serving of whole milk from a US Pret,

  • the flat white looks more like this.

  • What about the least healthy drink on the UK menu?

  • Well, it's actually this, the chocolate frappé.

  • One of these contains 439 calories,

  • which is a little over a fifth of your daily allowance.

  • More alarmingly, this also contains

  • your entire daily allowance of sugar.

  • So, this is our least healthy drink.

  • It's a salted caramel hot chocolate.

  • Pound for pound, it actually has less calories

  • than the UK's chocolate frappé,

  • with only 410 calories

  • compared to their 439 calories.

  • So while the UK's drink is limited to one size,

  • in the US we have a second size option.

  • This brings the calories up to 700

  • and also takes the sugar up to 113 grams,

  • which is more than double your daily recommended limit.

  • Why do they let us add so much sugar?

  • And you can take it even further

  • by adding a syrup to your drink.

  • One pump of Pret's toasted marshmallow syrup

  • will add another 24 grams of sugar to your drink,

  • bringing the total to 274% of your daily sugar allowance.

  • Oh, God, that's sweet.

  • That's the thing. I like my coffee sweet.

  • Like, I only drink sweet coffee,

  • so this is right up my lane.

  • Like, it has to be so sweet it hurts me.

  • Yeah, hot chocolate is what that's called.

  • What you want is a hot chocolate.

  • Mm. You're right, this is not coffee.

  • It's good, though.

  • What about some food options?

  • In the UK, the most calorific sandwich is this one,

  • the Classic Super Club.

  • There is chicken, bacon, tomato,

  • lettuce, mayo, and seasoning in here,

  • and it leaves the total calories at 526.

  • That's lower than our most calorific sandwich,

  • chicken and bacon, which is one of my favorites.

  • One of these contains 570 calories

  • and also half of your daily sodium allowance.

  • I did not know that.

  • But this isn't the most calorific thing on the menu.

  • That would be the falafel and red peppers wrap,

  • which we weren't able to get.

  • But it has 630 calories,

  • which is more than any other hot food item.

  • Now, unusually for "Food Wars,"

  • the highest-calorie item in the UK

  • is actually more calorific than the biggest one in America.

  • For us, it's the Swedish meatball hot wrap,

  • which comes in at 661 calories.

  • The calorie count might not be super high for this,

  • but there is also 81% of your daily saturated fat in here.

  • For the most part, Pret uses natural ingredients

  • for things where possible.

  • However, after combing through their ingredients lists

  • in the UK and the US, we did find

  • one or two things to look out for.

  • For example, caramel color.

  • It's used in a range of Pret products,

  • from the dressing that they put on their salads

  • to the caramel syrups, which they put into their drinks.

  • Well, in the US, you'll find caramel color

  • in the salted caramel hot chocolate

  • and the salted caramel latte.

  • Which I drink.

  • Caramel color is worth pointing out

  • because it's on the state of California's

  • Proposition 65 list of chemicals

  • which are known to the state to cause cancer

  • or reproductive toxicity.

  • Ooh, reproductive toxicity. That's fun.

  • Um. [laughs]

  • See, I was scared,

  • but the good news is there's only two types

  • of caramel color, classes III and IV,

  • that contain the chemical

  • that's to blame for this, 4-MEL.

  • The bad news is that class IV caramel color

  • does appear on the menu in the UK.

  • While there is some evidence that suggests

  • that the amounts currently in our food are pretty safe,

  • the state of California banning it isn't a great look.

  • Meanwhile, at a federal level,

  • the FDA still says that there is "no reason to believe

  • that there are any immediate or short-term health risks

  • presented by 4-MEI at the levels expected in food."

  • So, kind of up to you.

  • They're lying. We shouldn't be putting this out there!

  • The one other thing worth pointing out

  • is the difference between the wraps

  • used in the two countries.

  • There's only one wrap used in the UK,

  • and it's this one, the kibbled rye wrap.

  • Here's the ingredients list.

  • We also have kibbled rye wraps in the US,

  • and the ingredients list is virtually identical.

  • But we can also get a plain tortilla wrap

  • as part of the falafel and red peppers

  • and Pret's chicken Parm wraps.

  • The ingredients list for this wrap

  • is a little more alarming.

  • There's three different gums in here,

  • but it's actually the fumaric acid

  • you may want to watch out for.

  • It's an acidity regulator that's pretty common in tortillas.

  • But the European Union says

  • that while it's practically nontoxic,

  • long-term exposure is probably toxic to your kidneys

  • due to the results of studies

  • carried out on calves and rats.

  • [laughing]

  • Yeah, I would just not eat it.

  • I wouldn't say Pret's exciting.

  • Like, they're just a solid option.

  • They're there for you.

  • No, Pret's the kind of place you eat on accident once.

  • And I'm very glad I didn't have to eat any of that food,

  • 'cause it all looked bland ashell! ♪

  • I'm singing a lot today.

  • All right. We done.

Harry: From calorie count to portion sizes,

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