I am italian living in hungary and I never considered McD fries "amazing". I have never met anyone who didn't prefer home made ones/random shop one's either.
So, last time this article came up on HN I generously filed it under "maybe fries in fast food chains in the US are different than fries in US fast food chains everywhere else".
I think they are. I'm a Canadian living in France, and I pretty much hate McDonalds here. Fries are soggy and not salted enough, burgers are completely messed up, and the service is impressively slow. I tried several places, it's all more of the same.
Everytime I go back to a McDonalds in Canada I find the food just tastes better. It's still fast food, but I'm enjoying it so much more.
It's funny because it's the exact opposite for me as a French guy living in the US. I find MacDonald's to be vastly superior in France, and it's also the opinion of all my French friends who have tried both.
They say that McDonald's adapt their recipes to the taste of the country they're in, which these anecdotal observations would support :)
I don't remember McDonald's fries tasting better in the US than in Europe, but then I don't go to McDonald's all that often. (I do grant that there are subtle differences between McDonald's restaurants in different regions.)
There's actually a second type of American fries that I think is somewhat better than the ones at McDonald's. They're called Cajun fries [1]. They're made in an oven and are a bit spicy. You can get them at cheap fast food places like Checkers or fancier hamburger places like Five Guys.
Cajun fries at 5 Guys and probably most fast-food restaurants are made by simply sprinkling Cajun spices on fries prepared in a fryer as usual, the oven is an implementation detail Rachel Ray choose in the linked recipe that is uncommon.
So, last time this article came up on HN I generously filed it under "maybe fries in fast food chains in the US are different than fries in US fast food chains everywhere else".