Globalization a reality of the modern world. It means that nations around the world are becoming interconnected (and, in some cases, interdependent) as barriers to travel and communication are overcome. In a cultural sense, this implies a gradual homogenization of cultures as cultures come into increasing contact (though that theory is still questionable), and in an economic sense, it means that each nation becomes a kind of "market economy" in the larger world economy. Each nation has its particular resources or specializations that address a niche in the world market.
A concept that springs from Globalization is known as Hybridization. Hybridization occurs when two cultures come into contact after previous separation. Their contact results in the birth of a "third culture" that, while conditional on the "power relations" between the two cultures (whichever culture is dominant typically has more effect), the third culture develops in its own fashion, and is not strictly adherent to the dominant culture.
This article from Time Magazine Online shows how the expansion of western (mainly US) fast food has resulted in many foreign competitors offering the same kind of US food. However, as the article points out, many of these foreign competitors put their own particular cultural spin on American fast food, and as a result, the burgers, chicken, and other staple American food items are not the same as the dominant American fast food. Fitting the definition of Hybridization, these foreign competitors sprung from the contact of Western fast-food culture and their own culture and embraced the American food, but developed in their own particular way to create a kind of "third culture" which is partly their own culture and part-American.
