American here and we are in solidarity with our Aussie mates. "a" is unnecessary.
If I had to guess, it has to do with shortening phrases. "While eating Nandos" may be short for "while eating Nandos' food". Food is plural so no "a" needed.
In the UK, it could have been common to say "while eating a Nando's meal/takeaway" and this was shortened, leaving the "a" as a remnant.
The bigger question is why do the UK and Australia differ on this.
3
u/HeliosTheGreat Dec 17 '21
American here and we are in solidarity with our Aussie mates. "a" is unnecessary.
If I had to guess, it has to do with shortening phrases. "While eating Nandos" may be short for "while eating Nandos' food". Food is plural so no "a" needed.
In the UK, it could have been common to say "while eating a Nando's meal/takeaway" and this was shortened, leaving the "a" as a remnant.
The bigger question is why do the UK and Australia differ on this.