Anything eaten to excess can be bad for you, including french fries. But once in a while, nothing is better than properly cooked McDonald's fries. Uploaded to Flickr by roboppy.
(Originally posted March 31, 2009)
So I decided to start a new blog devoted to chronicling the little things that are special about America, and I choose McDonald’s fries as my first entry. Am I nuts?
Uploaded to Flickr by complexify.
Fact is, whether you like fast food or not, whether you think it’s a quick and tasty way to eat or a curse on humanity, you have to appreciate this amazing product. When freshly cooked and lightly salted, there’s almost nothing you can eat that compares.
I can still remember enjoying them at the first McDonald’s where I grew up, on W. Mercury Blvd. in Hampton, Virginia. They were, I think, fifteen cents. They’re a bit more now, but they still retain that great flavor, and how many things can you say that for after several decades?
The Whopper vs. Big Mac is one of those Pepsi vs. Coke kind of things. But I like the flame broiled burger much better. Uploaded by burgerking.co.uk.
Had you gone into a Burger King restaurant in 1957 (had you been able to find a Burger King restaurant in 1957), you’d have been able to purchase the original Whopper for 37 cents. And it wouldn’t have been much different from the Whopper you order today, provided you don’t add cheese, or bacon, or anything else.
The Whopper has been so successful that Burger King markets itself as The Home of the Whopper. It’s not a complicated burger – 1/4 lb. flame-grilled beef patty, mayonnaise, lettuce, mustard, tomato, pickles, ketchup, sliced onion, sesame seed bun. I haven’t had one in a good while, but my experience is that the condiments make the sandwich slippery and it’s hard to hold it together. Maybe they’ve reformulated the mayo to make it more stable. I don’t know. Stay away from the doubles and triples, though. No one needs that much fat at one sitting.
Slippery or not, the Whopper sure tastes good. Burger King has made its mark in the fast-food industry by flame broiling its hamburgers, and it certainly makes a difference. McDonald’s introduced the Big Mac with two patties, and yet the burger itself just can’t equal the Whopper. Of course, this is one of those Coke vs. Pepsi things…but Burger King has an advantage in that they’ll make it your way. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to eat hamburgers anytime I wanted, but if I could choose just one from a fast-food place today, it would be the Whopper. As long as that creepy King thing wasn’t around. Yikes.
Happy Meals stopped being a lure to bring parents and kids to McDonald's, and became a marketing tie-in for the latest family-friendly movie. Uploaded by blogs.pitch.com.
In 1977, McDonald’s was king of all it surveyed (sorry, Burger King, for the unfortunate analogy). The company knew that kids loved their restaurants, but looked for a way to lure parents, especially parents who were raising kids, and whose disposable income was limited.
The solution, conceived by a McDonald’s advertising manager in St. Louis, was a meal just for kids. The Happy Meal, as it quickly became known, set parents back only a buck, yet provided what kids wanted — a hamburger or cheeseburger, small fries, 12 oz. drink, and cookies. A toy became part of the HM at a later date.
Uploaded by popsop.ru.
In the headquarters building of fast food chains across America, you’ll see a conference room with dented walls. Those were put there by the companies’ executives banging their head wondering why they didn’t think of the idea first. Now, every restaurant that welcomes kids also offers a special meal. The food today is a bit healthier, with fruit often substituted for french fries, and milk or juice instead of a soft drink.
And the toys have become more sophisticated, as Happy Meals now are often advertising vehicles tied in to current family-friendly films…
The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile comes directly from its hit jingle. Uploaded by farm3.static.flickr.com.
The older you are, the more of these ditties you have rattling around your brain. And just when you think you’ve put them away forever, some crazy blog guy comes along and brings them to the surface. And you find yourself humming them all the next day.
Some of the best jingles lasted for the entire sixty seconds of a commercial, yet one on the list is only four notes. But they all achieved the advertiser’s goal of keeping the product’s message alive long after its thirty or sixty seconds on air.
Before I list my top ten, here are some of the runners-up that could easily have made the top. Let your mind go back and relive:
“You’ll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with Pepsodent.”
So I decided to start a new blog devoted to chronicling the little things that are special about America, and I choose McDonald’s fries as my first entry. Am I nuts?
Fact is, whether you like fast food or not, whether you think it’s a quick and tasty way to eat or a curse on humanity, you have to appreciate this amazing product. When freshly cooked and lightly salted, there’s almost nothing you can eat that compares.
I can still remember enjoying them at the first McDonald’s where I grew up, on W. Mercury Blvd. in Hampton, Virginia. They were, I think, twenty-nine cents. They’re a bit more now, but they still retain that great potato flavor, and how many things can you say that for after several decades?
Copyright 2009-2011, Robin G. Chalkley. All material on these pages, and the listing of items as Great American Things, is copyrighted. The exceptions are the photographs and videos, which remain the property of their respective owners.
Header photo used courtesy of Flickr photographer too melo.
Great American Things 