When my friends and I were smaller we used to go to McDonalds every Sunday morning in the certain belief it cured hangovers, they were delicious. I tried it again recently and it was foul.
Not long ago I had a burger in a pub in Boston that must be one of the three or four best meals I've ever eaten, it's true the Americans know something about burgers the rest of the world has yet to discover.
a sausage an egg mc muffin is the ultimate hangover cure. It was unwritten rule between an old colleague of mine and I that if we knew the other had been out on the lash the night before then we'd have to bring in a mc muffin for them.
One thing I don't like about MDs is the way the prefix everything with Mc
I'll have a Mcwhatever and a Mccoffee...Just popping to the Mctoilet for a McS.hit
"The problem is that macds are promoted as being for children."
If you look at the ads, they're predominantly aimed at FAMILIES WITH kids. It's marketed as a place you can treat the kids to, if they're good, if you're their estranged dad, if they're going on holiday...
What's wrong with a place a young family can go to, where every customer and employee doesn't give them evils when Tommy Toddler makes a bit of noise (no mean feat in this country), to treat their kids to food they LIKE and (I know I'm sounding like a bust record, but if you're not going to listen...) IS NO MORE UNHEALTHY THAN ANY OTHER BURGER BAR OR FAST FOOD JOINT IN THE COUNTRY.
"They refuse trade union rights." What trade unions? This is the CATERING industry, at the lowest end. Why maccify a whole-industry issue? Most people tend not to have long careers in the industry, so no-one bothers forming proper unions. I mean, it's all Solidarnose at Burger King.
"and it tastes absolutely disgusting."
Oh well, you're making a big f**king sacrifice by "boycotting" aren't you Tony.
I'm off to boycott garden gnomes.
Personally I don't like the food, but Jack makes a good point. I've been top loads of restaurants with my kids and the looks you get if you ask for a kids menu. And woe betide you if the child makes a noise or a mess. England is one of the most child-unfriendly places for eating out.
I don't eat there if I can help it, but if I was out and my kids needed to eat, then fine. And they are cheap.
Flash is partly right about 'pikeys', they are in fact 'diddy coys', tinkers, travellers etc, but certainly NOT proper gypsies or Romanys. Call a real gypsy a 'did' and you're likely to get your nose broken.
Well yeah, if you have that kind of parental approach, you know.. stick a dummy in every time they speak, chuck 'em a burger cos its cheap and easy (and you can spend more money on Lidl's lager), buy 'em blue pop at a year old (ive seen it), then yeah, they will like it... educate their palettes for gods sake, theyre supposed to be precious.
Educate their *parents* for chrissakes never mind the palettes... the day my kids strive to be good so they can get a visit to Macdonalds as a reward, I'll know Ive failed as a mum.
Had a real burger in Sticky Fingers in Kensington (Bill Wyman's ) a long time ago... that was a memorable one...
Who can do the three chillis hot in Nandos?
(My hero/heroine)
Wow, I think I've touched a nerve here Jack. I accept that it your choice where you eat and I don't dispute that. I am merely pointing ou that there are alternatives - like cooking a decent burger at home!
As for child friendly - I don't know these days but when my kids were small I often found that the best place to take them was a country pub on a decent day. They could tank around in the garden, eat from a kid's menu and it would be cooked to order on the premises. If we were in town with them or it was a lousy day then we'd find a decent cafe or an Italian restaurant (pasta is cheap and good - and the kids love it!)
Soggy burgers and sugar are only pleasant for a child because that child has been conditioned into liking such things. Oops, now I'm getting on my high horse.
McDonalds is the devil - no doubt about it. Look at the history of the McTrial here in London and you'll learn all sorts of stuff about the company.
As for a good burger - any of you ever tried making one?
It's dead easy. Get some organic mince (beef or lamb - preferably beef), mix in an egg, some lightly fried red onion, some very lightly fried garlic (do them both in butter) - mix it up, squish it together into the right shape and slap it in a frying pan. Cook according to taste (I like mine very rare) and serve with home made garlic mayonnaise.
It's as cheap as chips and utterly delicious. Tastes nothing like the vile stuff in any burger bar.
Why do kebab shops get such a bad press? We've got loads in Manchester - there's four right next to the McDonald's in Fallowfield! - and I find they do nutritious, filling, healthy, tasty food for less than the price of a McDonald's meal (£2.50-£3.00). I've NEVER been ill after one and, if you mistrust the doner, get a chicken or a lamb one freshly grilled.
Then, if you must (or want to use their car park or toilet) nip into McDonald's for a milk shake!
Liana's made a very good point. My children eat in a variety of places and the youngest doesn't even like chips. They all eat vegetables and fruit and don't ask for McD's very often thankfully so I have no problem taking them there.
Tony, unfortunately, I would have to drive out to the country to get to a country pub, though there is quite a good Harvester near where I live. Pizza Express was one of the better places I went to, but the bill was nigh on £50 for 1 adult and 2 kids. Not a cheap option.
Well since it's been popped to the top anyway... This has been making my blood boil since yesterday. Did anyone notice that all the Sundays yesterday were carrying full page adverts for MCDonalds. The gist of the ads was "some people have noticed that we're changing and we hoped to stop people in their tracks and grab their attention. We hoped people would take another look at McDonalds bla di bla" The bit that really incensed me was "Look out for our change booklet (it should have come through your door by now. If not please visit www.bladiblah.com.). Who the fuck do they think they are, the government? The arrogance of this just makes me furious.
Eighteen months ago McDonalds sued an Italian food critic for around 8m Euros for having the cheek to say that their food was terrible in a national newspaper. Therefore I'm not even going to dare to mention how repulsive I find their slime and sacharine excuses for burgers and I think others should be equally cautious about expressing negative opinions.
I like McDonalds.
I always have. As a kid their cheeseburgers were considered a birthday treat.
I could care less about the health issues of their food as it's no worse than many products available today.
I like the taste (even though I often make my own burgers which I don't compare because that would be laughable)
Yes they're a huge corporation set on world domination. So what? Who isn't? Anyone smoke out there? Anyone drive a car? Anyone drink? (or do you all brew your own booze from organic hops and planet friendly yeast?)
.... "Actually, Ely. I have been buying my beer from a secret society of monks that live in a cave. Jessica and Nathanial love it and at only £15 per pint I think it is reasonably priced compared to the mass produced rubbish here in London! I once cycled past someone eating a McDonalds burger and the smell alone killed me and everyone else within a mile, including rats....
I once read that they put fried children and pooh in the burgers and the shakes are made from used condoms found on the beaches of Birmingham!"
I don't like McDonalds, the food gives me stomach ache. Often you get a cold burger and that just turns the stomach.
Give me Pizza Hut or Deep Pan anyday. I like my fast food dripping with (at least) four cheeses.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin.
All this "McDonald's is evil" goes back to the seventies and eighties, when English people couldn't hack the idea there was a new kid in town, making big by actually welcoming families and kids (rather than sniffing at the noisy little bastardos, as was our wont) and selling food with a faster turnover and more nutritional value - lettuce???!!! - than your traditional chippie (how many lovely piping hot vitamin-packed chip-slop meals do you remember from your childhood?).
Yep, it was good ol' fashioned English jealousy and new-culture resistance, but as per usual the kiddies were too young to give a shite about all that anti-conglomerate propaganda. They only knew big mac sauce was a culinary design classic; and what the le petit public want, le petit public gets.
Maccas got bigger and bigger. So big, it didn't know what to do with itself, and sold thousands of franchises to any joker who fancied a bash.
And tons of misguided retards jumped on the McDonalds-is-evil bandwagon, and the odd bomb went off in the odd restaurant. (They hate business success more than they hate cruelty to animals of course.)
The big one: some dopy journalist was watching BskyB on his squariel, and heard that McDonald's was supporting "IRA" - which was the initials of some employment insurance scheme or other, but you can remember what misunderstandings happened next...
And then, McDonalds continued to sell burgers to lots of people who pretended not to like the taste of them. And got successfully sued - such was the culture of hatred towards them - for clumsy f**kers spilling coffee over themselves.
The End.
Missi,
you're 60 right? If I was, and hopefully I will be one day in the not too distant future, I'd start all those things as soon as possible. I'd get bonged off my wedge and wake every morning to a fry up and a large glass of red wine. I'd eat every kind of fast food I felt like (which is all of them because I love food of all kinds).
this is how I imagined you to be Missi, drinking and eating burgers and smoking. Two fingers to the PC police etc etc. Still if you don't want to do any of those things then don't, of course and that's the point. I get the feeling you don't do these things because you don't want to and not because society says you shouldn't
*cue everyone who wants to be seen as their own person, which is everyone*
a good boy? yeah right.
I read a review of a film in the Independent on Sunday (hey, it's free at the gymn) - the film being the documentary of the director who for two months only ate at McDonalds, three meals a day and had to agree if they suggested supersizing - he put on 25 pounds and pretty much fucked his liver. There were photographs and everything.
And after I left the gymn, having read this article, I had to stop off for Chicken nuggets.
That's the problem with McDonalds - despite everything you know, the food still satisfies a craving that you have for unhealthy stuff.
Not wishing to upset Americans in general, and my US friends in particular, it seems to me that if you remember MacD's is one of the most successful businesses in America and that obesity is out of control there, that either their products are SO good to eat that no one can stop, or they are nothing but garbage food. I have occasionally had a cheeseburger and been very disappointed in the size for starters. Contrary to popular belief the American ones are no bigger than those sold here. I can only imagine that 'big' in American terms refers to the size of the consumer rather than the consumed. As for the ingredients and nutrition value, I hate to think what goes into them.
Liana, dear, you're missing my point. Anywhere that purports to be "fast food" will regularly sell food that is at less than skin-removing temperature. That's the whole point: it's not cooked to order, it's kept warm so you can just grab it and continue with your busy life.
Now, I personally prefer it at McDonalds when my big mac isn't ready, in the shoot, ie. it will be lovely and hot when it is. But that doesn't go for a lot of punters in there: they can get RIGHT arsy if isn't sat there to hand. I once had an English friend in Germany who nearly fell out with someone else because they got the last fischmac (filet o' fish over here) in the shoot. So we agree there is a market for simple food where some heat is sacrificed for the sake of speed? Right.
So why is it that McDonald's gets all the bad press. They have systems in place to make sure the food doesn't go beneath a legal temperature, and excellent hygiene standards. Chippies don't, but it's okay for them to kill us with food poisoning, cause they're English and (ahem) small fry.
As for the ingredients Missi, McDonald's claim to use 100% beef hamburgers. I'm fairly certain such a high profile company wouldn't dare lie, and if they did, they'd be banged to rights sharpish. But if you're happier with the Alsation pies, digestive-tract pasties and lip/arsehole sausages sold in "our" fine establishments, then fine by me.
Anti-American, anti-bigbusiness bullsh*t.
You got me right Ian. I don't smoke cos I tried it (for 20yrs) and decided it didn't do me any good and emptied my wallet faster than a hot whore. I don't drink cos I got fed up waking up in puddles when I was 18. I don't 'do' drugs cos I don't need 'em, it's as simple as that. The PC lot can kiss my a.rse.
I do however, seem to have a weakness for anything covered in chocolate or cream, especially nipples.
If you think ALL fast food tastes crap, then I'll buy that. But McDonald's is definitely the best of a bad burger-chain bunch, and a bad industry as a whole. If you think McDonald's stands out as the shittiest food in the industry (including chippies, kebab houses and the like) then I simply must disagree. Maybe you only THINK you couldn't care less what anyone else's problem is. Heh heh.
Anyway, time to dredge up another shite old poem from when I first joined abc. "Address to a big mac" was written in my metre/rhyming phase, when I wrote a trilogy of poems based on the structure of "Address to a haggis" by Robbie Burns. It also reminded me, on re-reading, that the word is "chute" not "shoot". Doh.
Nah. Theres a great chippy near here. The food there tastes great. It's also hot. At MacDobnalds its lukewarm, I've never had a hot one.
Dunno about kebabs, can't really say... the only time Ive eaten them is when Im half cut staggering home from the pub, without any sense or clue of what Im doing whatsoever ... you know what I mean Paul. Heh Heh.
I once had the misfortune of doing work experience in McDonalds - I was glad when it was over. The shift managers treated me like s*** and the other members of staff thought they could use me as a slave. Never again.
Its only in the last couple of years that the real McDonalds has really opened my eyes, as it were. The fact that they used up a farm land and destroyed it so they could kill animals for meat (I've yet to become veggie, by the way). They used help destroy the enviroment with the packaging they use to put their burgers in, and, this is the most frightning one of all, apart from giving money to chairty, they also donate money to the IRA.
How bad is that?
Personally, once I've had a few drinks and feel like food, I usually go to the kehbab shop, indiependent and run by the people cooking the food.
the trick with McD's is to scan the hot plates and see what they've run out of and order it (a quarter punder without cheese is always a winner here) they then have to make some more and you actually get a hot burger! takes a bit longer defeating the object of "fast food" but worth it. Chip shops are okay but I've never come to terms with pickled eggs
Although I'm proud to be anti big business (on the grounds that it ultimately destroys the choice that less manic capitalism provides), I don't have anything in particular against McDonalds.
I don't like their food, so I don't go there but I dislike the snobbish middle-class attitude to the place. Particularly those Guardian articles berating single mothers who take their kids to McDonalds once a week for a treat when they could have spent the same amount of money cooking three weeks worth of pasta and lentils. For some reasons, lots of well off people on the left seem to have a violent objection to poor people enjoying themselves.
That said, I don't think McDonalds current decline is down to politcal campaigns against them, it's more to do with many people finding more interesting places to eat.
Pages