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> Also their burgers are pretty gross. Some people must think they taste "good enough", given their popularity. Convenience and price obviously play big roles

> Also their burgers are pretty gross. Some people must think they taste "good enough", given their popularity. Convenience and price obviously play big roles here, but they are also likely choosing McDonalds over other options on at least some basis of taste. > But make no mistake that McDonalds is a business that is, if not as harmful as Philip Morris, gradable on the same scale. For the most part it's a company whose core business model is "leverage unfathomably vast marketing resources to coerce large numbers of people into making the least healthful dietary choice available to them at any given moment". In Australia, they actually [no doubt due to social pressures] a large range of "healthy options" that are actually half-decent. I'm not sure whether they offer this stuff in the US, but compared to the numerous fried chicken, roast chicken and Burger King restaurants here, they are leagues ahead. Note that I'm not defending their past behaviour-which I think we can agree was abysmal-but they have at least tried to reform and for a business of their size and brand, is no easy feat.

tptacek 14y ago
Their burgers are (deliberately, carefully engineered to be) hyperpalatable. There are plenty of hyperpalatable foods that also happen to be gross.
goodcanadian 14y ago
In Australia (and Canada for that matter), McDonald's food is far better than it is the the US.
- maguay 14y ago
  I think it's better in most of the world than the US. It's almost considered classy in Thailand, and to me, it seems to taste better, too.
  - philbarr 14y ago
    Obviously you've not tried them in the UK. We've been to Vegas in the US and thought the burgers there were amazing. Like, "oh my god, this actually looks a bit like real beef!"
- megablast 14y ago
  Rubbish. As an Aussie who has tried both, I have not noticed the difference. I deliberately tried the ones in the US to see if they were better, as people had said. They were the same tasteless garbage.
- geoka9 14y ago
  I can't eat at McDonald's in Canada, but I really like to go there when I'm in Eastern Europe. It tastes so much better there. UPDATE: And I didn't like it in the US either.
  - jules 14y ago
    I only have experience with McDonald's in Western Europe, and here the food is not good. The pattys seem like the meat was thoroughly grinded to a smooth paste. The bread doesn't have any flavour, and because it's in a closed package with the rest it becomes soaked and soft from the steam. The worst part is the cheese (if you can call it that -- it doesn't look or taste like cheese at all). The fries are okayish. On the rare occasion that I'm with a group of people who want to eat something at McDonalds, I usually take a salad with the sauce in a separate package, because even the salad sauce doesn't taste good. This was surprising to me. You can make a much better burger than McDonalds in 10 minutes with standard equipment. Just take some minced meat, form it into a flat cylinder, rub some olive oil salt and pepper, cook it in a frying pan, after you turned it around add (real) cheese on top and cook the other side, slice a bread in two and roast it a little in the same pan, and stack up the burger with some lettuce, tomato and some mustard and/or ketchup. Why can't a company whose primary purpose is to make burgers not make a burger half as good? It's not like the ingredients here are more expensive. Or do people really prefer McD's burgers? Don't get me started on restaurants that use canned peppers and mushrooms that make the whole pizza wet and acidic. Also: http://popsop.com/wp-content/uploads/kraft_cheese_snack_before_after_e.jpg http://popsop.com/wp-content/uploads/kraft_cheese_snack_befo... WTF? "Natural cheese made with 2% milk no added growth hormones"
    - hessenwolf 14y ago
      The price of beef varies pretty dramatically around Europe.
    - tptacek 14y ago
      The cheese on a fast food hamburger is really more a condiment than an ingredient, serving a purpose somewhere in between "cheese" and "mayonnaise".
lucian1900 14y ago
The ones I've had both in Romania and the UK have been excellent. Can't comment about US ones.

tptacek 14y ago

Their burgers are (deliberately, carefully engineered to be) hyperpalatable. There are plenty of hyperpalatable foods that also happen to be gross.

goodcanadian 14y ago

In Australia (and Canada for that matter), McDonald's food is far better than it is the the US.

maguay 14y ago
I think it's better in most of the world than the US. It's almost considered classy in Thailand, and to me, it seems to taste better, too.
- philbarr 14y ago
  Obviously you've not tried them in the UK. We've been to Vegas in the US and thought the burgers there were amazing. Like, "oh my god, this actually looks a bit like real beef!"
megablast 14y ago
Rubbish. As an Aussie who has tried both, I have not noticed the difference. I deliberately tried the ones in the US to see if they were better, as people had said. They were the same tasteless garbage.
geoka9 14y ago
I can't eat at McDonald's in Canada, but I really like to go there when I'm in Eastern Europe. It tastes so much better there. UPDATE: And I didn't like it in the US either.
- jules 14y ago
  I only have experience with McDonald's in Western Europe, and here the food is not good. The pattys seem like the meat was thoroughly grinded to a smooth paste. The bread doesn't have any flavour, and because it's in a closed package with the rest it becomes soaked and soft from the steam. The worst part is the cheese (if you can call it that -- it doesn't look or taste like cheese at all). The fries are okayish. On the rare occasion that I'm with a group of people who want to eat something at McDonalds, I usually take a salad with the sauce in a separate package, because even the salad sauce doesn't taste good. This was surprising to me. You can make a much better burger than McDonalds in 10 minutes with standard equipment. Just take some minced meat, form it into a flat cylinder, rub some olive oil salt and pepper, cook it in a frying pan, after you turned it around add (real) cheese on top and cook the other side, slice a bread in two and roast it a little in the same pan, and stack up the burger with some lettuce, tomato and some mustard and/or ketchup. Why can't a company whose primary purpose is to make burgers not make a burger half as good? It's not like the ingredients here are more expensive. Or do people really prefer McD's burgers? Don't get me started on restaurants that use canned peppers and mushrooms that make the whole pizza wet and acidic. Also: http://popsop.com/wp-content/uploads/kraft_cheese_snack_before_after_e.jpg http://popsop.com/wp-content/uploads/kraft_cheese_snack_befo... WTF? "Natural cheese made with 2% milk no added growth hormones"
  - hessenwolf 14y ago
    The price of beef varies pretty dramatically around Europe.
  - tptacek 14y ago
    The cheese on a fast food hamburger is really more a condiment than an ingredient, serving a purpose somewhere in between "cheese" and "mayonnaise".

lucian1900 14y ago

The ones I've had both in Romania and the UK have been excellent. Can't comment about US ones.