The McRib and the loss of one's youth

The bones say that this is no McRib

After spending Thanksgiving evening in Columbia, me, my wife, son and daughter all made the drive home on Friday after breakfast. We got very little sleep, a new baby and different house, and we were hungry for anything but turkey. We had our fill, going to three separate Thanksgiving celebrations. So, we chose to get McDonald's. It was right by the gas station where we filled up and it was not turkey.

We all got our usual. I had a quarter pounder, my wife had two cheese burgers and my son got chicken McNuggets. All standard stuff. But, my wife and I decided we wanted to get a McRib. Neither of us had one in over 15 years and we both thought that we remembered they were tasty. So, we threw caution to the wind and ordered one to share. We ate our meals first and then had the McRib afterward. My wife opened it and what was revealed to me was one of the sloppiest "sandwiches" I had ever seen. It was on a hoagie type bun, it was stamped to look like a rib, they SMOTHERED it in their barbecue sauce and pickles and onions were literally falling off the side.

My wife was the brave soul that took the first bite. I asked how it was and she replied, "interesting". I was intrigued. As I said before, I hadn't had one in 15 years and I used to devour them whenever McDonald's brought them back. I LOVED the McRib as a teenager. Now, it was my turn. I took my first bite. Interesting was a great way to describe it, but I would use the words "gross" or "extremely sweet and sloppy" or even "disgusting". Now, I did finish my half of the sandwich. I wanted the full experience I guess. But, it was not the same thing I remember. When I ate the McRib last Friday, I was so disappointed.

First of all, it is just their burger "meat" stamped to look like a rib. My biggest problem with this interpretation, there are supposed to be bones in ribs, that's how the meat gets it's smoky flavor. But the McRib, it's all "meat". Even the bone shape is edible. This was off putting from the get go. Then, you bite into the "sandwich", and all you get is the sweetest barbecue sauce you will ever taste. I've never been much of a fan of their take on barbecue sauce. It's way too thick and way too sweet. I prefer a thinner, spicier barbeque sauce. So, this problem I have is not McDonald's fault, it's just my taste. But the fact that they smother the "sandwich" in their barbecue sauce, that's unacceptable. Why do you need that much sauce on one sandwich? They don't douse their burgers in mustard and ketchup. Their salads aren't drenched with dressing. So why so much sauce on the McRib? My best guess, to mask the taste of the burger "meat". Then, they try, and fail, to cover up the sweetness by adding onions and pickles to the "sandwich". This, in theory, should work, but it falls totally flat. The onions are white onions, so the taste of those mixed in with what seems to be about 32 ounces of barbecue sauce is disgusting. You bite into this sandwich and you taste sweet barbecue sauce and very strong white onions. Does that sound good to anyone out there? (ed note: yes) It's almost like they thought, hey lets combine two totally different, exact opposite flavors because that will make the rest of the "sandwich" not so disgusting. Well McDonald's, I'm sorry to say, it only makes the McRib that much worse. The pickles are almost an afterthought. I've had very good barbeque, I try to go to Memphis once or twice a year just to have some of the best barbeque in the US, and they add pickles on the side, almost like a side dish. This works very well in these restaurants favors. But, the pickles that are on the McRib are sparse and add no flavor. There is 2, maybe 3 pickles on this "sandwich" and you can barely even taste them. They are just slapped on there as if to say, lets add more shit to this sandwich because it's not gross enough.

After finishing my half, I said to my wife, "well, I tried it and I will never eat one again. That was foul". She agreed, but she wasn't as harsh on it as I was. I was so upset at how terrible this "sandwich" had become to me. Also, why is it a seasonal item? Why does it only come around once or twice a year? Does the McRib really have a big enough fan base that McDonald's can have it come and go as they please? I don't know the answers to these questions. It reminds me of Starbucks and their Pumpkin Spice Latte. This was another seasonal item I tried this year that was way too sweet and left me feeling terrible after drinking it. It was just as sweet as the McRib, but in a different way. I felt like I was drinking pumpkin pie and that's not the way pumpkin pie should be consumed. Pumpkin pie should be eaten, not drank. Just like ribs should be eaten bone in, not smushed together into one single, edible patty. Both the Pumpkin Spice Latte and the McRib are terrible, terrible products that need to go away forever. I know a lot of people may like these two things, but I don't. They're too sweet and taste pretty awful. I'm more bummed about the McRib though.

 I absolutely adored the McRib as a teenager, but as an adult, it does absolutely nothing except make me feel awful after I eat it. I guess that's how it goes as you grow up though. Tastes change and you find new things you like and old things you loved are no good anymore. From now on, I'll stick with my quarter pounder with cheese whenever those few and far between moments I get lunch or dinner at McDonalds. No more McRibs for me.

Not now, not ever.

(Ed note: We believe in letting all voices be heard. I strongly disagree with Ty and can only say that the sloppy fake meat seasonal treat from McDonald's is a delight. Ty's taste buds did not become more refined, they became more wrong. Long live the McRib.)

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He is looking forward to McDonald's Shamrock Shake with extra green flavor. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.

What is real food?

Created by man or by nature?

Some folks seem to be up in arms today because of a vote in the House on GMO labeling. In a 275-150 vote, the House passed HR 1599, the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015. Rep. K. Michael Conaway (R-TX) issued a statement today about the passing of this act saying, “Advances in technology have allowed the U.S. to enjoy the safest, highest quality, most abundant, diverse and affordable supply of food and fiber mankind has ever known. With the world’s population expected to reach 10 billion by 2050, biotechnology is an essential tool for our farmers to meet this demand in an environmentally sound, sustainable, and affordable way. Unfortunately, proposed Federal and State laws threaten this innovation by generating a patchwork of differing labeling requirements, which will result in inconsistent and confusing information for consumers and interfere with interstate commerce. H.R. 1599 establishes a voluntary nation-wide marketing program that gives consumers access to consistent, reliable information while protecting advancements in food production technology and innovation.”

I spent some of my morning reading HR 1599. In my reading I noticed that foods containing any genetically engineered element may be required to be labeled as genetically engineered if they contain “a material difference in the functional, nutritional, or compositional characteristics, allergenicity, or other attributes between the food so produced and its comparable food”. To me this makes sense. If there is no real difference in the product, no need to make an extra cost and confusion to the consumer by pointing out how it was produced. Analogously I do not need to know whether the peanuts used to make my peanut butter were crushed by hand or a machine if the end product is the same.

One of the things this bill was intended to do was to create a nationally unified labeling system. With individual states having different labeling requirements, there presents a problem for companies who ship product to multiple states with differing and contradictory labeling requirements. Having this kind of labeling fiasco would just drive up costs for the consumer while confusing the consumer all the more.

Many are saying that this new bill creates a ban on the consumer receiving adequate access to knowledge about their food. It seems to be causing more clarity to have a unified system that the interested consumer can understand. The alternative is for them to seek out a lot of conflicting information driven by the “natural” food lobbies in each state.

The producers of food who work hard to make sure there are no genetically engineered components in their product have an interest in scaring the consumer away from genetic innovation. They are big business just like any other. So requiring labels on all genetically engineered food regardless of its functional, nutritional, allergenic, etc. similarities seems to only be an attempt to use government to influence the market in their favor. If their food is “natural”, they are free to label it as such, but requiring other companies to use labels which enhance their own marketing tactics is deceitful.

The fact is, these means of production mean a higher yield per acre and less use of potentially harmful chemicals. One can bring up monoculture as a legitimate concern. One which needs to be addressed. But attempting to kill off the benefits of genetic engineering on the whole is not the way to do that. Testing should also be done on these and all foods to make sure they are safe. Since genetically modified foods are some of the most thoroughly tested, I have no concerns here.

Still, many people are concerned. Some fear that we will get too carried away and cause lasting and irreversible harm to our food sources and thus to humanity. I agree that some of the details within the realm of genetically modified foods may need more attention. Such as the patent system and how it affects the way certain agriculture companies do business or monoculture as I have already mentioned. But the solution is not to scare the consumer away from the process outright. What do you think?

Kirk Aug

Kirk writes about science, technology, and whatever else can catch his fancy. He is currently enjoying a snack and forgot to read the label. Follow him on twitter @kirkaug.