McDonald's: Your questions, our food

Hi- I was just on Mark Bittmans website, and he had a link to an article on the website civileats, which talks about McDonald's new PR gimmick to try to boost store sales, which have been falling lately. McDonald's now has a section on their website entitled Your questions, our food, in which people can submit questions to McDonald's, and the company will answer them. One of the questions I saw on there asked whether their chicken mcnuggets contained pink slime, and McDonald's said absolutely no. It is interesting because apparently in Europe McDonald's uses free range eggs, but they do not in the US, and that was one of the questions asked as to why they did not. Here is a link to the website.

http://www.mcdonalds.com/content/us/en/ ... _food.html
You can leave any questions you might have too. I am not sure how long this PR campaign is going to take place. The company is trying to put a more positive spin on their products and how they are produced. Hope this helps, Nancy

Thanks for posting this. I like it. I didn't read into great depth, but the answers I looked at seemed straight up and honest. They didn't shy away from using hormones in beef and GMO feeds in livestock. Both of these are hot topics right now, and they didn't try to sugar coat their answers.

I'm impressed and I'll read more of the Q&A's later.

If this is a gimick, it worked on me. Unfortunately for them, I can count the number of times I eat fast food in a year, on one hand. I'm probably not the target audience they were after, but it looks like they are being honest.

Hi- I imagine that there are not a lot of people here that frequent McDonald's. I think part of their problem is that a lot of the people that frequent the restaurant only purchase from the dollar menu. I go there on occasion, but the great majority of the time it is just to get a cup of coffee if I am in the neighborhood. I can get a cup of senior coffee for $.69, including a free refill. The last time I went there two weeks ago, I also purchased a chicken wrap which is semi healthy, and which costs $1.99. They have the monopoly game going on right now though, and none of the items I purchased qualified me for a game piece. At least I found out looking at their website that 25% of their coffee is rainforest alliance certified. The McDonald's that I go to on Dempster/Dodge in Evanston, has a ton of seniors that come in the morning only to get a cup of coffee, and stay there for an hour or more to visit.

NFriday wrote:Hi- I imagine that there are not a lot of people here that frequent McDonald's. I think part of their problem is that a lot of the people that frequent the restaurant only purchase from the dollar menu. I go there on occasion, but the great majority of the time it is just to get a cup of coffee if I am in the neighborhood. I can get a cup of senior coffee for $.69, including a free refill. The last time I went there two weeks ago, I also purchased a chicken wrap which is semi healthy, and which costs $1.99. They have the monopoly game going on right now though, and none of the items I purchased qualified me for a game piece. At least I found out looking at their website that 25% of their coffee is rainforest alliance certified. The McDonald's that I go to on Dempster/Dodge in Evanston, has a ton of seniors that come in the morning only to get a cup of coffee, and stay there for an hour or more to visit.

I stop in occasionally for a sausage biscuit or Sausage McMuffin for $1. I do not like ANY of their beef products. They don't taste right.

However, since I have been "on the road" since August 2nd, I have been there about once a week for free WiFi. At a fraction of the cost of most of the other alternatives.

NFriday wrote:Hi- I imagine that there are not a lot of people here that frequent McDonald's. I think part of their problem is that a lot of the people that frequent the restaurant only purchase from the dollar menu.

I like McDonald's well enough, but it pretty much is the "dollar" menu for me, too. ("Dollar" in quotes because I don't think the item I purchase is a buck even anymore--the McDouble. Plus now that they have that jalapeño burger, that's my go-to at McDonald's. I think there was one week where I had three or four of them. They're $2. Love those things, but the quality varies from location to location and I happen to like that peculiar "McDonald's taste" and smell their burgers have to them. McDonald's was always a treat for me when I was a kid--my parents rarely ate out--so there's some "comfort food"/nostalgia value to them for me.)

Oh, and I just remembered, their breakfasts. I'm still a sucker for the regular egg McMuffin with those hash brown potato things. My favorite chain fast-food breakfast.

As for their PR campaign, I could(n't) care less. For as often as I eat there, I don't really care about those sorts of things.

Binko wrote:
As for their PR campaign, I could(n't) care less. For as often as I eat there, I don't really care about those sorts of things.

Their sales are lagging and they need to do something. This is a reasonable approach and it may tip the scale for some people who avoid McDonalds for fear of some unrecognizable frankenburger. Any port in a storm.

(And I have no strong feelings either way, I don't seek out McDonalds, but if it's the only choice then I have no problem eating there. Saved me on 9/11 when I had to drive back to Chicago from NYC. The only thing open was a McDonald's and I got a few Filet O Fish sandwiches (in case nothing else was open on the way) and a ginormous Diet Coke to fuel my drive.)

Hi- I can see this getting people back into McDonald's who quit going because they were concerned about pink slime, but I cannot see this getting people back into the restaurant when they have not visited it for 25 years. At least McDonald's is honest in that they admit that they purchase cattle that has been fed GMO feed. I remember reading an interview with Michael Jacobson and his daughter, in which his daughter threatened to hold her wedding at McDonald's. I can't see Mr. Jacobson setting foot inside McDonald's anytime soon. Hope this helps, Nancy

Now I want a McRib. I have two, three a year.

Like others, when I got to McDonalds, it's usually to get something cheap and fast; quality is not high on the priority list. I typically go for the grilled chicken wrap since it seems healtheir than most options or the $1 chicken sandwich. I'm not a fan of the hamburgers, nor have i ever been interested in the more expensive chicken sandwiches. I rarely get breakfast there although I will get an Egg McMuffin about once a year ( i think they are too expensive); i like the value of the sausage sandwich but it often gives me heartburn. I remember after high school band practice, stopping to get a McRib sandwich, fried apple pie and ice cream. Yum. I'm no longer tempted by the McRib but could still go for the fried pie (if they carried it) and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Meanwhile, in Hungary.

That first McDonald's burger is, believe it or not, a hamburger topped with fried goose liver (along with hot pepper slices, black pepper sauce, red onions, lettuce). Apparently, it's part of a "Hungarian weeks" promotion there. (The other two are a pork burger with sauerkraut and paprika salami, and a cheese-stuffed turkey burger topped with mushrooms. )

Love the fried camembert, too, Binko!

Geo

If we got stuff like that here I'd eat WAY more McD's

NFriday wrote:Hi- I can see this getting people back into McDonald's who quit going because they were concerned about pink slime, but I cannot see this getting people back into the restaurant when they have not visited it for 25 years. At least McDonald's is honest in that they admit that they purchase cattle that has been fed GMO feed. I remember reading an interview with Michael Jacobson and his daughter, in which his daughter threatened to hold her wedding at McDonald's. I can't see Mr. Jacobson setting foot inside McDonald's anytime soon. Hope this helps, Nancy

Very funny. In the 80s, I wrote McDonald's first full disclosure ingredients brochure, which was in a sense a response to pressure from Jacobson's Center for Science and the Public Interest.

zoid wrote:If we got stuff like that here I'd eat WAY more McD's

I'm somewhat afraid to know what McD's fried goose liver tastes like, but I am very intrigued. When I lived out there, there were a lot of interesting offerings at McD's and BK that never saw the US market. (This is not unusual, of course, as international markets have their own menus. Like check out McD's India menu, which has stuff like the McSpicy Paneer (a deep-fried breaded paneer patty on a burger bun) or the Chicken Maharaja Mac, kind of a Big Mac made with McChicken type patties and a curry-tinged special sauce.) I remember the "McFu" ("McFoo") -- whose name might not fly in the US -- which was a sweet & sour pork burger (that I actually enjoyed). There was also a "Western Whopper" at BK, c. 2001, topped with barbecue sauce and fried onion rings (I seem to remember some business-type reality show in the US "coming up" with the idea a few years later--maybe it was The Apprentice?) as well as the "Angry Whopper" c. 2005, which I thought was a weird "Hunglish" sort of name, and then it showed up on US menus c. 2009 or so, with the same weird name. I find it fascinating when I travel to try the local twists at the US fast food chains.

ETA: Apparently, a chicken version of the McFu showed up in the German market, as well, and I guess I'm not the only one a little dubious about the name.

ETA2: Oh, and I didn't see the fried camembert with blueberry jam. That's actually a pretty common Hungarian menu item, under the name rántott sajt ("fried cheese"). For awhile, it was one of the few guaranteed-to-be-vegetarian items you could get at a Hungarian restaurant. It's quite often served with a blueberry jam (though usually mistranslated as "cranberry jam" if an English translation is provided on the menu) or tartar sauce.

Binko's right--MickeyD's menu varies somewhat by country, especially in Asia. I'd like to try some of those items!

Geo

We were in Delhi this summer and visited the McDs (don't ask why-suffice to say my kids made me do it) and there was no pork and no beef on the menu. Lots of chicken cooked every which way. The fries tasted the same. A lot of veggie wraps too. I Japan the menu really varies and they sell a lot of Filet o Fish.

The attached restaurant at the new West Loop corporate headquarters featuring a ‘world menu’.

https://www.timeout.com/chicago/news/we ... ant-042418

The special menu will rotate every so often. Regular menu items still available.

I like the idea of featuring menu items from McDonalds around the world. There are some interesting lists of such items on other forums and on blogs. I look forward to my first Chilean McPalta (burger with avocado) in years!

I agree, Katie! I went ahead and looked at the menus from London, Singapore, and Jakarta. Lots of really interesting stuff. Chicken piri piri wrap in London; very spicy crunchy chicken sandwich in Singapore; and bulgogi chicken in Jakarta. The Jakarta menu has lots of cool-looking stuff.

Geo

Don't forget Poutine from McDonald's Canada. It's decent for a quick poutine.

Whenever I travel internationally, I make it a point to visit a McDonald's and sample a unique, regional item. The best item I've tried was the fried shrimp burger in Japan. The worst was a too-sweet pork burger in Thailand. Yet even the misses provide for some interesting insights into what sells outside the US.

For the curious, here's a place to start:McDonald's Menu Items from Around the World

Citing Sweden’s overwhelming population of vegetarians for instance, McDonald’s has decided to debut a limited run of its own cruelty-free sandwich: the McVegan. Some see its success among vegetarians and meat-eaters alike as the wholesome future of fast food.

http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/201809 ... gan-burger

McDonald’s digital drive-thru menus will soon recommend items to customers based on the weather, time of day and how busy the store is at the moment, part of a big investment in artificial intelligence to create a more personalized experience and encourage larger purchases.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/business ... story.html