Supersized
By jarvis on Culture
: McDonald's is 50 years old today. That is, 50 years ago today, Ray Kroc opened his first Illinois restaurant and started the biggest restaurant chain in the world and changed food and culture.
Oh, I'll bet there'll be some today who'll decry the day and complain about fast food and factories and fat and salt.
Not me. I love McDonald's.
When I was a columnist in San Francisco, I reviewed the opening of a then-fancy new McDonald's on Van Ness -- and I panned it. Ray Kroc wrote a letter to the editor complaining that I was a "codfish aristocrat." He assumed I was just another burger snob. But I called Mr. Kroc and told him that I had once been caught by a survey going to McDonald's in Chicago five times a week; I was an addict. I believed in his credo of QC and I was saddened by the lack of quality I found in his newest emporium. The tone changed immediately: He knew he was talking with a believer and he said he'd get on the case immediately. He did. The restaurant quickly shaped up.
A quarter-cheese was my best hangover cure.
At my worst, I used to have two quarter cheese, a large fries, and a milk shake. It's a wonder I'm still alive.
After my cholesterol tests of later years and after seeing my father-in-law post-bypass, I had to give up McDonald's. My kids prefer Burger King, too. So it's rare that I go there anymore.
But I still like McDonald's. It represents speed, consistency, cleanliness, quality, value, and good, greasy, salty food. McDonald's is America.
So join me today and let's have a quarter-cheese and fries. Oh, what the hell, supersize that. |
