Ode to the Big Mac: Why it’s the absolute king of fast food burgers

Hey…I know the big guy’s got his critics, but this is one time when the sound made by these critics should be instead rendered to the sound of crickets merely chirping in a torrent of strong wind, because the Big Mac is indeed the king of the fast food burger, and in this piece I’ve set out to deliver that point home.

And you very well may have your own fast food franchise favorites, but my hope for you by the end of this piece, is to at least have an appreciation for a sandwich that has been pleasing the greater part of its clientele for many decades. The Big Mac was first thankfully brought to the world in 1967. Michael James Delligatti invented it at one of his many McDonald’s locations in Pittsburgh. The rest is history, to use the old cliché.

For you souls out there that have always appreciated this king of burgers, well, all you have to do is read and enjoy and we can agree that we are kindred spirits separated on the plane of time and space (depending where and when you happen to read this), and we know what a good thing is when we taste one, and the Big Mac is indeed a good thing. In fact, it’s great.

Why is the Big Mac the king of fast food burgers?

Well, first off, it’s been around for a heck of a long time. Okay, I can also hear the chorus of those stating: “So what?” And by the way, you don’t have to yell. I can hear you. Anyways…the Big Mac’s tenure on the McDonald’s menu is testament that it’s a great sandwich.

McDonald’s fans will do good to remember that many menu items disappear often and are cruelly taken away, leaving many of us sad, depressed and waiting for these menu items to make their respective returns…many of us waiting to no avail by the way…

The McRib, the McExtra, the long lost MLT!! Yeah…all gone and all are missed dearly. Okay, the McRib sporadically makes a return, but you catch my drift.

The Big Mac stood the test of time and even stood up against the aforementioned critics—of which there are indeed a few, as mentioned above, if I haven’t changed your minds already that is. Still no? Aha… a challenge. I love a challenge.

Great Taste

Well, if it isn’t the beef patties that’ll do it for you, and the chopped lettuce, onions and pickles don’t do it either, the special sauce has got to at least pique your interest a tad. Be honest. That sauce is delicious. Why else would restaurants, home cooks and a plethora of many others out there try so desperately to recreate what the Big Mac sauce provides, which in the end is a flavor factor that’s up there with most if not all of the culinary inventions of the past (and future).

I’ll be blunt: No other dressing is as delicious. Nothing goes better on a burger. There, I said it. I guess I’m pleading here, but really…just imagine the guy trying to convince the rest of the world that the earth was indeed round when everyone thought that if you sailed far enough out there, you would eventually fall off of the grid somehow, and drift off the edge of what the population back then thought was the world.

Thanks Magellan, I guess? Or maybe even Pythagoras?? Or maybe even Juan Sebastián Elcano…. Everyone always forgets about poor old Elcano. Anyways…for those that love this burger…you know what I’m saying.

Health factors

Okay, so you tell me which burger out there is healthy? I mean they’ve found traces of gasoline in veggie burgers. GASOLINE! A guilty treat every now and again if not at least one a day isn’t going to harm you, or at least I’d like to think so (don’t we all)…. Anyways…indulge; us Guilty Readers know.

But, if you can take the calories and do happen to go to the gym and need a little bit more in the protein category of your diet, have no fear, because the good old Big Mac is high in protein…25 grams in total. That’s not at all too shabby. There’s even quite a wee bit of calcium…250 mgs.

So…trying to make gains on the biceps…want those 24 inch arms for summer…as they say: “Suns out…” I’m sure you know the rest…. A Big Mac is sure to add a few inches to the arms…maybe even one a day, no fries. Just remember to do those curls though.

To get a tad nostalgic, in the end, the Big Mac takes us back. For those that love it, it takes us back to maybe the first time we entered a McDonald’s location…smelled the fryers going, smelled the ketchup and other ingredients just way over and behind that counter with the smiling pretty girl or handsome young man at the register….

The world of the fast food restaurant to us back then was magic… a magic you often don’t feel when you’re a grown up facing all there is to face out there at times.

The Big Mac brought us joy then and that aforementioned magic is something you can have a taste of every now and again and magically, very much like a character in some fantasy film, you’ll be transported back in time to that hazy summer day, sitting on the old school chairs, opening up the old Styrofoam box, and feasting your eyes on the wonder that was and still is the Big Mac. I’d say that’s magic enough, wouldn’t you?

Share some of your own odes to the wonder that is the Big Mac, dear readers—write a poem even. We’d love to read them. Heck, maybe even just tell us why you love the big guy as much as you do.