Which is really better, the Big Mac or the Whopper? After a lifetime of watching fast-food commercials, I had to know. I couldn’t remember ever having tried either of them, which struck me as unusual, so Faithful Reader and I set out to sample them and judge for ourselves which was the better burger. While we were at it, we decided to do a proper test of the whole Fast-Food Trinity by including fries and a Wendy’s burger, too. Here’s how they rated.
#3 Wendy’s: The restaurant itself was dingy and smelled like old frying oil, a definite turnoff. The cheeseburger was not only lacking cheese, but it also had a mangled, soggy, black-scuffed bun. It was so unappealing that we asked for a replacement. The replacement cheeseburger had cheese, but it was unmelted, and the beef was flavorless and sort of nubbly. Its squareness did not earn it any points. Good french fries might have made us more forgiving, but the ones we got were dry and fishy.
#2 McDonald’s: The Big Mac was juicy and flavorful, but only because of the sauce, pickles, and onions, which could not quite conceal the fact that the beef itself was almost flavorless. Hard to eat neatly and obviously calorific, the Big Mac would not be my first choice for a meal, but it was undeniably tasty. The french fries were decent, but not great.
#1 Burger King: The winner by a long shot. The Whopper ingredients were fresh and the beef was flavorful. Flame-broiling does seem to make a difference. The french fries were yummy and had a great mouth feel, though they were oversalted for my taste.
There are other ways to judge fast food, I know, but this test was just a lark. The big questions of nutrition, of what fast food means to this country, of what it’s doing to the people and to the land, must wait for another day.
Today, let us be happy if we have food and it tastes good.