Those over 40, does McDonald's taste different to you than it did as a kid? (ingredients, hamburgers)

[kanhawk]

When I was a kid in the late 60s and early 70s I loved going to McDonald's and I loved the taste of the hamburgers there.
I still love hamburgers, but now McDonald's is usually my last choice for hamburgers because their hamburgers just don't taste as good as when I was a kid. I have tried to figure out why this is.
Could it be:

1. As I have grown older, my taste buds have changed and what appealed to me when I was 10 is different than what appeals to me now.
or
2. Mc'Ds burgers aren't a new experience like they were when I was a kid so the excitement and anticipation isn't there anymore.
or
3. Maybe McDonald's cooks their hamburgers differently than they did 40 years ago, using different ingredients or frying them a different way that has ruined the taste of them.


Or maybe it's all 3? I still like hamburgers so why don't I care for McDonald's anymore?

[Gerania]

Something has changed. I loved them as a kid, tolerated them as an adult, but in the last few years can't even stand the smell of them.

I know that my tastes have changed and that I am no longer impressed by fast food burgers, but damn, if you take one bite out of a burger and have to throw it in the trash, something is wrong.

[ElkHunter]

I know one thing that has happened with Mc D's and that is they have become a assembly line. As a kid they would cook burgers until they look done and then throw them on a bun.

Today, they have computed exactly how many minutes and seconds per side and they only cook them exactly to the point to make it safe to eat. They save time and energy to produce them as fast as possible and still deliver a safe burger.

Just like their frys. They cook them to the bell. When I was a kid they cooked them until they were golden brown. Today, they are mushy because they don't want to waste energy.

This info I got from my SIL who is a store manager at the nearby Mc D's.

[Wurzig]

We went to McDonald's recently and I liked their mushroom burger........it is a far cry from the little thing that used to cost .19 or whatever it was..... Over time, we have learned to expect more in a burger......that little thing with a slice of pickle and a few diced onions doesn't cut it anymore......not when we have 5 Guys, etc., around......

Happy Meals are still a lot of fun for kids....

I know that the flavor has changed in the fries........they used to put something in it to make you crave more......and they use the less-fattening but not as tasty, oil now, everybody does.....trying to get everybody to still buy fast food but maybe not clog the heart as fast.......

As you age, taste buds die off and things don't taste the same.......especially for things such as chocoalte......

[Caligula1]

I know they used to cook the fries in Lard until that four letter word became almost as bad a a more well known four letter word.

[gardener34]

Actually years ago, we did not have McDonald's in our town even though the chain started around here. Our fast food was the local hot dog joynt! Or white castle.
McDonalds really proliferated in the 80s.

I do not remember eating McDs until I started working at age 16 and there was one in the mall where i worked. I know the fries are different (not better) because they do not fry in beef fat or so I heard. The fries have changed.

[jasper12]

The meat in the burgers has changed, it tastes more like "filler" to me. When I was young, it was actually a "hamburger" with crisp edges, not this tasteless grey puck of muck on a bun. The pickles were thicker, not these shaved pieces of limp green slime. The pickles were actually thicker, and almost crisp when I was young, with a rich flavor of dill, that actually added flavor to the burger, unlike the see thru green discs on the burger now. The buns were always fresh, last time I was at McDonald's the edges of the bun were hard, and stale. We won't even discuss the fries, which are limp, yellow, and mushy. Fries should be crisp and some pale, some darker brown, not a uniform off white. I don't even go to McDonalds, usually I go to Five Guys, or In and Out a burger..even Wendy's is a better choice than Mcdonalds now. If I do go there, I usually get a chicken sandwich, which is much better than their burgers now.

I used to go to the McDonalds outside of Chicago, one of the first ones built, it was our childhood staple, and such a treat.

[TabulaRasa]

McDonald's has changed a lot of their food prep over the years...

Fries used to be cooked in beef tallow, they're not anymore; apple pies used to be fried, now they're baked, etc.

However, they have used the "assembly line" process since they day they opened. It was their innovation, and how they started "fast food" as we know it today. It wasn't obviously as automated and mechanized as it is today, given technology, but it was always an assembly line strategy, from inception on.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Caligula1

I know they used to cook the fries in Lard until that four letter word became almost as bad a a more well known four letter word.

It is tallow or beef fat that they were using for their fries.

[Hemlock140]

Not only were the original fries cooked in fat a lot better, but so was the coke with real cane sugar. The burgers taste similar but not quite the same due to the onions, which appear to be dehydrated ones that have been re-hydrated rather than fresh. The only thing that tastes the same is the
filet-o-fish.