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> Actually, it's not McDonalds those people don't like--it's their desperation and urge to be something better than they really are, the fear that people confuse them as with being white trash instead of middle class. This is the main reason they buy overpriced organic food at 'upscale' locations

Perhaps that strawman exists. I know that we don't eat at McDonald's because we believe that factory farming[1] is inhumane and that grass-fed beef and dairy from animals that weren't stressed their whole lives is likely to be healthier. Also bad: large producers of animal products have been overusing antibiotics, leading to possible major problems for the human race in the future. McDonald's is not the worst in the industry, but they're still bad by these particular measures.

I totally agree that eating a McDonald's-like meal from time-to-time isn't going to wreck anyone's health. I also know that many people don't care about the animals, or can't afford the cost of well-cared for animal products.

I guess my point boils down to "all generalizations are wrong". You love McDonald's and that's fine. But your characterization of people who don't like McDonald's and their desire to purchase "their overpriced crap food" shows that you're not seeing another side to the story.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intensive_animal_farming#Anima...

Accusing McDonalds of Intense Animal Farming could be a bit overhasty. In Germany they clearly state being different, here is a report from 2014, check page 5, 'Best Beef' (English):

https://www.mcdonalds.de/documents/75202/2771485/CR_Report_2...

McDonalds is definitely superior to some of their peers, but I would be surprised if their actions in the US were as good as their actions in Europe. From what I've read, Western European countries have superior standards when it comes to food production.

McDonalds first ever organic burger debuted in Germany last year: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mcdonalds-organic-idUSKCN0...

Have you tried making your own mcdonald's french fries?

This process was tedious, but surprisingly effective: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/05/the-burger-lab-h...

I did not have an accurate way to measure the temp of the oil, which is important.

Also I reused peanut oil, fresh oil would make the color nicer and a more pure taste.

I do like their fries--though that's about the only thing. To me, McDonalds has better fries than places like In-and-Out but their burgers are far inferior.

I agree that McDonald's has the best fries in the game.

Although In-N-Out's fries (when ordered plain) are some of the worst. As is custom, Animal Style is the way to go!

Try them "well done". Fresh potatoes cut in-store moments before cooking (McD's are pre-cut and frozen).

>McD's are pre-cut and frozen

So?

There are lots and lots of reasons with many types of food to prefer fresh. But it's also possible to fetishize fresh over frozen for no particular reason. (As is often the case with seafood.)

I can only report my experience, which is that I'll sometimes grab (only) some McD's fries when on a long drive and I generally avoid either In-N-Out or ShakeShack fries when getting the rare burger at those places (which I rather enjoy).

It's probably also worth noting though that the premium fast burger places are, to greater or lesser degrees, (unsurprisingly) a non-trivial uplift over McDonalds.

So?

Just stating fact without making judgments.

  a non-trivial uplift over McDonalds

I agree. McD's price for their "premium" sandwiches are a poor value compared to In-n-Out, Five Guys, etc.

>Just stating fact without making judgments.

Fair enough. But "frozen" gets so often used as an automatic disparagement relative to fresh.

To your other point, I personally can't stand McD's burgers so would avoid them unless I were starving so In-n-Out etc. are a better value if I have a choice. (Doubt if I've had a McD's burger in more than a decade.) No judgment about people who do. Just not for me.

Of the tier-1 fastfood joints, I'd rank Wendy's followed by Burger King (always order it "CTO"--cooked to order).

McDonald's burgers have a unique flavor, which I like, but would not be my first choice.

In-n-Out burgers are decent, as is ShakeShack (though their cheese is salty), but my favorite burger is from Five Guys.

McDonald's french fries, however, are the undisputed king of sides.

(That link is hilarious and informative at the same time.)

Do you also have a recipe for the sauce?

I'm in the US, so "sauce" means Heinz Ketchup.

Is there another sauce you are referring to?

Are you referring to the Big Mac sauce? If so, a thousand island dressing gets you pretty close. Or just mix ketchup, mayo, and sweet relish for an easy DIY version. Balance to taste.

I don't hate McDonald's because it isn't organic or biowhatever. I'm also not concerned with elevating myself to some perceived class I don't belong in. I hate it because it tastes like garbage and is expensive compared to similar options. For a dollar or two more I can get a vastly superior burger, fries and shake at 5 Guys, Tasty Burger, Wahlburgers or whatever.

For people who don't have a dollar or two more the difference between McDonalds and 5 Guys is negligible.

Unfortunately having once been a starving student, and also being well off financially, the only thing worse than being well off and having an awful burger for dinner, was being poor and not only having an awful burger but knowingly blowing my valuable and hard to replace $5 on it. Why now rather than saving up two more dollars to go to Culvers, I'm going to have to save up $7 ...

How middle/upper class people think poor people think, and how poor people actually think, are often two different things. Also middle/upper always confuse poor vs working class along the "everyone beneath me is a prole and they're all alike" model.

McDonalds is more a working class place than a poor people place. Working class people don't think in terms of "saving up" for $5 because they have an income stream and McD simply fits that budget. They might "save up" for and plan ahead for $20 at a sit down dinner. But not McD. Its affordably cheap for them.

I guess what I'm talking about is the difference between urge based spontaneous spending for working class or above, vs planned saving up for actual poor people.

> I love McDonalds and I think their hamburger is the best hamburger, their french fries are the best and all the other menu options have this typical McDonalds design--everything, every single piece and ingredient is meticulously thought through and the final dish has a perfect taste. The taste you get for the carb in-take is unmatched.

Really? That's surprising. I've always assumed people went to McDonald's because it's everywhere and it's just damn easy to order there, and you won't get any surprises. It's the "lazy option" for me.

Their food is subpar and their hamburgers are mediocre. Note I'm not comparing their food with gourmet food, but with hamburgers from smaller, non-franchise restaurants. I love well-made burgers; once you've tasted one that wasn't made out of a frozen patty, you can never go back. As for the actual restaurant -- the place, I mean -- all the McDonald's I know are garish, clownish, hideous places designed as if they wanted you out of there as soon as possible. Which I guess makes sense in a fast-food joint.

I'm not from the US but I know for a fact you can get awesome burgers there. Why anyone not in a hurry would stop at McDonald's is puzzling to me.

> with hamburgers from smaller, non-franchise restaurants

Sorry to disagree here. I think yes, there are definitely many non-franchise burger places doing fantastic burgers but I haven't seen any clearly superior. Yes different in taste but superior? No.

And very often, they lack the perfection level of McDonalds. You often get 'over-engineered' burgers, too thick, to much salad, too sticky whole grain non-typical burger bread, same frozen beef but from an unknown source, too much organic salad, too slow, too expensive, too much of being different. Too much of this attitude of not being McDonalds.

Maybe it's just a matter of taste but I prefer the plain vanilla type burgers McDonalds offers, I don't want the super organic rucola vegan burger with soybeans from your friend's burger in.

And again nobody matches their thin and ultra crisp fries.

Well, obviously this is a matter of taste, and by definition subjective, so I'm not saying you're wrong and I'm right, but...

...I'm speechless at our level of disagreement. This truly surprises me, to the point I've always assumed everyone acknowledged McDonald's food was trash, it's just that it's sometimes so damn convenient. To me, McDonald's burgers taste like cardboard. They definitely don't taste like meat. A guy I know who admits he likes McDonald's burgers says it's precisely because they don't taste like meat (in his words: "I don't like ground beef, which is why I like McDonald's: their burgers don't taste like beef.")

In my experience, almost any randomly chosen non-franchise burger place will make a superior burger (I mean, the ones using actual ground beef, and not frozen patties like McDonald's). From that basic standard, you can only go up. The ground meat is immediately superior, it doesn't look like that pre-frozen brown-grey stuff McDonald's uses. The dressings of good burger joints (sorry, I don't know the proper word in English.. toppings? dressings? you get the idea) are almost universally superior to McDonald's. You get a vast variety of sauces to go with your burger, whereas McDonald's only has a couple, and they are disgusting, something straight out of a cheap bottle.

As for fries, I also disagree. McDonald's uses, at least in the countries I know, pre-frozen fries of brands such as McCain's (if this particular brand doesn't exist in your country, I'm sure you'll get the idea anyway), instead of actual, freshly made french fries. I understand why: their logistics don't allow them to make proper fries. But almost by definition they are inferior. Again, not comparing them to other fast food burger chains -- which in my opinion fare similarly to McDonald's -- but with what I can make at home or what gets made in small, non-chain burger joints.

on mobile, so i keep it short. re the fries you are misinformed, just google, either HN or Reddit, a guy there deconstructed the recipe, their way of preparing fries (they freeze them two times) is very sophistcated, better than frying fresh potatoes and not close to the cardboard fries McCain produces.

Ok, so they are not McCain like I thought. Maybe they have a sophisticated process, but what does it matter if their fries taste bad? I assure you, it's not "better" than frying fresh potatoes. I know so: my fries taste way better, and I'm no chef!

And aside from the fries, do you agree their frozen patties taste nothing like real ground beef burgers?

I must admit, occasionally I still have a Big Mac Attack and nothing else will do.

Doesn't sit well with my digestive tract later, but the instances are rare enough that the accumulated cell damage is hopefully still small.

Their french fries were even better when they fried them in beef tallow.

Yup. Beef fat and cottonseed oil, in the 1970s anyway.

I just don't like McDs because honestly the quality has gone down since I was a kid. Part of that is the whole fear of saturated fats found in beef tallow which made the fries great. But honestly, the burgers are just okay today compared to Five Guys (I'm not kidding I think they do burgers better but their fries are junk). And I tell you some folks I know make more flavorful burgers than even Five Guys, but good luck getting the recipe out of them.

> It's cool to hate McDonalds, I know and I don't care. All my friends would never take their kids to McDonalds. They even don't take their kids to the movies. This is our generation nowadays, all they want is an 'organic', 'low fat' and 'please don't hurt' sticker on their overpriced crap food without having a clue how nutrition really works. Especially here in Europe people position themselves as heathly when hating McDonalds.

It's not that it's "cool to hate"; it's simply that some people see a connection between 30%+ of the population being obese, and a certain type of nutrition, of whom McDonald is [seen as] the poster child.

Of course, at the other end of the spectrum some will "Blame it on the genes©", and that's fair, but all in all it is reasonable (which is different from "arguable") to have a "strong dislike", not "cool".

Anecdote is not evidence; on top of that, each and everyone is positively (oh, and subjectively) certain he has has a healthy lifestyle.