My gut reaction was that the story--although a legitimate consumer complaint—seemed to reinforce a cultural stereotype about Black people and chicken. I know for a fact that no one on our staff meant for that to be the point of the story, but the fear that we would be accused of this sounded an alarm to me. It’s sad that I even had to worry about this.

Last week a couple of Popeye's restaurants in Rochester ran out of chicken. And local ABC affiliate WHAM decided to run a story. Some people complained, and WHAM responded. Warning: Second link contains some idiocy.
posted by hifiparasol on Apr 26, 2009 - 135 comments

KISS Burger. Our Meat... Your Mouth.(via)
posted by Joe Beese on Apr 24, 2009 - 29 comments

In which Georgia gives you the McNuggetini.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey on Feb 16, 2009 - 87 comments

Behold the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat.
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Dec 17, 2008 - 46 comments

"Features the only hint of vegetable in the form of a few shreds of iceberg lettuce, the nutritionally bankrupt variety. Also features a vile khaki-colored sauce with black flakes we assumed to be pepper. Made it about 80% through before throwing in the towel." An unboxing of the new Guitar Hero: World Tour KFC Fully Loaded Box Meal. [more inside]
posted by jbickers on Oct 29, 2008 - 79 comments

The Ghetto Big Mac [more inside]
posted by carsonb on Sep 18, 2008 - 68 comments

Hungry? Arteries not quite plugged enough? Behold, the Big MacChicken.
posted by mr_crash_davis on Feb 29, 2008 - 59 comments

Think those salads at McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, and Taco Bell are a good idea if you want something lighter? Turns out you're actually better off getting a double cheeseburger instead. For more info on nutritional facts about fast food, CalorieKing has a good database.
posted by cerebus19 on Jun 1, 2007 - 67 comments

Sure, you probably know in France that McDonald’s serves the Royale with cheese (thanks to the famous scene in Pulp Fiction) but did you know that McDonald’s all around the world offer a number of different items catering to their cultures? Ok, you might’ve known. But you might not know exactly what they serve. Here are some of your McDonald’s options in countries all over the world.
posted by ColdChef on May 20, 2007 - 102 comments

"Typically, fast-food workers who handle drive-through calls are multitasking, wearing headsets to take orders while filling drinks or bagging food. It's a high-pressure job and employees often are more concerned about rushing through orders than trying to sell more food or being polite to customers... The call-center employees, who earn about $8.50 an hour, are trained to urge customers to add items to their order and are timed on how long each call takes."
posted by reklaw on Nov 8, 2006 - 55 comments

Paging Dr. Ronald McDonald and Dr. Pepper. To Cardiology ... stat. Despite the innumerable reports demonstrating an sharp rise in childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes in children, many children's hospitals continue to provide a plethora of unwholesome food and beverage choices. Moreover, these choices often contribute to revenue in most of these hospitals. This has been well-documented in community and academic [BugMeNot] hospitals. Different children's hospitals are awfully good at handing out advice to families. Maybe the hospitals should look in the mirror [note: links to .pdf of study].
posted by scblackman on Sep 8, 2006 - 44 comments

Not Fooling Anybody. You know that new Chinese Restaurant that still looks like the Pizza Hut that shut down last year? How about that sandwich shop that still has a Taco Bell-shaped sign in front of it? Ever feel like a family-sized bucket of back repair? Find all of these, plus a guide to identifying them in your own home town.
posted by CrunchyFrog on Aug 24, 2006 - 44 comments

Not your older brother's Burger Time. Burger King is developing three XBox videogames starring its eponymous mascot. And not just any games: they'll be modeled after such titles as Halo, Mortal Kombat and Need for Speed. But, you know, with fast food. Confirmation of the plans came in the form of a lawsuit threatened against Kotaku, the blog that broke the story.
posted by me3dia on Apr 17, 2006 - 31 comments

Jasmine Roberts, a seventh-grade student: "I found that 70-percent of the time, the ice from the fast food restaurant's contain more bacteria than the fast food restaurant's toilet water."
posted by riffola on Feb 15, 2006 - 63 comments

McDonald's: The Videogame. A scathing critique of lousy corporate and environmental practices, or an entertainingly complex little game about the fast food industry? A little from column A, a little from column B. Torch diseased cows with the flamethrower, corrupt politicians and environmentalists, plant genetically modified soy in what used to be the rain forests of South America, force your employees to smile all the livelong day, and try not to bankrupt the company. Be sure to read the tutorial first. (Flash.)
posted by Gator on Feb 10, 2006 - 11 comments

Minke whales, known as cockroaches of the sea are now available in burgers from Japanese fast-food chain Lucky Pierrot. This is somewhat controversial.
posted by quiet on Jun 24, 2005 - 52 comments

An unholy union of fitness and fast food: Bally Total Fitness teams up with Yum Brands to offer free four-month gym memberships to people who eat at Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silver's or A&W restaurants.
posted by me3dia on Dec 30, 2004 - 51 comments

Imitation chicken. Kennedy Fried Chicken, JFK Fried Chicken, J. F. Kennedy Fried Chicken, Kantacky Fried Chicken, et al. [via cardhouse]
posted by sklero on Dec 30, 2004 - 41 comments

Wendy's Grill Skill [QuickTime] is a testament to training videos. They aim to educate and entertain. [originally via nassassin]
posted by pedantic on Nov 10, 2004 - 19 comments

Silk and Sushi : Chocolate Silk for Breakfast, Sushi for Lunch, Sushi for Dinner -- everyday for a month. It is probably more healthy then eating nothing but McDonalds.
posted by chunking express on Aug 22, 2004 - 29 comments

The CEO with the biggest head in America (no, not Trump, I'm talking literally) is recruiting secret agents. (You want spies with that?) Or, if you'd like a slightly less creepy way to get a lot of free really junky food, you can write sauce packet slogans.
*The term "left-of-center" is NOT meant to be political in any way. Mmm-kay.
posted by wendell on Jun 8, 2004 - 14 comments

This turns into one of those cases where researching a story gets weirder. The documentary Super Size Me centers on a documentary filmmaker's 30 day experience eating nothing but McDonalds. The film is doing amazingly well as a limited release documentary grossing more per screen than high-budget Troy. Here is the weird part, Reuters has picked up on a distributor press release claiming that MTV is refusing to air advertising for Super Size Me because the film is "disparaging to fast-food restaurants". The Reuters short seems to have quite a bit of legs. However a Hollywood Reporter article details MTVs side of the story placing the blame on the film's distributor. Is this really a case of a network getting cold feet? Or is it a case of distributor trying to pull the "too edgy for MTV" moneymaking ploy? And what is with the continually morphing Reuters clip that is just now being tossed onto doorsteps and stuffed into newsboxes across North America? (The film was previously discussed on metafilter back in January.
posted by KirkJobSluder on May 27, 2004 - 23 comments

McManufacturing Jobs
posted by y2karl on Feb 20, 2004 - 12 comments

Morgan Spurlock sets about to document what happens when he switches to an all-McDonald's diet for thirty days. Very scary stuff, indeed.
"It was really crazy - my body basically fell apart over the course of 30 days."
posted by moonbird on Jan 24, 2004 - 6 comments

His mission: To eat three meals a day for 30 days at McDonald's and document the impact on his health. "It was really crazy - my body basically fell apart". Spurlock charted his journey from fit to flab in a tongue-in-cheek documentary which he has taken to the Sundance Film Festival.
posted by stbalbach on Jan 23, 2004 - 63 comments

Saddest auction ever: "You are bidding on my collection of fast food restaurant condiments that I have collected over the past year at my job."
posted by 40 Watt on Jan 11, 2004 - 27 comments

Recently, Rick Bayless has been making some appearances in Burger King ads for some new sandwiches they're trying to sell. If you've ever seen Rick's show, you know that he's a true lover of food. Why would he do an ad for BK? The money, you say? Many seem to agree. Here's what Rick Bayless has to say for himself: "I decided that it’s time for those of us in the healthy food/sustainable food movement to applaud any positive steps we see in the behemoth quick-service restaurant chains." I have noticed that Rick looks like he's in pretty good shape, despite the fact that he occasionally cooks with "a little freshly rendered pork fat". Maybe he's for real.
posted by blakewest on Oct 27, 2003 - 28 comments

Pictures of Fat Kid eating 16 Patty In-n-Out cheeseburger. Notice how he orders a Small Coke. A diet coke, I presume. And here's some pictures of burgers having sex. And since it's grammatically related and I didn't want to make another post, here's some pictures of AT-ST Scout Walkers having sex.
posted by Stan Chin on Aug 28, 2003 - 129 comments

You're going to die, why not do it with a big bean & cheese burrito and a lime slurpee in hand? While trying to figure out what's up with Hardees' latest ad campaign, I found this site reviewing all manner of fast food chains. Put on your Celebrate Obesity t-shirt and enjoy.
posted by idlemind on Aug 7, 2003 - 8 comments

What's on the menu? Perhaps fat and calories. "Five states have taken up similar bills this year, with none being passed so far." Will bills like these ever get passed? Will we ever see nutrition facts on fast food wrappers? Will consumers ever bother to read them?
posted by sharksandwich on Jul 15, 2003 - 35 comments

McD Wireless Beginning today, many McDonald’s restaurants around the Bay area will provide Wi-Fi with a side of fries... Previously discussed in March.
posted by sparky on Jul 9, 2003 - 18 comments

Top Secret Recipes In the continuing effort to make this less of a boyzone...
posted by konolia on Apr 1, 2003 - 35 comments

Happy Meals No Longer Bringing Smiles To McDonalds. Best news I've heard since December. And to bring Mom ("very important to us") back into the fold, McD may begin including Mom-toys with the HMs. No, no. More like...lip gloss, or sweepstakes entries for spa visits. Stuff that would tip any conscientious mother over into the crap-for-food camp.Other ideas? Fact is, EVERY McDonalds customer should be eating the happy meal. (last link possibly NSFW)
posted by luser on Jan 31, 2003 - 23 comments

Thesis - Antithesis - Synthesis. The "You got your ______ in my ______!" concept is taken to new heights, or at least to McDonald's, at Fast Food Fever.
posted by staggernation on Dec 10, 2002 - 23 comments

McDonalds will be a franchise in The Sims Online computer game. Will my Sim character get fat if he eats at a Sim McDonalds? I guess we'll need Sim lawyers to help us out on that one.
posted by Beholder on Sep 17, 2002 - 27 comments

McDonald's 'collector' conquers North America Peter Holden may well be the true burger king, having dined at 11,000 of the more than 13,500 McDonald's franchises in North America. Surely this has to be damaging to your health? I mean, can the human body really sustain two Maccas "meals" a day?
posted by helloboys on Apr 8, 2002 - 18 comments

I'm fat and I'm suing Twinkies. Art imitating life? Who else saw this past Sunday's episode of The Simpson's? First a bus driver named Otto kidnapping children and now this.
posted by suprfli on Jan 24, 2002 - 31 comments

McDonald's will replace Ronald McDonald with Asterix in France. Hoping to appease anti-American anti-junk food sentiments in France, they're giving Ronald the boot.
posted by panopticon on Dec 20, 2001 - 32 comments

More nasty facts about what goes into our food. Do a search on the page for 'dead cats'. (My apologies for posting something old. I'm so shocked I couldn't help it).
posted by u.n. owen on Mar 15, 2001 - 11 comments

The first chapter of Eric Schlosser's new book piqued my interest; this and this solidified my desire to read Fast Food Nation. Has anyone else read the book yet? Comments?
posted by JDC8 on Jan 31, 2001 - 11 comments

Why McDonald's fries taste good - A very interesting article about Americans, food, and "flavoring." The statistic that made me gasp in shock was this: "About 90 percent of the money that Americans now spend on food goes to buy processed food." Is it any wonder the nation is so fat? Good grief.
posted by acridrabbit on Jan 3, 2001 - 23 comments

Chicken's head found in fast food order at McDonald's [via MeatFilter.com] "Katherine Ortega said she found a fried chicken's head in the box of chicken wings she ordered Tuesday night" The picture of the chicken head is not to be missed.
posted by Outlawyr on Nov 30, 2000 - 35 comments

Eat french fries at the subway station, go to jail. Martial Law will creep up on us like humid underwear, not like the sudden wedgie-style *BOOMPF* as previously believed.
posted by ethmar on Nov 16, 2000 - 23 comments

"Here, Lizard, Lizard..." My take on this: there's not much difference, in nutrition terms, between mass-reared fastfood chicken, and crunchy wild lizard. (Ask the cast of Survivor or Bush Tucker Man.)
posted by holgate on Jul 20, 2000 - 0 comments

"Yes, I'll have the McGreenBeans and a side of McOven Roasted Chicken" , McDonald's Corporation announced today that it has completed its acquisition of the Boston Market business and has named two executive officers to lead the business, effective immediately.
posted by 120degrees on Jul 3, 2000 - 6 comments

Top Secret Recipes is a site that aims to reveal the secrets of almost any popular restaurant's items. They have McDonalds Shakes, Orange Julius, Hot Dog on a Stick (complete with video), and Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints. Oh my god, they actually reverse-engineered McDonalds' Secret Sauce. Be careful with the knowledge of that last one, you could be killed just for possessing it. If food is considered a restaurant's intellectual property, how does this site continue without being sued silly?
posted by mathowie on Jun 26, 2000 - 22 comments

Worried about nutrition? Then you should be very scared if you eat at:

Burger King

McDonalds

Taco Bell

Wendy's

Jack in the Box

Even Subway which sells its food as healthy (low fat) contains more sodium than canned soup.

posted by plinth on Mar 15, 2000 - 9 comments

fast(er) food in so-cal. looks like we'll all be able to get our big macs a whopping 15 seconds faster at orange county drive throughs. why haven't they done this *inside* their stores, where it usually takes the cashier at least a minute to do the math, after the people in front of me spend 3 minutes digging through their pockets/wallets/purses to find their money and change.(disclosure: i was once a mcdonald's cashier)
posted by mmanning on Jan 28, 2000 - 10 comments

Down on Mickey D's? Spending way too many sweaty, sleepless nights trying to get the image of a mad clown out of your head? Try McSpotlight - a behemoth mass of anti-burgerflogging data, legal issues, rumors, and other juicy McInformation. Be sure to test your McDIQ with the The McSpotlight Quiz.
posted by grant on Dec 2, 1999 - 0 comments