I have not eaten at McDonald’s since I was a little kid. This week for the team lunch, due to time and cash constraints, it was decided they would just order a bunch of McDonald’s food if that’s what you could call it. And my impression was not favorable, though I have to admit I eat more then I would have done. But it’s not something I would necessarily spend my own money on.

Traditionally the reason I don’t eat fast food had nothing to do with health, but I didn’t like all the packaging and the throw-away culture. The idea of eating a quick meal in a paper sack, that you throw out your car window while driving down the highway seems utterly irresponsible and repulsive on so many levels. They tell you your not supposed to litter, but then they hand you litter to toss our your car window as you cruise down the highway. Don’t believe the advertising — you are supposed to toss the bag along the side of the interstate.

I found the smell of the McDonald’s grease to most repulsive but I was hungry so I bit into one of those McFish sandwiches. Talk about the most generic of fish sandwiches, without adding some of the special sauces they give you, they really have no flavor except for the greasiness that gets on your lips. The sauces do help, but they are stll incredibly generic. I also had some of chicken nuggets, which again were greasy and tasteless though the various sauces are pretty good. The McDonalds cookies were soft, sugary, and greasy too, and the warm apple pies were sweet and greasy. But none of it had much flavor, though the sauces made it tolerable.

Yet, I would hardly call it food. I think two seconds after eating way too many chicken nuggets and that ever so generic fish sandwich I was still hungry. They just don’t fill you up, as they have so little nutritive value. It really wasn’t food. I hate to think of my self as a food snob — by no means am I foodie — but I can’t imagine eating crap like this regularly or even occasionally. Indeed, most restaurant food at this point I find pretty greasy and repulsive, preferring the simple foods I cook from whole ingredients at home. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to the stronger tastes of whole, natural foods, and I don’t need all that added processing and crap that takes out the more bitter and stronger tastes that I enjoy so much from eating real food that is only a few steps removed from the farm.