The United States of McDonald’s

Gastropod

Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley

Science, Arts, History, Food

4.7 • 3.7K Ratings

🗓️ 28 January 2020

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

McDonald’s is mind-boggling. According to Adam Chandler, author of the recent book, Drive-Thru Dreams, it sells roughly 75 burgers every second and serves 68 million people every day—equivalent to 1 percent of the entire world’s population. “The golden arches are thought to be, according to an independent survey, more recognizable as a symbol than the Christian cross is around the world,” Chandler told us. This episode, we tell the story of McDonald’s—but more importantly, we explore what it has to say about who we are. To do that, we’re also joined by historian Marcia Chatelain, author of the new book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America, who helps us unpack the troubled but fascinating relationship between McDonald’s and African Americans. Why did taxpayers end up funding the spread of McDonald’s into the inner city “food deserts” it now dominates? Who invented the hamburger and how did it become America’s national cuisine? From a bustling barbecue stand in San Bernardino to Ray Kroc’s location-scouting airplane rides, and from the McNugget to the McJob, this episode we figure out how McDonald’s became so ubiquitous, and what that means for America. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	First, sweet tarts dare to combine sweet and tart, but they didn't stop there.
0:06.0	Now they've combined soft and bouncy to bring you new sweet tarts, gummy fruity splits.
0:12.0	A uniquely delicious dual-sided gummy with one side that's sweet, and the other side that's tart.
0:19.0	But entirely smooth and squishy.
0:22.0	A powerfully perfect combo.
0:24.0	Sweet tarts dare to combine.
0:27.0	This podcast is brought to you by Polestar.
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0:59.0	For me growing up in Chicago, McDonald's was always around.
1:05.0	We had birthday parties at McDonald's because our apartment was on the small size.
1:10.0	I went to McDonald's after work in high school and after school.
1:14.0	It was the go-to meal when my mom and I were driving far distances and we needed something to eat.
1:22.0	And so I have probably spent most of my life inside of McDonald's.
1:27.0	So the fact that I wrote a book about McDonald's is actually not that surprising.
1:31.0	This is Marcia Chatlin.
1:33.0	She's a professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University.
	...

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