In honor of NFL Sunday, Veterans Day, and swiftly approaching Black Friday, I feel compelled to contribute a brief exposition to explore yet further the world in which we live - the hopes and dreams. The spirit, the values. The everyday triumphs in.... today's America.
America of Today - Issue 1, vol. I
I don't know what it is about my hometown, but they really have a thing for the McRib sandwich. I just had to share this series with you all, my new food blogging friends, because it's really just so incredible.
I was back home a few years ago and ran across this column in the food section of the Salt Lake Tribune. It is NOT - as you might expect at first glance - written with any sense of humor, irony, tongue in cheek, or what have you. The author (just wait till you get to his byline) is genuinely enamored of this product. It's kind of sweet almost. The clipping is probably still on our fridge, two years later. So without further ado, I give you:
Pop Top: Iconic McRib is pure pork perfection
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 21, 2009 5:55 PM
The McRib isn't new -- it was first introduced in 1981 -- but it seemed time to re-taste t the iconic McDonald sandwich to see if it still lives up to the hype. It does indeed, as the boneless pork patty, onions, pickles, bun, all slathered in a smoky, sweet barbecue sauce, is worth every penny of the $1.99 purchase price. What makes the succulent menu item so irresistible is the simple perfection of pickle, onion and tender pork flavor melting in your mouth at the same time. It registers at 500 calories, with 26 grams of fat, and 100 grams of pure phat taste.
David Burger
I told you the byline was good.
He's kind of a cute little guy, isn't he?
But wait! There's more! Just last month, this one came out! Granted, it is an AP article (as evidenced by the fact that it contains more than 150 words), but it was loyally published in the Trib. Read on...
McDonald’s McRib is back everywhere, for a time
BY CHRISTINA REXRODE
The Associated Press
First published Oct 24 2011 09:54AM Updated Oct 24, 2011 08:50PM
New York • The McRib, the elusive sandwich that has inspired a cult-like following, is back.
McDonald’s Corp. announced Monday that the boneless barbecue pork sandwich, usually available in only a few stores at a time, will be sold at all U.S. locations through Nov. 14.
Most of the time, it’s up to local franchises to determine when and if they want to sell the McRib — except in Germany, the only place where it’s available perennially. But McDonald’s said the response was so great last November when it made the McRib available nationally for about three weeks that it decided to bring it back this year. The company, which previously hadn’t sold the McRib nationally since 1994, declined to give specific sales numbers.
The sandwich, which is dressed with onions, pickle slices and barbecue sauce, was introduced nationally in 1982. With 500 calories and 26 grams of fat, it’s slightly trimmer than the Big Mac, which has 540 calories and 29 grams of fat. And just like the Big Mac, the McRib has become a popular McDonald’s offering.
There are Facebook groups such as "Bring Back the McRib!!!" There are Twitter tags, where posts range from "Lucky me, the McRib is back" to "If you eat McRibs, you need to re-evaluate what it is you actually want in life." Last year, the guy who won McDonald’s $1 million Monopoly grand prize was ordering — you guessed it — a McRib. Earlier this month, former Playmate Jenny McCarthy contacted the McRib Locator website for help finding a McRib in Southern California. She got one in Fountain Valley.
The website’s creator, Alan Klein, said he suspected something was up when traffic exploded from about 150 hits a day to about 4,000 in the past week or so, as more fans reported sightings. People are sending him photos of their McRib variations, the McRib with lettuce and tomato, the McRib with bacon, three McRibs stacked on top of each other.
Klein, a meteorologist in the Minneapolis area, runs the website in his spare time with help from his wife, Kimberly. He created the Locator in 2008 because he wanted to learn how to use the Google Maps program for work, and because he had fond memories of eating the pork sandwich while growing up on a hog farm.
"I hope it stays elusive because otherwise nobody will come to our website," he said.
If the McRib is so popular, why not just offer it all the time? McDonald’s likes to stoke the enthusiasm with an aura of transience.
"Bringing it back every so often adds to the excitement," said Marta Fearon, McDonald’s U.S. marketing director, who added that she’s not sure if the McRib will reappear in stores every fall.
And how can it be called a McRib if it doesn’t have any bones? Said Fearon: "That gives it this quirky sense of humor."
FIN
