The Fast Food Restaurant Alton Brown Used To Love, But Now Shuns

Proving that they are #justlikeus, celebrity chefs have a love/hate relationship with fast food. One of the most contentious drive-thru hotspots that seems to come up over and over again in famous folks' complaints is none other than McDonald's. For every celebrity who has a go-to favorite McDonald's order, there's another one who can't stop talking smack about the Golden Arches ... and that includes TV personality and food scientist Alton Brown. In an exclusive interview with Chowhound, Brown revealed that, like most kids, he really enjoyed McDonald's in his youth, but, as an adult, he won't touch the stuff anymore.

"I cannot have McDonald's in my mouth because ... Everything tastes like it's made out of sugar. Everything's sweet to me. I have great memories of McDonald's," Brown said. "When I was a kid in California, it was kind of like every two weeks we got to go and I got to have one little hamburger at McDonald's. That stuff doesn't taste the same anymore." 

Say what you will about Alton Brown, but the guy knows his food. He taught us almost everything there is to know about cooking on "Good Eats" and he just about always comes through with priceless culinary hacks like a clever method of brining turkey in a bucket. Has McDonald's actually changed that much since Brown's childhood, or have his rosy memories of delicious food just been corrupted by time, the great thief? The answer is complicated.

McDonald's has come a long way since the two McDonald brothers opened a food shack in California in 1948 selling hamburgers, fries, and shakes. The first McDonald's restaurants were revolutionary for selling food both faster and cheaper than competitors, thanks to its practices of pre-cooking food, keeping it warm under heating lamps, and serving it at a counter instead of in a dining room with servers. Like McDonald's, Alton Brown was born in the Golden State, albeit in 1962. That means that, during Brown's childhood in the 1960s and 1970s, lots of changes were happening at the chain. The company went public in 1965 and opened its first non-US location (in Canada) two years later.

One big difference in the taste of McDonald's back then was that it cooked its famous french fries in beef tallow instead of the vegetable oil it uses today (though it does add beef flavoring). Fans of the old fries claim that there is a major taste difference. Another possible explanation for why Brown doesn't appreciate McDonald's the same way he used to? As humans get older, their taste buds both shrink and decrease in number, meaning that certain foods lose their savor. It's impossible to say what exactly happened to Brown's childhood love affair with McDonald's, obviously. Regardless of the explanation, this culinary genius will probably take a pass on that Big Mac, please and thank you.

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