From exclusive menu items to portion sizes, we wanted to find all the differences between the US and UK McDonald’s menus in 2024, and see what has changed since 2020. This is Food Wars.
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00:00From exclusive items to portion sizes,
00:02we wanted to revisit and find out all the differences
00:05between McDonald's in the U.S. and U.K.
00:08This is Food Wars.
00:09It has been four years since we made the first
00:12U.S. versus U.K. McDonald's video,
00:13and a lot has changed since then.
00:16That episode became extremely popular.
00:18Millions of views, a cultural moment, if you ask me,
00:21and that a week has gone by
00:22that someone has pointed at my face in public
00:24and told me that Food Wars is their favorite show on BuzzFeed.
00:28Close enough.
00:29Things have come and gone for the menu,
00:30prices have changed, and somehow Joe looks exactly the same.
00:33Yeah.
00:34I may look the same, but trust me, my cholesterol is a nightmare.
00:37So we're going to go ahead and compare McDonald's again
00:40with some fresh twists.
00:41Let's jump in.
00:43Drinks from a U.K. McDonald's come in three sizes.
00:45Small, medium, and large.
00:48Our medium drink in the U.K. is now what our large used to be.
00:51In the U.S., our found drinks come in four sizes.
00:53The smallest is the kids or extra small.
00:56Then we have the small,
00:57the medium and the large.
01:00Our large cup size shrunk.
01:02Let's double check how much both countries are getting in a large soda.
01:05So it turns out a large U.K. McDonald's fizzy drink is now 600 milliliters.
01:08And that was without the ice.
01:10Maybe get a few more mils out of that.
01:16Or not.
01:18600 milliliters.
01:20When we first shot this four years ago,
01:21an American small was almost the same size as a U.K. large.
01:24However, it does seem like we're slightly catching up with America.
01:27And now our large soda is closer to an American medium.
01:30U.K. fries come in three sizes.
01:32Small, medium, and large.
01:35U.S. fries also come in three sizes.
01:37Small, medium, large.
01:40Last time we did this, the U.S. large was 46% bigger than ours.
01:45Let's see if that's still the case.
01:46Let's see what we got here.
01:49That's actually really impressive.
01:50They've given us exactly 130 grams of fries,
01:53which is exactly what we got in 2020.
01:56Now we're at 183.
01:58That's a difference of seven grams.
02:00What is seven grams worth of fries?
02:07That's seven grams right there.
02:08So it is possible this many were lost in transit
02:13from bag to hand via my mouth.
02:16Sorry.
02:17The McNugget portion sizes have not changed since 2020.
02:21The U.S. still get five nugget variations.
02:25The four-piece, the appetizer.
02:27The six-piece for the kids.
02:29The 10-piece.
02:31The 20-piece.
02:32And of course, our largest, the 40-piece.
02:35Nuggets in the U.K. only come in four sizes.
02:37A four-piece as part of a Happy Meal.
02:39A six-piece.
02:40A nine-piece.
02:41And our largest size, a box of 20.
02:44For the mathematicians out there,
02:45that makes the U.S.'s largest size
02:46100% bigger than the U.K.'s.
02:49Side by side with the shot from the original video.
02:52The iconic Big Mac obviously comes in one size.
02:54Let's go ahead and weigh it.
02:57So the U.K. Big Mac came to 214 grams,
03:00which is actually an increase from the last time we did this.
03:02So maybe our Big Macs are growing.
03:04It's 202 grams.
03:07It's gotten four grams heavier.
03:09Here is everything you'll find on a U.K.
03:10McDonald's menu that you don't have in the U.S.
03:12Here's everything on the menu at a U.S. McDonald's
03:14you won't find in the U.K.
03:16There are a lot of items here
03:17that weren't there four years ago.
03:18The U.K. menu has really branched out
03:20and I think generally it's gone in a good direction.
03:22In the U.S., you have the option to, of course,
03:23buy a double cheeseburger.
03:25And I guess if you asked them, you could put bacon on it,
03:27but there's no standard menu item
03:29for a bacon double cheeseburger,
03:30whereas on the U.K., this is on the menu in its own right.
03:33Change the bacon a little bit that they use on this.
03:35Previously, we had these really thin,
03:37quite sad-looking bacon rashers,
03:38whereas now it's more like classic U.K. back bacon.
03:41You might also notice that the bun looks different,
03:43but more on that later.
03:44Next up, we have the triple cheeseburger.
03:46Taking a brief detour away from meat options,
03:48we have the McPlant on the U.K. menu.
03:50This thing's been around for a couple of years now.
03:52It's basically McDonald's own version
03:54of a meatless beef burger.
03:56They reportedly spent a long time developing this
03:57because they just weren't happy enough
03:58with the other meatless burger options
04:00out there on the market
04:02and particularly weren't happy with the vegan cheeses.
04:04So this is their own vegan cheese blend.
04:06Honestly, as far as vegan burgers go,
04:08this is actually one of the better ones I've had.
04:11The mouthfeel is very, very similar
04:13to what you would expect from a meaty burger.
04:15The other plant-based burger option in the U.K.
04:17is this, the Vegetable Deluxe.
04:19You have the same vegan mayo that they use on the McPlant,
04:21but instead of a meat patty, you get these veggie dippers.
04:24I've made it known on many occasions
04:26that I'm not a huge fan of these.
04:27I remember ages ago when we filmed the first one,
04:30Joe saw these and looked mortified.
04:32F*** off with this.
04:34Yo, this sucks ass, dude.
04:36We also have two limited time offerings
04:37on the menu at the moment.
04:38We have a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe
04:42and a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe.
04:44Apparently in the U.K., when deluxe is concerned,
04:46that means you're adding lettuce,
04:48mayo, and tomato to a burger.
04:49I'm a really big fan of the classic Quarter Pounder,
04:51and I think what it really does well is simplicity.
04:54And I think by adding more things,
04:55particularly that tomato slice and also the lettuce,
04:58I think you're actually veering away
04:59from what makes a Quarter Pounder a Quarter Pounder.
05:02I'm pretty sure the U.S. has Deluxe Quarter Pounders
05:04as a permanent menu item.
05:05Yes, we actually do have the Quarter Pounder Deluxe.
05:08Looks to be the same, right?
05:09Let's get a look at that.
05:10It's got lettuce, more lettuce, tomato, onion.
05:15I think you'd be hard pressed in this country
05:17to find a fan of the Quarter Pounder with Cheese
05:19who's like,
05:20I wish it had a slice of tomato and lettuce and swimming in...
05:24In the middle here, we have this meat monstrosity.
05:27It's a double Quarter Pounder with cheese and bacon.
05:31Michael Jordan had his own signature burger in the 90s.
05:35I think it was a Quarter Pounder with cheese with bacon.
05:37This is so good.
05:38I think the bacon on the Quarter Pounder,
05:41genius idea, should be available all the time.
05:45Next up, we have the McDouble.
05:47Now, you in the UK are looking at this and thinking,
05:49oh, a double cheeseburger, we have these.
05:51And not so fast.
05:52This is a McDouble.
05:53What's the difference?
05:54One last slice of cheese!
05:58Why does this exist?
05:59Who is like, oh, there's too much cheese
06:01in this double cheeseburger.
06:03It's never been said out loud.
06:04Does anyone want to defend this
06:05versus a double cheeseburger?
06:07The McDouble,
06:08which is my personal favorite burger at McDonald's.
06:11I'm curious to know who would get this
06:12over a double cheeseburger.
06:14Next, we're onto the chicken options.
06:15Now, we have some exclusive items in the UK
06:17when it comes to chicken,
06:18but also some differences that we wanted to point out
06:20between similar things in the US and the UK.
06:22For example, here is a UK McCrispie.
06:24In the UK, a McCrispie is a breaded and fried chicken breast.
06:28You have this sourdough-style bun with lettuce and mayo.
06:31In the UK, I'd say that lettuce and mayo
06:33are pretty much your standard toppings
06:34for a chicken sandwich.
06:35Is that the case in the US, Joe?
06:37I wouldn't say so, Harry.
06:38The McChicken has lettuce and mayo,
06:42but in America, as we segue into chicken sandwiches,
06:47here is the McCrispie.
06:48It has nothing except two pickles.
06:51Nothing.
06:53No.
06:55I'm getting nothing.
06:56It doesn't taste like Southern fried chicken.
06:59It doesn't taste like really fried chicken.
07:01It's a flavorless, bland, fried piece of chicken.
07:04They do also have a spicy McCrispie,
07:08and your boy's about to do a 180.
07:12I do really like the spicy McCrispie sandwich.
07:15All they did was put the spicy sauce on it,
07:17and it's suddenly, like,
07:18one of the best fast food chicken sandwiches.
07:20Yes, I said it.
07:21Nothing at Chick-fil-A touches the sandwich.
07:24The spicy sauce is fantastic.
07:27That's a good sandwich.
07:28Oh, man.
07:28In the US, the exclusive twist to the chicken sandwich
07:31can be ordered as a deluxe version.
07:33Just like the quarter pounder with cheese,
07:36you can also have your McCrispie ruined
07:38with stuff you didn't want in the first place.
07:41Lettuce, tomato.
07:44I would definitely get the deluxe over the plate,
07:46but the deluxe is just fine.
07:48But this is great.
07:49I also want to point out you can get the spicy McCrispie
07:51as a deluxe sandwich as well.
07:53Another limited time menu offering
07:54that we have in the UK right now is the Chicken Big Mac.
07:56As the name suggests, it's basically a regular Big Mac,
07:58but the beef patties have been swapped out
08:00for what are effectively chicken mayo patties.
08:02It's a bit more like a chicken nugget
08:03in terms of texture and flavor,
08:05but you still have all the other components
08:06of a regular Big Mac, including the sauce,
08:08the cheese, the pickles, the onions, the lettuce.
08:12I do think you could also just put Big Mac sauce on anything,
08:14and I would like it.
08:15It also looks really similar to the Chicken Maharaja Mac
08:17that Nikhil tried in the India season,
08:19although I imagine this one has a lot less flavoring.
08:21The UK also has a spicy chicken sandwich option,
08:23but we call ours the McSpicy,
08:26which I think is a better name
08:27than the spicy McCrispie in the US.
08:28The McSpicy is okay.
08:29I think it misses out on a couple of things
08:31that make the McCrispie really good.
08:32For example, you don't have that sourdough style bun.
08:35You just have the standard bun.
08:36The mayo, I think, is also slightly different.
08:38This is just a very standard mayo,
08:39whereas the McCrispie uses this kind of buttery mayo.
08:41And I think in terms of the heat,
08:43all they really do is just kind of like run this
08:45through some chili powder.
08:47Sticking with the chicken options,
08:48in the UK, you'll find Chicken Selects.
08:50These are basically just chicken tenders.
08:51They're slightly fancier than the nuggets,
08:53and as such, they come with like slightly upgraded
08:55versions of the sauces.
08:56But again, more on that later.
08:57Here we have the mayo chicken.
08:59Ooh, they've burned the bun.
09:01I really like the mayo chicken.
09:02It's like a savor menu staple.
09:04In my mind, it's just like a smaller
09:06and cheaper McChicken.
09:07We also have a bacon mayo chicken,
09:09and as I know it suggests,
09:10it's the same thing, but with bacon.
09:11We're sticking with the UK for the time being,
09:13because we have an entire product range that the US
09:15doesn't have, wraps and salads.
09:17The wraps and salads disappeared from the menu here
09:19a few years ago, and good riddance.
09:23I've never enjoyed a wrap.
09:25Most of these involve chicken and bacon
09:27in various different combinations with different sauces.
09:29We'll start with the wraps.
09:30We have three meat options here,
09:32which involve chicken,
09:33which can either be had grilled or crispy.
09:35This is the sweet chili chicken one.
09:37Obviously, you can see the crispy chicken in there.
09:40You also have some salad.
09:41In this case, it's cucumber and lettuce.
09:43And then in this one, you have some mayo
09:45and a chili sauce.
09:46We also have a Caesar and bacon crispy wrap,
09:48the barbecue and bacon chicken wrap,
09:50and the spicy veggie one.
09:52Instead of the chicken pieces,
09:53you have veggie dippers in there.
09:55I will say I don't often order the wraps,
09:56but they are pretty popular.
09:58I think partly due to the wrap of the day campaign,
10:00which has been running for a long time now.
10:02Basically, depending on which day of the week it is,
10:04one of these wraps will only cost £1.99,
10:06which is still a pretty good deal.
10:08I don't know how they've kept that running
10:09for the entire four years we've been doing this,
10:10but hey, I'm glad they have.
10:12And then for the salads, we have three options.
10:13We have a chicken and bacon salad,
10:15we have a chicken salad,
10:16and we have a side salad.
10:18I'm realizing now that the UK
10:19seems to have more exclusive items than us,
10:21which is interesting and was not the case back in 2020.
10:24Speaking of, the UK has a few exclusive side options
10:27to go with your meal.
10:28We have these cheese and herb bites.
10:29Usually on the UK menu,
10:31there's some kind of fried cheese option.
10:33It changes slightly throughout the year.
10:34Usually, it'll be like mozzarella or maybe halloumi sticks,
10:37but at the moment, we have these cheese and herb bites.
10:39They're also served with this rich tomato dip.
10:41If for some reason you're a huge fan
10:43of the Veggie Deluxe Sandwich,
10:44you can also just get the Veggie Dippers as a side.
10:46And then we have two fruit bag options.
10:48In the UK, you can get a bag of carrot sticks.
10:51And while the US has apple slices,
10:52we have apple and grape.
10:54The only side, exclusive side,
10:56we have here in the US are apple slices.
10:58What about Happy Meal options?
10:59In the UK, we have a few main course options
11:01that you won't find in the US.
11:03Firstly, we have fish fingers.
11:04I guess in the US, you guys tend to call them fish sticks.
11:07In the UK, fish fingers.
11:08They are a beloved food, kind of a kid's food,
11:11but also a lot of adults, myself included,
11:13will eat fish fingers.
11:14Fish finger sandwiches particularly are a delicacy.
11:16The only exclusive Happy Meal option we have
11:19isn't an exclusive product.
11:20It's more like a portion size.
11:22Both countries have chicken nugget Happy Meals,
11:24but in the UK, you only get four.
11:26Here in the US, you get four or six, baby,
11:30six nuggets for the kids.
11:32Hey, look what I found.
11:34That extra small fry from earlier that didn't include.
11:37Apple slices again.
11:38And yes, the nuggets.
11:40One, two, three, four, five, six.
11:42We got a honey mustard sauce and honey.
11:44And the toy.
11:47I'm confused, maybe not.
11:50Asked for Captain America.
11:52Okay, Captain America, Brave New World.
11:55This is a movie or a show?
11:56And you can get Captain America and Flight, Red Wing, Falcon,
12:02Diamondback, Ruth, the Red Hulk?
12:05There's a Red Hulk now?
12:07He's red?
12:07Next up is the breakfast menus.
12:09In the original episode, we actually didn't have
12:10any breakfast exclusives, but that's changed a lot
12:13because now we have plenty.
12:14Starting with the breakfast wrap.
12:16I actually like the way that McDonald's packages their wraps.
12:19They come in these things where you just take the middle part
12:21off and then bang, you get a little wrap holder.
12:23You can get this either with ketchup or with brown sauce.
12:26I went for the ketchup option today.
12:27So the breakfast wrap is a limited time offer.
12:29It might not be sticking around for long,
12:31but I hope it does.
12:31It basically contains every component
12:34of the other McDonald's breakfast items
12:35in one handy menu item.
12:37So in here, you have the egg, cheese, bacon,
12:40you have the sausage, and even the potato.
12:42McDonald's, if you're watching this,
12:43keep this around.
12:44People love it.
12:46Starting with the biscuits.
12:49This is something from the original US versus UK
12:52food wars where I introduced our biscuits.
12:55Sandwich UK, you call cookies biscuits.
12:58We don't.
12:59So in the UK, biscuits are cookies.
13:03Well, we call cookies.
13:04You think they're scones or scones.
13:07It's neither of those things.
13:09Joe, you were so close on the whole cookie biscuit thing.
13:12What you guys call biscuits, we would actually kind of call
13:14scones or scones, depending on where you're from.
13:16And the thought of putting breakfast food
13:18in between them is kind of weird.
13:19They're usually reserved for cream and jam
13:21for an afternoon tea.
13:22Man, me as a breakfast biscuit, set the tone early on
13:26for Food Wars graphics.
13:27Love that one.
13:27We get all of our breakfast sandwiches in biscuit form.
13:30This right here is the sausage biscuit.
13:32We also have the sausage and egg biscuit.
13:35Ooh, they were generous with the egg.
13:36Look at that.
13:37And the bacon, egg, and cheese.
13:39I'm going to try this one because I feel that the bacon,
13:42egg, and cheese is my preferred breakfast sandwich
13:46meat combo.
13:47That's so good.
13:48What's drawback is it's so dry.
13:50Next up, we have the mighty McMuffin.
13:52Similarly to the breakfast wrap, they've kind of just taken
13:54all of the components of the other McMuffins
13:56and combined them into one.
13:57You get the cheese, the sausage, the bacon,
13:59and the egg in one muffin.
14:00On the subject of combining all of the components into one,
14:03we also have the breakfast roll.
14:05It's the same ingredients, the bacon, the sausage,
14:07the egg, and the cheese, but this time
14:09it's served on a floury roll.
14:10We also have a bacon roll from McDonald's.
14:12This one is very simple.
14:13It does what it says on the tin.
14:14It's literally just bacon on the floury roll.
14:17This one is with ketchup, although I think you also have
14:19the brown sauce option as well.
14:21A bacon sandwich is one of the most classic
14:23British breakfast menu items.
14:25I'm glad that they've got one.
14:26I don't know if they do the best bacon sandwich
14:29on the market by a long shot.
14:32It's a lot of bacon.
14:32It's dense.
14:33We've been doing this show for four years,
14:35and for four years, I've been singing the praises
14:37of the McGriddle.
14:38I am McGriddle's number one fan, and I love to say it.
14:44These are the McGriddles.
14:45Folks, if you're just joining us,
14:48McDonald's took a breakfast sandwich.
14:51They're like, get out of here, bread,
14:53and hello mini pancakes.
14:55And while we're at it, we're gonna inject syrup
14:57inside of them.
14:59Let's get a look at that M there,
15:00so you know where they're from.
15:01Let's take a look on the other side.
15:03Injection points of the syrup.
15:05I love these things.
15:06Once again, bacon, egg, and cheese.
15:09Gotta try it.
15:10American food engineering at its finest.
15:13These have a 100% hit rate.
15:16Every time I have, I'm good, right?
15:18I love how Joe's love for McGriddles
15:19hasn't wavered at all since the first episode
15:21four years ago.
15:22He's still their number one fan.
15:23I have now tried them, and I have to say,
15:25they are pretty good.
15:26I don't know if they're quite as good as Joe
15:27thinks they are, but they're good,
15:29and I kind of wish we had them here.
15:30You can also get it with just pancakes and sausage,
15:35if that's your thing.
15:36And of course, sausage, egg, and cheese.
15:40Next up is a funny menu item.
15:42This is the muffin with jam.
15:44Although actually today, they forgot the jam,
15:46so it's just a muffin.
15:47All they do is just butter it,
15:49and then usually give it to you
15:50with a little sachet of Bon Maman jam.
15:53I don't know why I did the French accent
15:54for jam as well, jam.
15:56We end with English muffins,
15:57which no diss to English muffins,
15:59but like third choice on the breakfast sandwich menu.
16:02Third.
16:03You know, shout out to Ray Kroc,
16:05he was like, he loves Eggs Benedict.
16:07How do you put it in a sandwich form?
16:08He figured it out, or he paid someone to figure it out.
16:10You got the hollandaise sauce,
16:12the first of its kind, so the OG,
16:14so got to give it up.
16:15Got to give it up for the Egg McMuffin,
16:16but I haven't had one in years.
16:18I wouldn't get this over any of these.
16:22Also, we have the Sausage McMuffin
16:24that our Sausage McMuffin includes.
16:27Oh, no, it should include egg.
16:30Guys, what happened?
16:32This could be my mistake.
16:34Then, of course, we have a few exclusive McMuffin options,
16:36starting with this one,
16:37which is the Bacon and Egg McMuffin.
16:39Your ears don't deceive you.
16:40For some reason, McDonald's in the U.S.
16:41doesn't seem to have bacon and egg as a McMuffin option.
16:44You can only get it as part of a breakfast biscuit
16:46or a McGriddle.
16:47And then we also have a double Bacon and Egg McMuffin option.
16:50On the subject of doubles,
16:52that's another thing which strangely is exclusive to the U.K.,
16:55because here we also have a double Sausage and Egg McMuffin.
16:57Might be my favorite menu item as well.
16:59Joe, if you tried to order this in the U.S.,
17:01would they let you?
17:01Harold, you talked about the double meats.
17:04Now, double meat is not an official menu item at McDonald's,
17:09but ba-da-ba-ba-ba, you can have it your way.
17:12I go ahead and customize and had a second Sausage patty.
17:16But wait, have it your way is Burger King.
17:17That's the wrong one.
17:21Okay.
17:22I got the song right.
17:24Well, McDonald's, they'll do whatever you want to.
17:26Here we have the cheesy bacon flatbread.
17:29Yeah, this one always makes me a bit sad.
17:30If you get them fresh out of the oven
17:32and they're nice and hot and the cheese is still melted,
17:34I can see why maybe this would appeal.
17:36If you want to go ahead and lay out your breakfast sandwich
17:40and its three components
17:42and also make sure at least one sea turtle dies,
17:45great news.
17:46You can get the big breakfast,
17:47which is the Sausage Egg Biscuit Deconstructed.
17:52My thoughts, if you can do it in sandwich form,
17:54why would you do it in non-sandwich form?
17:56This is what annoys me about this.
17:59I mean, but, I mean, how much waste this show has produced
18:03and I'm suddenly on my high horse.
18:05Also, wait, before I do this,
18:06are there plenty of hash browns?
18:13Also, I've been informed that I can have this hash brown
18:15because Yuli's back and they love these hash browns,
18:19so there's one waiting for them over there, so.
18:25Now, here's a classic British breakfast staple.
18:27We have porridge on the menu in the UK.
18:29Now, Americans will know porridge by oatmeal.
18:31I actually have occasionally ordered porridge
18:33from the UK McDonald's.
18:34It's okay, like, if you're on the move,
18:36you need an early breakfast.
18:37McDonald's is the only place that's open,
18:38but you don't feel like you need a full McMuffin thing.
18:42Porridge is fine. It does the job.
18:43Also, probably for legal reasons,
18:45they also offer a fruit and maple oatmeal thing.
18:48Here's your oatmeal.
18:49All right, plastic container number one, sliced apples.
18:53Plastic container number two, cranberries and raisins.
18:58Plastic container number three, the spoon,
19:02and it all comes in.
19:03Plastic container number four.
19:05If you can't eat all of it, don't worry.
19:07Plastic container number five makes it portable.
19:10So do something for the environment.
19:11Have some fruit and maple oatmeal.
19:13In the US, the sausage burrito.
19:16Look, this isn't a burrito.
19:21Just want to make that up top.
19:23I don't know, it's closer to a taco.
19:25It's not really a taco.
19:26I think that this gets like an F as far as what's in it,
19:30how they produce it, everything about it.
19:32That being said, I absolutely love this thing.
19:36I get these all the time.
19:37I'll get, this is embarrassing.
19:40When I get a McDonald's breakfast,
19:42I always get one of these on the side.
19:45I'm so ashamed.
19:46But also their Mexican style salsa,
19:48which is not Mexican or Mexican style.
19:51And I don't know if you can legally call it salsa,
19:54but yo.
19:56It's so good.
20:00I love this so much.
20:02That brings us to everyone's favorite segment.
20:05Sauce Talk 2024, Sauce Talk.
20:09Firstly, we have that rich tomato dip,
20:11which is usually served with the cheese bites.
20:13It is pretty similar to the ketchup,
20:16but like a little more herby, maybe a little more tangy,
20:19more along the lines of a marinara rather than a ketchup.
20:22We got exclusive sauce in the US,
20:24starting with a savory, allow me to pronounce this wrong,
20:28McDonald's sauce.
20:30Take McDonald's, flip the M over, make it a W.
20:32Here's what I know about this limited edition sauce
20:35that I totally couldn't get my hands on.
20:37For years, anime shows like Cowboy Bebop
20:40and Sally the Witch have kind of,
20:43let's just say, skirted copyright issues
20:48by instead of featuring McDonald's,
20:49flipping the W and making it
20:51Wick Donald's, a made up thing.
20:53Well, McDonald's saw this and pop culture was like,
20:56we're gonna go ahead and steal that back
20:58by making a sauce with that logo.
21:00I think even the ad campaign
21:02has those animations in it, right?
21:04All I know is the sauce is completely gone.
21:06One cup like this, so this size of the sauce,
21:08is going between $3 and $7 on eBay here in the US.
21:12Doesn't sound like that much,
21:13but I wanna say that's like a what, infinity markup,
21:16because these things are free.
21:17This one is a balsamic dressing.
21:19This comes with the salads.
21:22It's actually not bad.
21:23And you also get mayonnaise.
21:25We don't have yellow mustard.
21:27Don't have honey mustard.
21:30And honey mustard just took over in the 90s.
21:32Suddenly it was everywhere and everyone thinks it's so great.
21:35I do like honey mustard.
21:36Next up, we have one of my personal favorites,
21:37which is the sweet curry dip.
21:39So good, it really is quite sweet, I will say.
21:41Spicy buffalo.
21:43This is, I think, is what you're supposed to dip
21:44your bland, dry chicken sandwich in.
21:47I don't think this is the spicy sauce.
21:49That's very good, not too spicy.
21:52Good call on this one.
21:53We actually have two barbecue dips in the UK.
21:54This one is just a classic barbecue dip.
21:56Again, comes in the unflashy packaging and is free.
21:59It's okay, it's a little like acrid, maybe.
22:02Then we have a couple of slightly fancier dips,
22:04which are designed to be enjoyed with the chicken select,
22:06but can still be purchased with anything else.
22:07If you're not getting the selects,
22:08these ones will actually cost you money.
22:10And we'll start with the smoky barbecue dip.
22:12It's a bit thicker and gloopier.
22:14It's basically just a much better version
22:16of the regular barbecue dip.
22:17I actually do think if you're a big barbecue sauce fan,
22:20it's probably worth paying the difference
22:22and getting the fancy barbecue dip versus the cheap one.
22:24Creamy ranch, ranch, ranch guys.
22:27Ugh, it's country and ranch, I swear to God.
22:30Tastes like all other ranch,
22:32because it all tastes the same.
22:33That's my hidden valley.
22:35Personal favorite of mine, sour cream and chive.
22:37Really tangy from that sour cream.
22:39There is a third one of these fancy dips,
22:40which is a sweet chili dip,
22:41which unfortunately they forgot today,
22:43but it's really good.
22:44We love our sweet chili here in the UK.
22:45And then I guess the golden syrup that comes with the porridge
22:49could count as a sauce.
22:49So, for science, let's try that with a chip.
22:53I expected that to suck.
22:54It's actually not that bad.
22:55And honey.
22:56I mean, am I gonna taste honey right now?
22:58Tastes like honey.
22:59We got good sauces here in the US.
23:01It's dessert time.
23:02We'll start with a few exclusive McFlurry options.
23:04Firstly, we have a limited time Biscoth McFlurry.
23:06And there's another limited offer one.
23:08We have this Galaxy Chocolate McFlurry.
23:10For those who don't know, in the UK,
23:11there's kind of a war between Galaxy and Dairy Milk chocolate.
23:14Dairy Milk is owned by Cadbury.
23:16Galaxy is owned by Mars.
23:17I enjoy both.
23:18I'm a diplomat, you know.
23:19And hey, the ice cream machine was working today.
23:21That's the main winner.
23:22Another exclusive McFlurry in the UK is Smarties.
23:24And then our final exclusive McFlurry option
23:26are these Maltesers McFlurries.
23:28I feel like we should also compare the packaging here,
23:30because in the UK, they've recently made a move
23:31to get entirely recyclable McFlurry packaging.
23:34As you can see, this is actually made of paper.
23:35And even the spoons now are paper too.
23:38Apparently, the only exclusive McFlurry we have
23:39is the M&M's McFlurry.
23:41Let's take a look at that packaging.
23:43Paper, which is more recyclable,
23:45but still plastic top, when mini M&M's came out,
23:48I was like, who cares what size they are?
23:50But actually, mini M&M's,
23:51I like more than regular M&M's.
23:53The candy shell to chocolate ratio
23:57is more in favor of the candy shell, which I like.
23:59And that you can taste in the McFlurry.
24:02These are two classic sundaes, fudge, caramel.
24:06Can't believe you guys don't have these.
24:07These have been around since I've been around.
24:09It's good that they can make it clear,
24:10so you can scrape the sides,
24:11so you know where all the pockets of caramel are.
24:15Whatever the caramel they use in this,
24:17it's maybe my favorite caramel.
24:19I have many caramel opinions.
24:20But this tastes like real caramel,
24:23but the stuff they use in those coffee drinks
24:25tastes, like, artificial.
24:26And, of course, fudge.
24:28Dude, shout-out to this McDonald's.
24:30This is generous fudge, right?
24:33It's normally not this much.
24:34Wow.
24:36Maybe they knew.
24:37They're, like, $300 worth of McDonald's?
24:40I think it's the Food Wars guy.
24:42Controversial opinion?
24:43I like these sundaes more than, like, McFlurries.
24:45Come at me, comments.
24:46Come at me.
24:47And also, you can get the classic vanilla swirly cone.
24:50I didn't get it because by the time it got here,
24:53it'd be soup.
24:53Moving away from ice cream,
24:54we also have some baked dessert options,
24:56including this chocolate brownie.
24:58Had it before.
24:58Not very good.
24:59We have a mixed berry muffin.
25:01Actually, pretty good.
25:01A triple chocolate cookie.
25:03And a toffee apple donut.
25:04You might also be able to find a sugar ring donut,
25:06but unfortunately, we couldn't get it today.
25:08And finally, we have two pie options right now.
25:10Firstly, we have the classic apple pie.
25:12I'm aware that Americans can get apple pies,
25:13but ours have a crucial difference.
25:15In the UK, we still fry our apple pies.
25:17This used to be the case in America, but now they're baked.
25:20They stopped frying them after a health panic around 1992.
25:23To me, that is a huge downgrade because I love these things.
25:26These are phenomenal.
25:28You hear that crunch, America?
25:29That's what an apple pie should sound like.
25:31And then finally, we have a limited edition galaxy caramel pie.
25:34A galaxy caramel bar is a milk chocolate bar
25:36with liquid caramel pieces inside,
25:38and they've turned that into a pie form.
25:41They've kind of turned the dough into, like, a chocolate pastry.
25:43It's fine. I'm just very loyal to the apple pie.
25:45The dreadful baked apple pie.
25:49Boo!
25:50Congratulations, UK.
25:51Yours are still fried.
25:53Ours is baked.
25:54There's one McDonald's in Downey, California
25:56that's about a 30-minute drive from where I currently am
25:59that still fries them.
26:01One of the few that still fries them is also one in Hawaii.
26:03I've been to the UK.
26:04I have had the fried apple pie.
26:06It's much, much better than the baked.
26:10This is OK.
26:11I think that they should have the fried and let us decide.
26:15Chocolate chip cookie.
26:16We have a few hot drink options in the UK
26:17that you don't have in the US.
26:19We have a flat white.
26:20A flat white is kind of similar to a latte,
26:22but has kind of a creamier consistency to it
26:24and is usually slightly smaller.
26:25At a UK McDonald's, you can also just get an espresso.
26:28And of course, this being the UK,
26:30you can get an English breakfast tea.
26:32I think they use PG Tips branded tea bags.
26:34I won't give you my full tier list of teas right now,
26:36but PG Tips is pretty good for me.
26:38Here in the US, you have a bunch of exclusive coffee options
26:42at McDonald's.
26:43We'll go ahead and review some of them.
26:46I clearly didn't get all of them.
26:47Starting down here, caramel macchiato.
26:50This has been a through line of this entire show.
26:53We do coffee drinks.
26:54I've talked about this at length with Starbucks.
26:57Is it actual caramel or caramel flavor?
27:01It just tastes really plasticky and chemical-y to me,
27:03and that is no exception, not good.
27:05Then we also have the caramel cappuccino.
27:08The caramel flavor's not as pronounced on these
27:09as some other fast food caramel drinks,
27:12but still, I don't like that.
27:14This one right here is the French vanilla cappuccino.
27:17Maybe I'm being biased,
27:18but I really don't like cappuccinos.
27:20What I don't like is like the hot milk drinks,
27:22which a lot of these have.
27:23I just think it's hot milk.
27:26I want coffee.
27:28That's so funny I just said that
27:29because I took a sip of that.
27:30That's actually pretty good.
27:32That's actually very good.
27:33Okay, I would get that. I like that.
27:35I flip and I flop.
27:36That's the show, all right?
27:38The premium roast coffee.
27:39Harry asked if the premium roast coffee
27:42is just regular roast coffee, and that's what it is.
27:45We just call our coffee premium roast coffee.
27:47Maybe it sounded a little fancier.
27:49I do like McDonald's coffee.
27:50I do like it. It's pretty good.
27:52You can also get any of these hot drinks in iced form.
27:55Let's get that list on the screen, ba-bam.
27:56One iced drink I did get is the mocha frappe,
28:01because they can't say frappuccino,
28:03because that is a trademarked term by Starbucks.
28:06Not the biggest fan of frappuccinos.
28:08I don't like this thing that happened
28:10sometime in the past 20 years
28:11where suddenly it's acceptable
28:12to have milkshakes in the morning.
28:14That's what this is.
28:15It tastes like chocolate.
28:16I like it just fine, but come on, guys.
28:18I mean, it's good, but it's like,
28:20how am I supposed to drink that
28:21and not A, have a headache by 11 a.m.,
28:24and B, do absolutely no work.
28:26I'm working right now, believe it or not,
28:28so I can't drink this.
28:30Already I'm like,
28:30I think we're done with this video.
28:33That's all it took.
28:33And last and honestly least,
28:37you can get at McDonald's, for some reason, hot tea.
28:41Wah, wah.
28:43But here it is.
28:44They give us a cup of hot water and their McCafe tea.
28:47They don't even have some brand.
28:49They have their own brand of tea.
28:51Finally, we have the exclusive cold drink options.
28:53We have a McCafe iced beverage,
28:55which is a frozen strawberry lemonade.
28:57When this arrived, it was entirely ice
28:59and looked kind of like a slushy and was very cool.
29:01It has now melted,
29:01but also it's like retained that color gradient.
29:04Looks kind of like a tequila sunrise.
29:05I'm here for it.
29:06Gotta say, I actually really do like these.
29:08Hadn't really ordered these
29:09until I started doing Food Wars.
29:11And now, nice little refreshing summer beverage
29:14in the rotation.
29:15Next up, we have Coke Zero.
29:17Now, correct me if I'm wrong, Joe,
29:18but I didn't see Coke Zero on the US menu.
29:20I just saw Diet and Regular, which we also have.
29:22There is no Coke Zero at the US McDonald's.
29:25We do have Diet Coke.
29:27Diet Coke has its own flavor.
29:29I guess Coke Zero is an attempt to taste exactly like Coke
29:33and not have sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
29:36Diet Coke does not taste like Coke.
29:38They taste completely different.
29:39I think that's by design.
29:40In a similar vein to the Coke Zero,
29:41we have a couple of other Zero beverages,
29:43including a Sprite Zero,
29:45a Fanta Zero orange flavor,
29:47and an Oasis Zero summer fruits.
29:49For the Americans who haven't tried an Oasis before,
29:51it's a still, so uncarbonated beverage,
29:54and it's kind of like a squash.
29:56It's like a summer fruits mixture,
29:58kind of diluted with water.
29:59Pretty tasty.
30:00We also have this Robinson's fruit shoot.
30:02These are great.
30:03These were like a lunchbox staple when I was growing up.
30:05It's again, kind of like a squash,
30:06so a diluted fruit concentrate.
30:08This one is, again, flavored with apple and blackcurrant.
30:11And finally, we have an exclusive milkshake.
30:13Now, in the U.S. and the U.K.,
30:14you can get chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry,
30:16but in the U.K., we have a banana-flavored milkshake.
30:20It's got that really artificial banana flavor
30:22that we all know and love.
30:23If you don't know why that's the case,
30:24go Google banana apocalypse.
30:26It's really interesting.
30:27What you won't find in the U.K. is Dr. Pepper.
30:29I'm not getting it.
30:30You know what Dr. Pepper is, though.
30:32You have it in your country.
30:33You just don't have it in your McDonald's.
30:34One thing we do have that you guys probably are wondering about,
30:38this bright orange thing, is the high-sea orange lava burst.
30:41This is commonly referred to as orange drink.
30:44Hang on.
30:46It's not juice.
30:47It is not juice.
30:49There is no fruit in this.
30:51And we just call it drink.
30:52Because we don't know what to call it.
30:54We also have a frozen Coke and a frozen Fanta Raspberry Blue.
30:58We've done the frozen Cokes and frozen Raspberry Fanta things
31:02so many times on this show.
31:05And by the time we get them, by the time we shoot,
31:08the whole thing melts.
31:09It's a disgusting mess.
31:10It doesn't look good.
31:11It tastes terrible.
31:13Not doing it anymore.
31:13I'm saving it.
31:14You know what they look like.
31:16It's a Slurpee.
31:17Over here, though, strawberry banana smoothie.
31:23Yeah.
31:26Oh, man, it's so good.
31:27The next one we got here, lemonade.
31:29The American-style lemonade.
31:32Not carbonated.
31:33Not like Sprite.
31:34It's its own thing.
31:35Next to it, we have sweet tea.
31:37Tea with, I don't know, two pounds of sugar in it, I think.
31:40Sweet tea's nice.
31:42There's also unsweetened iced tea.
31:44The Honest Kids Organic, happily ever after
31:47instead of happily ever after.
31:49And chocolate milk.
31:51Vitamin A and D, baby.
31:55At this point, we wanted to take a moment to recognize
31:57some of the menu items that we've lost
31:58since we first started filming Food Wars back in 2020,
32:01and to remember some of our favorite menu items
32:03that we've lost along the way.
32:04For me, the biggest loss has been
32:06the buttermilk crispy chicken sandwich.
32:08It was taken off the menu in 2020
32:10when COVID forced McDonald's to produce the menu.
32:13The McCrispie has since taken its place,
32:15but it's not the same.
32:17And it's not just me.
32:18People miss the originals so much that there is a Change.org petition
32:22campaigning for its return,
32:23and I urge all of you to sign it.
32:26It's what the buttermilk crispy chicken sandwich would want.
32:28They also strike the buttermilk crispy chicken tenders.
32:32Also fantastic.
32:34Also gone.
32:34The lost menu item that I missed the most
32:36is also a chicken sandwich option.
32:38It's the Chicken Legend.
32:39Particularly the hot and spicy mayo version
32:41of the Chicken Legend used to be my favorite thing on the menu,
32:44and sadly it was lost in October 2022
32:46when McDonald's introduced the McCrispie.
32:48Issuing another plea to anyone from McDonald's who's watching this.
32:50If you're watching this, please bring it back.
32:52Here are some other menu items
32:53that we've sadly lost along the way.
33:10Did we miss anything?
33:11Let us know in the comments,
33:12and maybe McDonald's will see those comments and take note.
33:15In 2024, a UK Big Mac contains the following.
33:18493 calories,
33:2024 grams of fat, of which 8.8 grams are saturated,
33:2342 grams of carbs,
33:24of which 9.4 grams are sugar,
33:27and 880 milligrams of sodium.
33:29In 2024, the US Big Mac contains 590 calories and all this.
33:34That means the US Big Mac has more calories, fat,
33:36saturated fat and sodium than the UK version.
33:39What if you add a regular fries and a regular Coke to that to make it into a Big Mac meal?
33:43In the UK, you end up with this.
33:45Apart from the sugar, everything is pretty much exactly 50% of your recommended daily intake.
33:49And to be fair, almost all of the sugar is coming from the Coke.
33:52So if you're watching your sugar consumption, just swap that out for a diet version.
33:55If you want to do a regular meal with a regular fry and a regular Coke,
34:00that bumps the whole thing up to 1120 calories.
34:04And of course, all this.
34:06The US meal tops the UK version in every statistic.
34:10The biggest difference are in the saturated fats and sugar.
34:13Although I want to point out that the sugar is probably because of the Coke,
34:16which is way bigger than theirs.
34:17Four years ago, when we made the first US vs UK McDonald's episode,
34:21we looked at the nutritional values of a large Big Mac meal with a chocolate shake.
34:24Back then, one of those in the UK came to 1,440 calories.
34:28That same meal today actually comes to 1,405 calories,
34:32meaning that McDonald's in the UK has found a way to shave 35 calories off the meal.
34:35Back in 2020, a US large Big Mac meal with the chocolate shake came to 1,870 calories,
34:41which is 93.5% of your recommended daily intake.
34:45It is 2024, folks, and this meal comes out to 1,870 calories, the exact same.
34:54Say what you want about McDonald's, they are consistent.
34:57In 2024, a UK Big Mac contains 56 ingredients.
35:01Here's what that looks like.
35:02A US Big Mac consists of 68 ingredients.
35:05That's a 21% increase compared to the UK list.
35:09Here's the full list.
35:10The main difference is in the bun.
35:13Ours is 31 ingredients compared to 19 in the UK.
35:16Some noticeable differences include malted barley flour,
35:19to give the bun a darker golden color and improve the fluffiness.
35:24Soybean oil, which is a very common cooking oil in the US,
35:27due to being a major US crop, which isn't really grown in the UK.
35:30Folic acid, which is also known as vitamin B9.
35:33It's mostly commonly used as a pregnancy supplement.
35:36Other notable differences in ingredients come from the pickles found in the Big Mac.
35:39In the US, our pickles contain polysorbate 80.
35:42An emulsifier.
35:43It's fairly common in the US foods, but studies have found that it may promote
35:47tumour growth in lab mice.
35:50Give me my guy.
35:53There's one ingredient in the UK Big Mac that's not found in the US version.
35:57Chalk.
35:58Chalk, or its scientific name calcium carbonate,
36:00is added to UK flour to ensure that Brits get calcium in their diet.
36:04What about the fries?
36:05McDonald's fries in the UK contain just three ingredients.
36:07Potatoes, oil and salt.
36:09Surely that's all you need to make fries, right?
36:11Wrong.
36:12McDonald's in the US contains six ingredients, or nine if you count the multiple frying oils used.
36:18Canola oil is just what we call rapeseed oil over here in the US.
36:22But what about those other differences?
36:24A lot of them come down to a change McDonald's made to its fries back in 1990.
36:28McDonald's used to deep fry its fries in beef tallow,
36:30but stopped doing this after a public health campaign against it.
36:33They replaced the beef tallow with a mixture of vegetable oils.
36:35Not only did this cause them to lose that gently beefy flavor that they had,
36:39but ironically, it might have made them less healthy for consumers.
36:41This is because the new vegetable oil mix used ended up containing more trans fats
36:46than the beef tallow it replaced.
36:47This led McDonald's to change the oil recipe again in 2007 to eliminate trans fat,
36:53resulting in the oil blend they use today.
36:55What about those other ingredients?
36:56Sodium acid pyrophosphates is added to stop the potatoes from discoloring during the prep stage of cooking.
37:03That might be why U.S. fries tend to look more visually appealing than those in the UK.
37:09Check these out, UK.
37:10Not like those floppy ones you got over there in the UK.
37:13I like how stiff these are.
37:15Thank you, sodium acid pyrophosphates.
37:18And the natural beef flavoring ingredient?
37:21As you might be able to guess, that's something McDonald's added
37:23in an attempt to recreate the taste of the old fries.
37:26We did a fast food chemistry episode, but we did make the fries with beef tallow.
37:31And I gotta say, they were amazing. Wasn't even close.
37:34The beef fat fries, way better.
37:36While we're looking back at the old episode,
37:38it's also worth noting that some of McDonald's ingredients have changed since we shot back in 2020.
37:42The fries in both countries have remained the same,
37:44but McDonald's has recently rolled out a bunch of changes to both the way it cooks its burgers
37:48and the ingredients used.
37:49These changes are being rolled out in the UK, the U.S., and Australia.
37:52Here's the U.S. Big Mac bun ingredients list from 2020.
37:56And here's the new list.
37:57That's a total of 11 new ingredients.
38:01McDonald's describes this new bun as having a buttery brioche-style recipe
38:05for a soft and pillowy textured bun.
38:07And this does check out.
38:08Most of those new ingredients are proteins and starches
38:10that are aimed at improving the texture of the bread
38:13without adding eggs and butter like a traditional brioche would.
38:17Here's the 2020 Big Mac bun recipe.
38:20And here's the 2024 Big Mac bun recipe.
38:22McDonald's has removed monocalcium phosphate,
38:25calcium propionate, and deactivated yeast from its recipe,
38:28but it's added potato starch, pea protein, dextrose,
38:32maize starch, and natural flavorings for a net increase of two ingredients.
38:36I actually got a side-by-side comparison of the old and new burgers at the McDonald's UK
38:40headquarters.
38:40And I've got to say, side-by-side, there is a stark difference.
38:43The new bun looks a lot glossier and a little bit darker as well.
38:46You can really tell that they are toasting them for longer.
38:48Taste-wise, I do like the new one.
38:49I think the texture is good.
38:50It's got more of a bready feel to it rather than a spongy feel.
38:53Although I'm not a huge fan of the kind of buttery flavoring that they've added,
38:56particularly with the Big Mac, which is already a little bit sweet thanks to the sauce.
39:00Other changes include toasting the bun for longer,
39:02giving the burgers a tighter sear in the grill to lack more moisture in
39:05and leaving things like lettuce out of the fridge in a shorter time
39:09to help retain its crunch.
39:10I got to say, this might be the first time I've had a Big Mac since they've changed it.
39:16It seems like it's more sauce.
39:18Half a piece of cheese!
39:20Half a piece of cheese!
39:23What?
39:26It seems like there's a lot more sauce on it, so it's hard to tell.
39:29But this is the bun, this is the new bun.
39:32It definitely has a, like, a crust, like, the crust of it has a stronger flavor.
39:37It still tastes great.
39:39I'm a little startled by the cheese thing, though.
39:41Let's take a look at some of McDonald's prices.
39:43Here are some current prices in London in 2024.
39:46A Big Mac is £4.49.
39:48A regular Big Mac meal is £6.69.
39:5120 chicken nuggets will set you back £5.99.
39:54Here's how those items stack up right now in the US.
39:57A Big Mac is $5.79.
39:59A regular Big Mac meal, $10.19.
40:03And 20 chicken nuggets, $8.99.
40:06One of the biggest differences is the Big Mac meal,
40:09which is 20% more expensive over here.
40:12We also wanted to check how much the prices have increased
40:14since we shot the first episode in 2020.
40:16Here are some 2020 UK prices.
40:18The Big Mac was £3.19.
40:20And the regular Big Mac meal was £4.89.
40:2320 chicken nuggets cost £4.59.
40:25We also used to have a saver menu,
40:27which had many things costing around £1 or less,
40:30including a cheeseburger for £0.99,
40:32a hamburger for £0.89,
40:34and a McFlurry for £0.99.
40:35So that means that in the past four years,
40:37prices have increased by this much in the UK.
40:3940% for the Big Mac, 36% for the Big Mac meal,
40:43and 30% for the 20 chicken nuggets.
40:45While we still technically have a savers menu,
40:47there is no longer anything on there that costs less than £1.
40:50A plain hamburger will now cost you £1.19,
40:53a McFlurry is £1.69, and a cheeseburger, £1.39.
40:57According to the Bank of England,
40:58inflation from 2020 to now should have been around 21%,
41:02meaning that on average,
41:02McDonald's prices have risen 15% above inflation.
41:05Here are the 2020 prices in the US.
41:07The Big Mac was then $3.99,
41:10a regular Big Mac meal was $5.99,
41:13and 20 chicken nuggets were $5.
41:15That means prices have risen this much in the last four years.
41:18The Big Mac is 45% more expensive,
41:21the regular Big Mac meal is 70% more,
41:25and the 20 chicken nuggets, 80% more.
41:27We also used to have a value meal featuring $1,
41:30$2, and $3 price points.
41:31This was introduced at the start of 2018,
41:34but it's been quietly phased out as prices have risen.
41:37Business Insider couldn't find any items on the menu for $1
41:40when we checked back in 2023,
41:42and I can't see any on there today.
41:45According to an inflation calculator we found from
41:47the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, inflation should have increased costs
41:51by 17% since 2020.
41:53That means on average, McDonald's prices have gone up an average of 48% above inflation.
42:00We're getting gouged.
42:01It gets even worse if you go as far back as 2014 and look at the last 10 years.
42:06According to Finance Buzz, McDonald's prices have risen on average 100% in the US.
42:13The worst offenders being the McDouble, which went from $1.19 to $3.19,
42:18and the medium fries from $1.59 to $3.79.
42:22What?
42:23We're filming this in the middle of May,
42:24right before McDonald's releases a limited $5 meal for June.
42:28That meal will include either a McChicken or a McDouble, small fry, four-piece nugget,
42:34and a small drink.
42:36All for $5.
42:38Excuse me.
42:41They're gonna give us this and be like,
42:43great news, this is only $5.
42:45This shouldn't be $5.
42:46I bet without the drink, I could fit all three of these in my mouth at once.
42:52I'm not going to, but I feel like this is two bites, this is two bites, this is three bites.
42:57Okay, laughable McDonald's.
43:00For me, McDonald's prices really do seem symptomatic of a general cost of living crisis
43:03that is developing in the UK, which has been really frustrating over the past few years.
43:07When we were ordering some of the food for the shoot today,
43:09some of the meals that we were putting together were costing, you know, eight, nine pounds,
43:12which for me is just far too much to be spending on something from McDonald's.
43:16I think you can also tell that they have risen above inflation,
43:18because not everywhere has increased this much,
43:21and it really does feel like now you can go to a restaurant or a slightly more upmarket chain
43:25and get just as much food for less or the same amount of money as a McDonald's meal.
43:29For me, the core appeal of McDonald's has always been the price.
43:31It's cheap fast food, it's cheap and cheerful, does the job,
43:35and I don't know, it does feel like it's increasingly losing that cheap factor.
43:39If you'd have told me four years ago that I would still be doing Food Wars in four years' time,
43:42I don't know if I would have believed you.
43:44At the time we were trying something new, but honestly we had loads of fun making it,
43:47the audience really loved it, so yeah, we were happy to keep making more.
43:50I do still eat fast food when I'm not filming,
43:51so thankfully doing this show hasn't killed my love of fast food.
43:54Food Wars has changed my opinion on fast food menus,
43:56because I didn't realize while doing this show that I've probably been getting the same
43:59one or two things at every fast food chain my entire life,
44:03so this show gave me an opportunity to try just about everything on every fast food menu item.
44:07And yeah, I know I've dogged on a lot of stuff,
44:09but I must have been pleasantly surprised by some things I normally wouldn't have gotten before,
44:12so it's been cool to be able to try all the different fast food and snacks and stuff
44:17that I wouldn't normally get to be like, oh, that's what that tastes like, now I know.
44:20Frequently asked questions from the viewer.
44:24One question that we get a lot is, do we shoot these at the same time?
44:26And the answer to that is no.
44:28Usually I will shoot my part first, send the footage over to Joe,
44:32he'll shoot his side, and then also react to the stuff that we filmed.
44:35We also get asked a lot, what happens to the food when you shoot?
44:37The answer really is that we try and eat as much of it as we can on the shoot day,
44:40which is myself, the crew as well getting involved,
44:43also donating it to friends, family, and sometimes charities as well in the local area.
44:47We try and minimize the amount of food that we throw away because we have to do big orders for this show.
44:50The food after we're done shooting, everything I bite we throw out,
44:55everything I haven't bit the crew kind of divvies up against himself,
44:59and everything left over we donate.
45:01What about some big picture stats for McDonald's?
45:03According to Statista.com, McDonald's had 39,198 stores worldwide in 2020.
45:09The number by the end of 2023 was 41,822.
45:13So despite the pandemic, McDonald's has managed to steadily increase
45:16its store count across the globe in the past few years.
45:18While over a number of stores have increased,
45:20McDonald's is actually available in fewer countries today than it was four years ago.
45:24As of when we're filming this, McDonald's has pulled out of Russia,
45:26Belarus, and Kazakhstan as a result of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
45:30The Russia-Ukraine conflict isn't the only one that's impacted McDonald's.
45:33The company faced backlash and a boycott after its Israeli franchisee donated meals to the IDF,
45:38amidst the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and Israel's subsequent military operations in Gaza.
45:42In response, McDonald's has actually agreed a deal to buy back its franchises in Israel
45:46from the license holder, Alonyal, in an attempt to rebuild its image
45:49in the Middle East and around the world.
45:51McDonald's also pulled out of Bosnia and Herzegovina
45:53after its license to operate in the country was revoked at the end of 2022.
45:57I don't know anything about tea.
45:58So what I'm going to do here on camera is prepare the cup of tea
46:03the way that I think it's supposed to be done.
46:05So this is how I think you're supposed to make a tea.
46:07Put it in there, kind of do one of these.
46:08And I'm assuming the longer it's in, the stronger it is, correct?
46:12It has changed color.
46:13Did I wait long enough?
46:18Three to five minutes?
46:22What? How long is three minutes?
46:25I'm thirsty now.