, Columnist
An $18 Big Mac Meal Is Bad for America
Throughout America, more people can’t afford to have a meal and talk with others at fast food places that have long doubled as community centers.
The secret sauce is in the price.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images North AmericaThis article is for subscribers only.
The first meal I had as an American citizen was a Big Mac. This was in September 2013, and it cost less than $5 at a McDonald’s near the downtown Manhattan courthouse where the naturalization ceremony had taken place.
I had no expectation of enjoying it: I like my hamburgers greasy and flavorful and find Big Macs too dry and bland. But a McDonald’s was close at hand, and a burger was the most appropriate way to commemorate a uniquely American experience.