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What is the secret McDonald's ingredient?

Published Sunday, August 22, 2004 by seanlmccarthy | E-mail this post

You don't have to have seen Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me or have read Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation to know that McDonald's has changed the way we eat -- and thusly how we are, since we are what we eat. That said, I must admit that I succumbed to the onslaught of Olympics advertising to try to the fast-food chain's new Chicken Selects, which are more traditional chicken "finger" things as opposed to the still-mysterious-after-all-these-years McNuggets. Like its other menu items, there is nothing all that special about the chicken, and yet...it's tasty enough to leave me wanting more. And that's the real issue that needs exploring. I can happily go a year without eating at Mickey D's, but if I eat there once, I find myself wanting to eat there again the next day, and the next day. My theory: McDonald's food includes an addictive secret ingredient. What's your theory?