The United States of McDonald’s

McDonald’s is mind-boggling. According to Adam Chandler, author of
the recent book, Drive-Thru Dreams, it sells roughly 75 burgers
every second and serves 68 million people every day—equivalent to 1
percent of the entire world’s population. “The golden arches are
thought to be, according to an independent survey, more
recognizable as a symbol than the Christian cross is around the
world,” Chandler told us. This episode, we tell the story of
McDonald’s—but more importantly, we explore what it has to say
about who we are. To do that, we’re also joined by historian Marcia
Chatelain, author of the new book Franchise: The Golden Arches in
Black America, who helps us unpack the troubled but fascinating
relationship between McDonald’s and African Americans. Why did
taxpayers end up funding the spread of McDonald’s into the inner
city “food deserts” it now dominates? Who invented the hamburger
and how did it become America’s national cuisine? From a bustling
barbecue stand in San Bernardino to Ray Kroc’s location-scouting
airplane rides, and from the McNugget to the McJob, this episode we
figure out how McDonald’s became so ubiquitous, and what that means
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