McDonald's Fans Are Nostalgic For These Containers — 'The Food Did Taste Better'

The McDonald's of yore is full of nostalgia. That would include discontinued burgers (Remember the '90s Beef Wennington burger, anyone?), new versions of old McDonald's Happy Meal toys that make occasional comebacks, and more. But one thing people like to remember is the quality of the food — McDonald's fans swear the food was better decades ago, for various reasons. Some people believe that it's because of ingredient differences, like the french fries being cooked in beef tallow back in the day, but others have a very different theory, one involving a style of packaging that's long since been phased out.

Posters on Reddit have surmised that it was the Styrofoam containers that actually improved the flavor of the food (which admittedly, sounds like a stretch). A few people did remember them fondly, saying things like, "I have such fond memories of the ... foldable Styrofoam box. I was a little kid and my dad would always buy it. In my mind I can still taste and smell it and hear the satisfying sound of the box squiggling." Another commenter said, "It stayed warmer longer and nothing was accidentally smooshed on the trip home. As I bite into the cold, hockey puck that is my to-go McDouble, I realize I really miss those days." But one main detail that many of the commenters pointed out may actually be why McDonald's food might have tasted better back then.

Styrofoam containers were phased out starting on November 1, 1990. This was due to concerns that they wouldn't break down in landfills (In fact, they're probably still buried in there today). Other Reddit users in that Styrofoam thread said it wasn't the packaging that influenced the flavor, but rather the quality of the ingredients themselves, which changed over time.

One user pointed out, "The food did taste better. Because it was real ingredients. They didn't sacrifice flavor to pump oil into the food for cost saving reasons." Another user, who claimed to be a former employee, said, "I worked at McDonald's before the advent of Styrofoam, in the mid-1970s. When we (counter help — women only) weren't waiting on customers, we had to make up (fold) Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, pie, and large fry containers. The food was definitely better then. The fries actually tasted like potatoes. The apple pies were fantastic." So it's possible that the foam containers (famously used for the 1980s McDLT you had to assemble yourself) were just a coincidence, and that there were simply less ingredient cost-cutting measures in the past. But whatever made the food taste better, there's no doubt that there are some McDonald's customers out there who pine for the old packaging, even if it's just for old time's sake.