McNugget Surprise

The first time I threw a cocktail party with my husband, he insisted on buying three boxes of 20 piece Chicken McNuggets® to serve to our guests — according to him, it was his “specialty.” Yes, he was being serious. At first I refused for obvious reasons, I had slaved over a fancy menu and wasn’t about to serve McDonald’s grub. He stood his ground. 

He went out, got the McNuggets and wouldn’t you know it, by the end of the party, every single one was gone. My fancy menu? Plenty of leftovers.

Even if you’ve grown up eating McDonald’s on occasion, at a certain age we all seem to gravitate AWAY from it for a plethora of obvious and good reasons. But, there is also a reason McDonalds is one of the world’s largest restaurant chains. It tastes good (oh and it’s everywhere.) And in small doses, it’s not bad for you. So, at a party, they’re the perfect accoutrements. They go quicker than wings.

And for those of you still thinking of Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me documentary, I can assure you that the food truly isn’t toxic. Our TV producer brother, Patrick, did a segment for ABC’s 20/20 (his former employer) where they recreated the documentary using three people who ate at McDonald’s but didn’t eat more than their proper daily caloric intake or if they did eat the 5,000 calories that Spurlock did, they increased their level of workouts. Anyway, their health didn’t deteriorate and some actually improved. My take away from both the documentary and the 20/20 piece:

• Doubling your daily caloric intake, not exercising and eating McDonalds for all three meals in oversized quantities = bad.
• Eating McDonald’s as a treat every blue moon in reasonable amounts while maintaining healthy eating & activity levels = good.

The only problem with this appetizer is that it doesn’t work for all of your guests (vegetarians, anti-McDonald folks etc.) but for the majority it does and people will be happy. Oh and after a few drinks? Convictions slide to the wayside like the tasty grease on your hands from the McNugget Surprise.