It’s a curiosity of fast food places that ketchup is always very conspicuously, and easily, available. But since I prefer mustard, I find myself up against these realities:
At most fast food restaruants, and certainly all of the big chains, you can’t just grab a handful of mustard, or squirt yourself a glob. Mustard can only be obtained by petitioning the guy at the cash register.
Mustard, once requested, is very frequently unavailable. Or at least said to be unavailable, because its whereabouts are either unknown or too inconvenient to be bothered with. So mustard is either very popular, or its use is very much discouraged.
Some chains, like McDonalds, don’t even have mustard. Instead they have this vile spicy honey-mustard flavored sauce. Yuck.
Why is mustard so hard to come by in fast food places, and often even non-existent, while the putrescence of ketchup is so omnipresent?
I remember years back some fast food burger chains even put mustard on the burger, along with the usual ketchup and mayonaise, as part of the standard recipe. Most notably Burger King. I don’t recall exactly when they stopped but it was some years ago, and I’ve always wondered why, but I assume it has to do with the nearly overwhelming popularity of ketchup on burgers, at least in the US.
Anytime I get a sandwich at a fast food restaurant, I invariably order it made with mustard, and they always comply. I’ve never run into a problem. McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, whatever.
As far back as I can recall (late 70s is when I first saw a BK), Burger King’s Whoppers were made with mayonnaise, but they also had something right on the menu called a “Mustard Whopper.” Once when I was travelling outside of Texas, I went to a BK and ordered a Mustard Whopper, and they looked at me like I was an alien - “you mean a Whopper made with mustard?” Sure enough, they didn’t have it spelled out explicitly on their menu like the ones in Texas.
I think McDonalds still “dollops” (I love that word) some mustard on their stanard hamburger, but I might be wrong.
Let’s fight to the end on this one, OK?
(Very off-topic: I still don’t understand why Burger King always gives you a cash register receipt and yet McDonald’s (almost) never does! Maybe one chain can differentiate itself from the other by offering mustard! or do we have to wait until hot dogs become a staple fast-food item? )
In some parts of the world, you have to PAY for ketchup at McDonald’s (sweet and sour sauce too). With the amount of ketchup my family uses, that puts our fast food bill through the roof!
Guava ! Where do you live that you have to pay for ketchup ???
It makes me thankful to live in the good old USA where I can squirt as much ketchup as I want into those TINY LITTLE paper cups! I can even take them home with me, but not quite as convenient as Arby’s where I can just grab a fistful of ketchup and horseradish sauce packets.
That’s something I’ve noticed, having lived in Texas for my entire life. Every time there’s some kind of promotional “Texas” burger at any of the major chains, it always has mustard as one of the primary selling points. Growing up I’d always thought it was normal to have mustard on hamburgers, but then with the special burgers, it got me wondering.
Oh… and the other major chain that has mustard on hamburgers is Sonic- the #2 is mustard, while the #1 is mayonnaise.
I used to eat them here in Texas all the time, and found myself in Portland OR one day. I ordered a “Mustard Whopper”, got the funny look, got asked “You mean a Whopper with mustard?”. “Yep”, I said, and when I picked it up, that’s what I got – a whopper patty, a bun, and mustard. They didn’t even give me veggies
aktep, you gotta remember who is staffing those joints: hi skool grad-ju-ates :^)
This is precisely what I’ve wondered about myself! McD’s PUTS mustard on the burger when they make it!! Why the F@#$ can’t I get some PACKETS of good ol’ FRENCH’S MUSTARD to put on extra myself!?! JEEZ!!
One of our boys was 17, and working at Arby’s. His girlfriend lived about a block from us. She came up one evening just before I was due to go pick him up, and rode along.
As she and I walked in, he was in the process of refilling the big bin of Horsey sauce (horseradish-laced mayonnaise) from a large container – the bin that the push-and-squirt spout draws from, if you follow what I mean.
And seeing her startled him, and he dropped the jug, and it spilled – and ended up meeting his girlfriend with splotches of this off-white sticky stuff up and down the front of his pants.
I seem to have trouble getting ketchup at fastfood restaraunts. I dont eat at them, though on a road trip with a very tight schedule this past weekend I did wind up eating once at McDonald’s and once at Burger King, for the first time in about 5 years. One thing that remained consistatn from my previous experiences ws no ketchup thrown into the bag at the drivethrough. I can barely eat this stuff, but it was necessary due to extreme hunger, relative poverty, and as mentioned a tight schedule, so I like to drown it all with ketchup, because that I like, but ask for ketchup and you get two packets, ask for extra ketchup, and you get three, ask for “enough ketchup to chike a billygoat” or “more ketchup than you could possibly imagine a human being ingesting in one sitting, and then 6 or 8 more packets” and recieve four packets.
They’re gonna charge me $5 for barely edible grease on a bun/in a box and I can’t get 20 cents worth of ketchup out of them? See you in another seven years.
McDonald’s in Germany routinely charged for catsup (and mayonaise). It was 15 pfennigs in the early 90’s. McD’s in Mexico, though, is just like the US – free.
In these parts – Michigan – McD’s regular ham-/cheeseburgers have mustard. Burger King’s Whopper does, too. Wendy’s doesn’t have mustard, though, unless you ask for it.
I detest the places that, when asked for some catsup, tell you they’re out of it. That’s normally okay; I’ll ask for BBQ sauce instead. Sometimes they try to charge for that, but when I ask for a refund, it’s usually easier to give it to me for free than hold up their drive-through queue too long.
I love chinese mustard, but the junk in the little squeeze packs is horrible. It’s sweet, and not hot at all. For take-out, request a tiny cup of real chinese mustard.
