The McRib in Daylight

The McRib appears every couple years when pork gets cheap, riding back like some seasonal ghost. Someone at McDonald’s photographed the frozen patties in their raw, pre-heat-lamp state and it went around online—the sight hits different than the marketing image. It’s meat pressed into geometry, colorless, and yeah, there’s something unsettling about seeing the engineering so exposed. Not disgusting, just clear. You can see what it’s for: cost optimization, shelf life, storage.

I’m not precious about fast food. I’ll eat garbage when the craving hits. But there’s something clarifying about seeing the thing before all the presentation, before the toppings make it look like food. Makes you wonder what else we’re not allowed to photograph.