It always makes me think whether fast food restaurants can actually be properly kosher in today’s day and age so when I was in Eilat in Israel I decided to put this to the test and visited the local McDonald’s to compare their kosher and non-kosher Big Mac.
I spent four days in Eilat in Israel and one evening I visited the Ice Mall downtown. The Ice Mall is famous for having an ice ring in the middle of the building, surrounded by shops on two floors. I’ve never seen anything like this before – outside it was sweltering heat but inside it was bright, cool and airy.
As I went upstairs on the escalator I felt mesmerized by all the lights, smells and just the general feel of the place. It was 25 degrees inside, the perfect temperature for shopping and ice skating – I was super impressed.
Yehuda, My Tasting Partner
As I was walking around upstairs I bumped into Yehuda, a vegetable slicer sales man. He was so outgoing and energetic I had to stop to watch him sell his ware. I nearly even bought one!
He was super good at it and the action completely drew me in. After seeing him sell his slicers we started to chat.
I asked if he has ever eaten at the kosher McDonalds and he told me that he is an observant Jew so he only ever eats there.
I decided to ask him to come with me the following day to test whether the kosher Big Mac tastes any different from the non-kosher and he said yes!
Kosher McDonalds Big Mac Taste Test
So the next morning we met up again and went around to both Mcdonald’s restaurants.
“My name is Judah and I am Jewish, I eat only kosher food and when I am eating at McDonalds I only eat at Kosher McDonalds. At the non-kosher I do not eat anything although I think it’s the same taste.
“I don’t know but I think this is meat, this is meat and it is same tasty – I don’t know but I don’t think it is different.”
Observing The Mitzvot
I asked him if he has ever eaten in the normal McDonalds but he said no, so we teamed up and had lunch at the kosher outlet then I tried the normal Bic Mac at the non-kosher on my own. Here is what I have found out:
Yehuda wanted to taste the hamburger and cheese inside the same bun all his life but he never did, which is very committed obviously. But I promised him I would tell him if it tastes any different.
First we went to the kosher shop and we had one half of a Big Mac each after saying the appropriate prayer.
I thought the burger tasted very good, in my opinion even tastier than the normal burger outside Israel.
After this we went up to the non-kosher outlet and I bought myself a normal Big Mac with extra gherkins.
Kosher vs Non-Kosher Big Mac
My Big Mac got the Big Mac cream, and the extra gherkin so I thought it should taste the same – and so I had a big bite to find out!
Hmmm…and….voila it tasted the same!
Yeah, it was exactly the same taste albeit a bit juicier and tastier than in the UK! In fact, in England I stopped eating Big Mac because I didn’t like it, it was so dry. It was too dry.
The difference is that there was no cheese in the Big Mac in Eilat for some reason.
So I have tested it now, I can tell it tastes completely the same. And that pretty much concludes the test. So thanks for reading and don’t forget to watch the video then subscribe to my newsletter and youtube channel. Thank you and come back for more!