The View From Your Breakfast

Acquired this breakfast burrito from McDonald's this morning. It's not really as delcious as the Santa Fe version but it does more closely conform to my understanding of the structural properties of a burrito.

Let me repeat that I am eager to publish a series of breakfast photos if people will email me JPEGs and/or links to Flickr pages. I'm particularly interested in the mysterious breakfasts of the Orient, but will accept pretty much any kind of breakfast. Now that I'm alongside Sullivan, I need to step up my game and that can only be achieved with the help of you, the readers.

Comments

Sullivan has a ridiculously readable blog, probably the best I've read. Definitely a good place to aim at.

Posted by Korha | May 3, 2007 10:34 AM

I dunno how it tastes, but it sure doesn't look very good.

And importantly, tell us that you only acquired this "food" item as research, and don't normally shop at your local Bistro McDonalds. Please tell us this.

Posted by Petey | May 3, 2007 10:34 AM

"...Now that I'm alongside Sullivan,..."

Speaking of Andy...why do the rest of you all have links to the other Atlantic bloggers across the top of your pages, but Andy doesn't? Is he not a team player? Does he think he's the Barry Bonds of blogging with his own private nook in the clubhouse with a massage chair with a built-in-stereo? Well? Does he?

You James and Ross ought to ask him about that.

Posted by Njorl | May 3, 2007 10:35 AM

"Sullivan has a ridiculously readable blog, probably the best I've read. Definitely a good place to aim at."

You want Matthew to start throwing burritos at Andrew?

What good could possibly come of that? The cleaning bills alone, will eat into a large portion of the Atlantic's meager operating expenses.

Posted by Petey | May 3, 2007 10:36 AM

The "Orient"? Are you serious? Would you like that breakfast with an oriental back massage? I've read you a long time, Matt, and I figured you were more sophisticated than to use that term.

Posted by Joshua | May 3, 2007 10:37 AM

What we want is a photo of what Bid Media Matt usually eats for breakfast, which I submit is unlikely to be a McD's burrito.

Posted by otto | May 3, 2007 10:37 AM

The item of food in that picture looks like something people would eat on a bet.

Posted by Jeffrey Davis | May 3, 2007 10:37 AM

It looks like any tortilla. It could be filled with ambrosia or ambrosia-food-product.

Posted by Njorl | May 3, 2007 10:41 AM

Joshua, my understanding that the only appropriate time to use the word Orient is in reference to food. I am not sure why the term itself is suddenly so bad. Can anyone explain why?

Posted by nathaniel | May 3, 2007 10:41 AM

Mmmm, biscuits and gravy...

Posted by apostropher | May 3, 2007 10:48 AM

"Joshua, my understanding that the only appropriate time to use the word Orient is in reference to food. I am not sure why the term itself is suddenly so bad. Can anyone explain why?"

Some very, very bad things went down on the Orient a while back. Everyone has been trying to forget.

Posted by Petey | May 3, 2007 10:50 AM

nathaniel - American PC nannies have decided that the word is offensive, even when used to describe cultural things, like rugs and cuisine. In the rest of the world, it's harmless, and its use is very mainstream in Spanish-speaking geographies.

People like Joshua are overly concerned with using words because, like sticks and stones, words may also break your bones, or at least your feelings. He is much less concerned with syntax, because using proper syntax (as opposed to implying that he reads a person) doesn't make him feel smart and important.

Posted by mike | May 3, 2007 10:51 AM

"American PC nannies have decided that the word is offensive"

Incorrect. I believe it was actually a group of Chinamen that decided that the word is offensive.

Posted by Petey | May 3, 2007 10:55 AM

that breakfeast item is not a burrito, its a taco, with folded ends. you can do that to any taco, but it does not a burrito make. nor does your non-folded sante fe burrito make it a take or enchilada.

Posted by MP | May 3, 2007 10:57 AM

i meant "make it a taco"

Posted by MP | May 3, 2007 10:58 AM

I suspect Matt's use of 'Orient' was no Occident.

Thanks, I'll be here, all weak.

Posted by shecky | May 3, 2007 11:03 AM

a taco is a hard shell corn tortilla folded in half w/ refritos, beef, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes.

Posted by judson | May 3, 2007 11:12 AM

my god, what happened to your index finger?

Posted by poole | May 3, 2007 11:17 AM

The view from My Stomach

Posted by tokorode | May 3, 2007 11:36 AM

Yeah, you're right, Mike. Those damn PC nannies. Next thing you know you won't be able to use the word "fag" or "chink".

Posted by Freddie | May 3, 2007 11:37 AM

The breakfast burrito is actually pretty good, if you don't expect it to be Mexican food. And it's only a buck. It's the only thing I'll go to McD's for.

It's basically scrambled eggs and bits of sausage and bell peppers and whatnot, wrapped in a tortilla. It's about as filling a breakfast as I'm interested in, most days, and is much lower in fat than the breakfast biscuits that the other fast-food chains have.

Posted by RT | May 3, 2007 11:43 AM

Ok, you asked for it; a description of a breakfast taco I ate in Austin .

Posted by Robert Nagle | May 3, 2007 11:54 AM

Breakfast at McDonald's is delicious. Just don't eat any other meal there.

Posted by too many steves | May 3, 2007 11:57 AM

While we're into embarrassing disclosures, I'll admit that I'm a fan of the Starbucks peppered bacon breakfast sandwich.

Posted by otto | May 3, 2007 12:09 PM

You can call that thing a burrito if you want. Eggs in a wrap, whatever.

IT IS NOT A TACO. No matter how you fold, bend, roll or spindle a white-wheat-flour-and-lard wrap, it is not a tortilla, which is made with masa (think "maize", and without a tortilla it is no taco.

Some denizen of East Nowhere above asserts that "a taco is a hard shell corn tortilla folded in half w/ refritos, beef, cheese, lettuce and tomatoes." If by "hard shell corn tortilla" he means one of those things that come in a box labelled "Old El Paso," made from what was once a Big Yellow Tortilla, then I can only shake my head in bemused sorrow. Some tacos come in delicious crisp dripping-in-fat mode, others come in an absolutely soft form, attained by plonking the tortilla on a hot dry griddle. At my advanced and cholesterol-aware age I tend to go for the soft version, although I grew up with and enjoy the greasy crispies.

if by "refritos, beef, ..., lettuce" he means grilled mahi and cabbage, then ok. In any case, any decent taqueria will offer a variety of fillings, including pork and chicken. If there is meat within, it is highly unlikely that there is any room for beans, refritos or otherwise.

You have nothing to worry about from the PC police. Not, at least, compared to a tortilla-admiring culinary officer.

I don't need no stinking badge...

Posted by Marcus Sitz | May 3, 2007 12:16 PM

You want breakfast pics? You got it.

Posted by tom | May 3, 2007 12:19 PM

The gigantic hand makes the picture look creepy. Unless you're eating a hand for breakfast, it doesn't belong.

Posted by Steve | May 3, 2007 12:43 PM

Until someone takes a traditional American breakfast of Eggs, Sausage, Pancakes, Syrup and Hashbrowns, and wrap ALL that up together (possibly in the pancake?) we'll never acieve breakfast nirvana.

> Mmmm, biscuits and gravy...

My all time favorite, and I believe is often referred to as Shit on a Shingle, though that might be toast and gravy?

Posted by Fred | May 3, 2007 12:44 PM

Matt, your idea of the Burrito seems to basically be the Mission burrito and bad knock-offs thereof. However, Spanish North America has large regional variation in cuisine, and what is called a burrito in California is hardly defining of the whole region any more than one would insist that a pizza must ipso facto mean a deep dish chicago pizza.

I would similarly argue that anyone who thinks that the word "burrito" cannot describe a Mission burrito and that they're just large tacos is being similarly ridiculous. (However, arguing that McD's burritos are neither tacos nor burritos but rather a bad knockoff not really matching either genre is good point.)

Posted by Noah | May 3, 2007 12:57 PM

Fred, if McD's added a hash brown to the sausage, egg and cheese McGriddle, would it address your needs? Seems you could get the value meal and add the has brown to the sandwich on your own. I might try that. I think it would be good. Weird, but a good weird.

Posted by mike | May 3, 2007 1:47 PM

Egads, I didn't realize that existed! I don't eat fast food so the McGriddle is new to me. But I know exactly what I'm doing this weekend, eating a lot of breakast burrito concoctions!

Posted by Fred | May 3, 2007 2:34 PM

McD's sausage biscuits aren't too bad. It ain't biscuits and gravy, but it'll do.

Of course, they're absolutely horrible for you. Something like 30g fat, and a fair amount of that is trans fat too. They say the biscuits don't work right without it.

Posted by AlanC9 | May 3, 2007 2:58 PM

You don't want to know what I thought that burrito/taco was as I scrolled down and the photo began to appear on my screen.

(Robert Nagle, your "Taco Stand" piece is brilliant. Kudos. Best thing I've read in six months.)

Posted by Swift Loris | May 3, 2007 5:42 PM

Mike, please stop repeating conservative talking points with your "PC Police" bullshit.

Posted by J | May 3, 2007 8:13 PM

In the Philippines, the east and west sides of islands are called Oriental and Occidental, e.g. Negros Oriental, Negros Occidental.

Nobody seems to find it offensive.

Speaking of which, I've always regretted not buying one of those "I (heart) Negros" T-shirts while I was there.

Posted by godoggo | May 3, 2007 8:47 PM

OK, I already emailed Matt, but subsequently tried searching Flickr directly, (rather than through google), and the results kill. Kill, I say (oh, the irony)!
Danbing on Flickr.

Posted by godoggo | May 3, 2007 11:25 PM

Ok, this is getting to be an unhealthy obsession, but...Longaniza on Flickr

Posted by godoggo | May 4, 2007 12:30 AM

The best thing McDonalds serves isn't on the menu.

Ask for a Chicken McGriddle (w/ egg is pretty good, skip the cheese). Its better than anything else on the menu and yet if I hadn't seen someone order it one morning, I'd never know it was an option. They'll charge you for the Sausage McGriddle and just substitute a chicken patty (assuming your local McD's serves chicken biscuits, which they don't in every market).

Its sooo damn good, my favorite fast food meal-- at least until Rubio's out on the West Coast brings the lobster burrito back to the menu (excuse me, "langostino lobster burrito").
http://www.slashfood.com/2006/05/01/rubios-settles-langostino-lobster-burrito-lawsuit/

Posted by beowulf | May 4, 2007 2:17 AM

Sorry, I won't be able to sleep if I don't post one more: youtiao flickr

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