Robot Claw

Today I went for a big long walk. I saw many things and the weather was beautiful. But you don’t want to hear about my 32k steps or the guy that accidentally burned to death, since something much more important happened today!

My lunch today was a hamburger, small fries and a small frozen coke. A delicious meal, and only $5. I enjoyed it, as I did yesterday, and the day before, and the day before, and the three days before that.

Yes my friends, I ate the exact same lunch seven days in a row! I set myself this challenge after having done it for four days, and it is with no small amount of pride that I can now say I completed it!

Philistines may say this isn’t any sort of an achievement, just the no-talent-required result of handing over $35 to a charming McDonald’s employee. While they are obviously wrong, I’ll concede that my particular achievement is more special than it may at first seem. I didn’t just eat the same lunch for a week, I ate the same lunch every day for a week at seven different McDonald’s!

In order, they were purchased from the Myer Food Court Sydney, George Street Sydney, Kotara, Jilliby, Newcastle, Broadmeadow and Charlestown. I daresay I’m the only person in the world that has completed this challenge.

At first this was easy, but after a while it became a true challenge. By day five I dared to dream I’d be able complete this, but the last two days in particular were a real trial. Now it’s done I’m sure you’ll agree this is a phenomenal achievement, and a true showcase of my strength of will and culinary focus.

While congratulations aren’t necessary, I’ll thank you in advance for sharing you opinions in the comments. As for myself, I felt I needed to do something to acknowledge my victory. I gave it some thought, and in the end felt only one thing was appropriate: a quick stop at Maccas for an apple pie and a frozen coke 🙂

Please understand I’m trying these chicken ramens so you don’t have to…

Coles Chicken Flavored Noodles (1650 kJ, 16.6 g fat, 1316 mg sodium)

Without a doubt I prefer cup ramens to bricks these days, so this store brand had a steep hill to climb. And it barely tried: the noodles were weirdly sticky and the ‘taste’ was just herby salt.

I’ve formed a theory that the Australian ‘chicken’ taste is quite different from the US one, since none of those taste anything like the ones I eat in America. To me they taste more of earth and beef and, in this case, something I don’t want to eat: 0/10

Simple Chicken Noodles (1300 kJ, 13.3 g fat, 1100 mg sodium)

At this point – with five antipodean noodles under my belt – I was beginning to despair. I eat a Gefen cup almost every day back home; would nothing down here even attempt to come close to the glory of that pristine taste?

‘Sinple’ is the Aldi store brand, and to cut to the chase, I hated it. Once again I tasted soil and ash and burned toast. Do they even know what chickens are here in Oz???! Score: 1/10

Fantastic Chicken Noodles (1600 kJ, 17.1 g fat, 1890 mg sodium)

This is a larger size of the Fantastic one I tasted last week, which I proclaimed as one of the worst ramen I’d ever tasted and scored it a generous -8/10. I’ll give you one guess how much I enjoyed eating it again.

Let’s put it this way: My ethics and honor mean that I buy every (plain) chicken ramen I ever see and taste them all. Even if I know or even suspect I won’t like one I’ll still give it a go. Last week I bought both Fantastic ramens at the same time, and of course had no idea I’d hate them both. I’ll say now, hand on heart, that if I found this second one after I’d eaten the first I would have pretended I hadn’t seen it and walked away. An easy -10/10

Between these three we have an average score of -3/10, and I despair for Australians that are sold this dreck. And yet I’ve got three more to try so all hope is not yet lost. Stay tuned…