Explore the lore of the McRib, making its fall return at McDonald's

You love it — or you hate it.

Opinions are pretty divided on the McRib sandwich from McDonald’s.

Some people love the smoky barbecue taste and have given the sandwich a cult-like following. And speaking of cults, others look at a McRib and see only the Lovecraftian horror of meat that has been restructured into the inexplicable shape of a rack of ribs, complete with “bone” nubs and all.

Either way, McDonald’s will start rolling out McRibs across the world beginning Nov. 11.

Gourmet chef Rene Arend and food scientist Roger Mandigo, who invented boneless pork (in the “restructured” way it’s used to create something like a McRib), created the sandwich in the early 1980s.

We’ve collected just a few of the massive number of videos related to the McRib’s lore, allure, history and the varying attitudes toward its taste, construction and meaning to society.

The history

No matter your opinion of the sandwich, we can probably all agree that the McRib fits firmly into the category of “weird food.” There’s no better expert to dive deep into its history than the YouTube channel “Weird History Food.”

Is it food?

School teacher Wes Bellamy was invited by McDonald’s to see the McRib creation process after he posted on X.com (formerly Twitter) that people shouldn’t eat it, claiming it didn’t even really resemble food to him.

Why not keep it around?

You remember the commercial with Sinbad: “Nothing this good lasts forever!”

Did he invent the phrase? Absolutely not. But he did use it to describe the McRib, which only returns to the McDonald’s menu intermittently — but why? The YouTube channel Mashed looked into the marketing of the divisive sandwich.

The opposition

Obviously, it’s not just vegans and vegetarians who dislike the McRib; the distaste runs deep.

YouTuber Modern Business takes a more cynical look at the history of the sandwich.

Make it yourself?

Not a fan of restructured meat products? The YouTube cooking channel Doesn’t Pay Full Price shows you a way to make your own McRib at home from fresh pork tenderloin for — he claims — less than $1 per sandwich.

Make it fancy!

Again, perhaps restructured meat is not your thing. Perhaps you also have $456 burning a hole in your pocket. If that’s the case, join Mythical Kitchen’s “Fancy Fast Food” series, where they create the world’s most expensive version of the McRib using multiple varieties of heritage pork, rose water, French artisanal Calamansi vinegar and a bunch of other ridiculously pricey ingredients.