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With America hosting this year’s World Cup, it’s no surprise that one of the most iconic symbols of the United States has also partnered with FIFA for a meal celebrating the worldwide soccer tournament.
It’s time to kick things off with McDonald’s’s FIFA World Cup Meal.
“At McDonald’s, magic happens when families, friends, and fans come together and celebrate with the people they love,” McDonald’s said in the announcement of the meal. “Partnering with the FIFA World Cup 26 allows us to take that shared joy and bring it to life at a global scale through our food, our experiences, and the ways fans connect with the game.”
The FIFA World Cup Meal comes with either a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets or Big Mac, fries and a soda. If you order the McNuggets, you also get “limited edition, gold packaged Big Mac Sauce” to dip them in.
What makes the FIFA World Cup Meal special is the inclusion of a collectible cup featuring Christian Pulisic, David Beckham, Ronaldinho Gaucho, Thierry Henry, Son Heung-Min, Lamine Yamal, Alphonso Davies, Santiago Gimenez ... and Grimace.
After stopping at a Burger King in Pennsylvania on my way up to Rochester earlier in the week to try Crown Nuggets, I wound up at the McDonald’s almost exactly across the street to check out the FIFA World Cup Meal. Hello, Shamokin Dam.
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OK, let’s be real here. The FIFA World Cup Meal is pretty much a normal McDonald’s combo. But the restaurant really gave it all when it comes to making the promotion feel special.
If you’ve read Snackology long enough, you know how much I appreciate it when a restaurant goes the extra distance when it comes to packaging. McDonald’s made sure all parts of the FIFA World Cup Meal feel special. My McNuggets came in a box created specially for the meal ...
... both outside and inside.
Also, my McNuggets at this McDonald’s were perfect. Temp, texture, crisp — all fantastic. Nice work.
I went with the 10-piece McNuggets version of the FIFA World Cup Meal because it comes with two packets of Big Mac Sauce. While you can always get Big Mac Sauce on a Big Mac, getting the iconic McDonald’s sauce on its own is a rare thing.
The restaurant has occasionally made Big Mac Sauce available as a dipping sauce, and we should all be thankful that the World Cup is a big enough event to convince McDonald’s to put it back on the menu again.
Sure, the gold foil label on the Big Mac Sauce is nice, but it’s what’s inside that I really love. Big Mac Sauce is a fantastic dipping sauce. We’re all smart enough to figure out how to make a reasonable replica of Big Mac Sauce at home, but there’s nothing like getting the real deal. (It’s one of the biggest factors that set the Big Mac itself apart from the Big Arch Burger.)
The branding in the FIFA World Cup extends to the fries too. McDonald’s really executed this promotion well.
While the majority of the FIFA World Cup Meal is a standard combo meal, it does come with a collectible cup. It’s hilarious that McDonald’s included Grimace as a potential cup that you can get with this meal, and I was 100 percent pulling for him as I tore open the plastic wrap around mine.
The partnership between McDonald’s and the World Cup doesn’t stop with the FIFA World Cup Meal. Starting on Tuesday, you can also order a FIFA World Cup 26 Happy Meal featuring one of 23 different mini Squishmallows. My daughter and I are super excited about the potential of getting the axolotl or shark ones.
Snackology is a publication of The Omnicosm.
Issue No. 252
Snackology is written and produced by Bill Kuchman. Copyediting by Tim Kuchman.
The Omnicosm founder. Snackology, Popculturology and The Cold Open writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
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