McDonald’s, the world-famous fast food chain, needs no introduction to the world and especially to the foodies! Two brothers first founded the American fast food franchise as a burger stand in 1940.
Over the decades, the chain exploded in popularity, introducing clever marketing campaigns, new menu items, mascots to boost brand identity, and innovations like the McDonald’s drive-through and Happy Meals.
Today, McDonald’s restaurants are in 120 countries and territories and serve 68 million customers daily. Its most famous items are their classic French fries ( or chips in the U.K.), Big Mac hamburgers, cheeseburgers and desserts.
However, a woman recently claimed that the famous Big Mac tasted awful. In a TikTok video posted on October 22, 2025, creator @_sivannatalie (Sivan Natalie) filmed herself trying McDonald’s famous burger for the first time. ( via Daily Dot).
At 13 weeks pregnant, she captioned the clip: “At the ripe old age of 30 and 13 weeks pregnant, I’ve finally tried my first Big Mac.”
“I’ve never had a Big Mac in my life,” she said in the video. “I don’t know what inspired this. There’s no rhyme or reason — I just decided to try something new on the McDonald’s menu.”
Before taking a bite, Sivan admitted she was nervous because, as she put it, “this is not real meat.” After a few bites, she gave her verdict and said, “It’s not terrible, but if I had to choose between this and In-N-Out… It just tastes synthetic, you know what I mean? I don’t think I’d ever crave it.”
The reactions after her statements were mixed. Given the cult following of McDonald’s, one user said, “You sound like a party pooper.” Some other users resonated with her and admitted they never opt to eat Big Macs even though it’s the outlet’s hot-selling item. “I’m 29 and never had one,” said one commenter. Another added, “I’m 36 and always stick to my usual order.”
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For those unfamiliar, the burger contains two beef patties, McDonald’s signature sauce, lettuce, pickles, and onions — all stacked on a three-part sesame seed bun. It’s usually quite filling and could contain calories up to 580. It was first invented in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, on April 22, 1967, and then it was sold for US$0.45 (equivalent to $4.24 in 2024).
When the woman showed her disgust on the video after eating the famous burger, many users claimed that it appeared to be bigger than the usual size. “My Big Mac is never that big, what the heck,” one person wrote. “Your hands must be small — I’ve never seen a Big Mac that size,” joked another.
The debate about whether Big Macs have shrunk over time is nothing new. In a 2024 Reddit thread, users reminisced about when the burger supposedly used to be “wider” and “needed two hands to hold.”
Big Mac went from $0.50 to $8 and lost 40% of its size from 1980-2024.#Bitcoin fixes this. pic.twitter.com/UE6zpipRwk
— Bitcoin Teddy (@Bitcoin_Teddy) October 2, 2024
However, fact-checkers at Snopes dismissed the online rumor. After investigating claims that the Big Mac had lost 40% of its size since 1980, the outlet found no reliable evidence to support it.
Even though the women on TikTok might have called the patty “synthetic”, McDonald’s claims that their Big Mac patties are made of one hundred percent ground beef with no additives, fillers, or preservatives, other than salt and pepper added after cooking.
For many other outlets in countries like India, where beef consumption is minimal, the iconic hamburger is replaced with their chicken alternatives like the “Maharaja Mac” (king-size burger).
it used to be an even BIGGER burger with special sauce, but it’s fallen to shrinkflation like everything else in the world
the “Grand Mac” on the right is the original size of the Big Mac, or pretty close to it, from when it was first added to the menu in the 60s pic.twitter.com/Bz9YsEhW5a
— nachiketa (@not_yo_kettle) December 8, 2024
Even President Donald Trump loves his burgers from McDonald’s. In his 2022 book “Breaking History: A White House Memoir”, Jared Kushner revealed the 79-year-old junk food lover’s order. It’s one Big Mac, one Filet-O-Fish, fries, and a vanilla shake. ( earlier it was a chocolate malt and two Big Macs).
