The other day I went down a fast-food history rabbit hole and, honestly, I was pretty surprised, so get ready — here comes a minute of completely useless but moderately interesting info.

It turns out that the famous McDonald’s nuggets are by no means a shapeless mass, as it might seem at first glance. They have strict standards and exactly four official shapes, which are precisely checked at the factories with special presses.
They are called “Ball” (round and dense), “Bell” (in the shape of a drop), “Bone” (which looks like a bow tie), and, my personal favorite, “Boot” — with such a distinctive protrusion at the end.

At first glance, you’d think, why go to such lengths for ordinary fast food? Just make them all identical little squares and be done with it — the conveyor would have an easier time.
But no, marketers believe that if the box contained absolutely identical, perfect geometric shapes, it would look too artificial, like molded plastic, whereas this creates the illusion of slight “craftsmanship.” 

Besides, the engineers have calculated everything down to the millimeter: the same volume is needed for even cooking so nothing burns, and different shapes provide different textures in the mouth. For example, the thin toe of the “boot” is much crunchier than the center of the “ball.”

So there I was, googling all this, looking at my cooling lunch, and thinking about how much effort humanity spends on designing chicken mince. Damn).

Anyway, my dears, if you ever think you’re doing something strange in life, just remember the people who spent years in all seriousness defining the shape of the perfect meat boot.