Someone Call The Sandwich Police!

I recently gazed in horrifying unbelief at Arby’s Meat Mountain sandwich. This thing came out in 2014, so I’m astounded I haven’t heard of it before, but there’s a good reason for that, as it’s famously not found amongst Arby's traditional offerings (likely for public health and safety reasons). Instead it’s available to diners in the know, similar to In-N-Out's animal-style fries or Starbucks' many infamous incognito concoctions. 

(Source: OnMilwaukee.com)

This towering pile of meat is the biggest sandwich the Sandy Springs-based fast-food chain has ever produced and sold in the U.S. It’s an ideal option for gluttons, and also for people who love to eat high amounts of everything, including meat stacked high like geological rock layers. It consists of two chicken tenders, roast turkey, ham, corned beef, smoked brisket, steak, roast beef and bacon. For most restaurants, that would be enough, but Arby's also added crispy onion strings, cheddar cheese and barbecue sauce, all stacked between a bun and pulled directly from PETA members' worst nightmares.

If you’re really hungry, the marketing material makes the sandwich look appealing. But as usual, there’s a big divide at the intersection of media pictures and reality. One Twitter user showed the unflattering reality of this barnyard of meat; one that would make even seasoned carnivores consider turning vegan.  

In any case, if you can unhinge your jaw like a snake, then you’ll do well getting this sandwich down the gullet. After that you’ll have to deal with so much fat and grease, your body is probably going to want to shut down real fast and take a nap.

Most of those calories from this sandwich come from protein (33%) and fat (44%), with a piddly 2 grams of fibre which won’t do much in helping digest this monster.

Here’s the full nutritional information:

• Calories: 1275

• Calories From Fat: 459

• Fat: 51g

• Saturated Fat: 20g

• Trans Fat: 1.5g

• Cholesterol: 225mg

• Sodium: 3640mg

• Carbohydrates: 58g

• Fiber: 2g

• Sugars: 8g

• Protein: 87g

There likely wasn’t much thought put into its invention. Perhaps something like:

Step 1: Take everything we have.
Step 2: Neve mind if it’s healthy just put it on a bun

If you ever think of trying this monstrosity, you probably won’t be the same after reaching that summit. An analysis revealed that the Meat Mountain is built with a whopping 120 ingredients, including 3,536 milligrams of sodium, which is 1,236 more milligrams than the FDA recommends per day. Even by processed food standards, that seems excessive.

Perhaps some day we’ll see the 2,000-calorie barrier broken in a sandwich and I have no doubt there are people that will happily accept the challenge. But I’m happy to say that fast food science hasn’t gotten there just yet. In the meantime, there is only one solution to the current fast food mess: