McDonald’s food usually packs tons of flavor, but when it’s served with a side of COVID-19, every one of their iconic flavors falls flat.

Anyone who has had COVID-19 will know one of the symptoms is loss of taste. I decided to taste one of the world’s most popular fast food chains while experiencing this symptom and explain the sensations of a McDonald’s Big Mac and fries meal without taste.

I had this meal delivered as to not come in direct contact with anyone else. The bag was crisp, the drink was cold and the food was still decently warm when it was dropped off, made without any mistakes. This proved to be the only positive part of my dining experience.

Big Macs usually pack a punch when it comes to flavor, as it comes with an array of sensations and textures between the three pieces of bread. However, as soon as I took a bite, my optimism disappeared into thin air.

The bread was soft and almost airy, which was refreshing considering the size of the sandwich, but had no special taste. The sesame seeds sprinkled on the top bun were there but didn’t do much besides add a flavorless crunch to contrast with the soft texture of the bread.

The lettuce was very thin and odd with its crunch. Usually the lettuce has a nice crispness to it, but it was so thin that it was hardly noticeable to my taste buds. In fact, it was more of a nuisance on my tongue.

The Big Mac sauce gave the burger an element moistness and offered a different texture for palette but tasted like a bland mayo for the most part. It should be noted that, however, it is definitely an important part of the burger even without flavor. The sauce is a key component in the structure and the feel of the Big Mac.

The pickles were probably my favorite part of the sandwich. Out of everything, the pickles brought a whole new crunch compared to the flavorless mush that was the rest of the burger. The pickles make the sandwich worth eating when you cannot taste flavor, as they are mostly salty which is one of the few flavors I had to the ability to detect.

The meat was like a heavy version of the bread: mushy, a little tougher and still not offering a lot of in the flavor department. It did give me something to chew while everything else seemed to disintegrate in my mouth.

The fries were not excluded from this mushy texture. There was an initial crunch to them, but that only lasted for a few fleeting moments before the mush returned. They were nicely salted, though, which did entertain the idea of them having flavor.

The only planet this meal would taste good on is the dream planet I traveled to when I took nap later that day, a world in which COVID doesn’t exist and I actually had functional taste buds. The pickles truly saved this dining experience for me and may be the only reason I decide to eat there again when my sense of taste returns.

I would not recommend ordering your favorite McDonald’s meal while living with COVID. It was truly a traumatizing experience.