The Wild Origin Behind the 'Medium Rare or Medium Well' Meme Taking over Feeds
By Alexander Ross
To understand why the joke landed so hard, one must understand the emotional baggage attached to the meat doneness chart. For decades, traditional food media insisted that any beef cooked past 135 degrees Fahrenheit was ruined leather. Chefs openly mocked diners who requested well-done cuts, turning a personal preference into a public test of sophistication.
Social platforms inherited this dynamic and cranked up the hostility for engagement metrics. The culinary gatekeeping joke has been a reliable traffic generator on Reddit's culinary boards and Twitter cooking threads since 2012. The medium rare or medium well meme simply compressed that decade of internet hostility into a four-second audio loop.
| Doneness Level | Steak Cooking Temperature | Internal Texture & Color | Online Persona & Meme Stereotype |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rare | 120, 125°F (49, 52°C) | Cool red center, soft texture | The purist who claims to enjoy meat straight from the pasture. |
| Medium Rare | 130, 135°F (54, 57°C) | Warm red center, juicy | The "correct" internet consensus; treated as an absolute baseline of taste. |
| Medium Well | 150, 155°F (65, 68°C) | Slight hint of pink, firm texture | The anxious diner caught between food safety fears and social shaming. |
| Well Done | 160°F+ (71°C+) | Brown throughout, dry, dense | The villain of food culture; permanently mocked on culinary forums. |
The real battle depicted in the viral audio avoids the extremes. Nobody argues over raw versus charcoal. The humor sits right in the gray zone where medium rare meets medium well, the exact boundary where food snobs lose their composure.
Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.
