We can price out foodstuffs based on macro and micro-nutrients. This is in fact what many measures of inflation and consumer prices were doing especially from the early 20th century through the 1950s or 1960s.
Subsequently the CPI "market basket" approach dominated.
The fact that meat, especially beef, was a rarity in most diets, makes the Big Mac example not particularly germane.
I believe it's Adam Smith who noted that whilst the price of corn ("grain") is highly variable year-to-year, owing to fluctuations in crop yields, it was remarkably constant century to century.
The Green Revolution changed this, of course, though by some arguments, that relies strongly on unaccounted costs.
Subsequently the CPI "market basket" approach dominated.
The fact that meat, especially beef, was a rarity in most diets, makes the Big Mac example not particularly germane.
I believe it's Adam Smith who noted that whilst the price of corn ("grain") is highly variable year-to-year, owing to fluctuations in crop yields, it was remarkably constant century to century.
The Green Revolution changed this, of course, though by some arguments, that relies strongly on unaccounted costs.