Big Mac

For other uses, see Big Mac (disambiguation).

The Big Mac is a type of hamburger, a signature sandwich sold by the McDonald's chain of fast-food restaurants since 1968, made with "two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun."

About the burger

The Big Mac was inspired by the Big Boy, a similar doubledecker hamburger sold by the restaurant chain of that name since 1936. The burger was invented by McDonald's franchisee Jim Delligatti at a location in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, before being picked up nation-wide. Frank Berardi, a retired biology teacher at Uniontown Area High School in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, claims to have served the first Big Mac to a customer when he worked at the old McDonald's at the shopping center on Morgantown Street as a teenager. The McDonald's owned by Jim Delligatti was demolished around 2001, and a new restaurant built in the same plaza about 300 feet (100 m) away.^{[citation needed]}

According to a famous advertising jingle, it consists of "two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun," though the most distinctive feature is a middle layer of bread used to stabilize contents and prevent spillage.

In some restaurants, McDonald's also offers a "Mega Mac" with four patties and an extra slice of cheese. In Canada, this is commonly available in most McDonald's restaurants under the name "Double Big Mac". In the United Kingdom, the "Mega Mac" was once available but has since been discontinued along with the Super-size option as a part of the healthier McDonald's menu. The "Mega Mac", however, has been for sale in Ireland since at least some time in 2004 and remains on sale.In Europe, larger burgers and buns were used to make a "Bigger Big Mac" as part of a limited promotion to celebrate the World Cup 2006, held in Germany. The burger was 40% bigger (compared to the weight of a normal big mac), and contained almost the same amount of saturated fat as the recommended daily allowance.

The Big Mac is known worldwide and is often used as a symbol of American capitalism. The Economist has used it as a reference point to determine the cost of living in different countries — the Big Mac index — since it is so widely available and is comparable across markets.

In 2005, McDonald's began offering product placement rewards to hip hop artists who namechecked the Big Mac in their music, giving US$5 to the artist for every time a song mentioning the hamburger was played on the radio. [1] This offer quickly spawned a satirical backlash from a group called the Gatbustaz, in the form of the song, "McGangsta." [2]

When he was in the White House, U.S. President George H. W. Bush said that Big Macs were his favorite snack.^{[citation needed]}

In India, where Hindu and Muslim dietary laws prohibit the eating of beef and pork, the Big Mac was renamed the Maharaja Mac and was originally made with lamb instead of beef; however, along with the company's other meat items it is now made from chicken.[3] [4]In Saudi Arabia, the two meat patties are "100% grilled; inspected Halal; no additives, fillers, binders, preservatives, extenders, or flavor enhancers. Only pure forequarter and flank".[5] There are also variations in other countries, especially to the condiments.

Burger King made a competing product called the Big King (or "Big K") burger which had similar ingredients and taste to a Big Mac. Hardee's made a similar product called the Boss Burger complete with Boss Sauce in the mid 1990s.

On 19 November 2006 it was reported in The Herald-Sun that some McDonald's stores in Melbourne, Australia had introduced Halal meat for their Big Mac's and some non-Muslim customers were furious they were not told their hamburger meat was Halal. McDonald's Australia were reviewing if they were going to implement this nationwide.

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.

Many have applauded the fact that Big Macs have become smaller over the years as McDonald's has grown increasingly responsive to the demand for lighter and healthier fare. McDonalds enjoys slightly higher profits from smaller Big Macs with the same price, although there is no linear relation, as (fixed) labor cost accounts for the major part of a Big Mac's cost structure—which is why "Super Size Menus" are so attractive for fast food chains. However, the non-health-conscious demographic disapproved of the reduction in size.

Nutritional values

In the United States, the Big Mac has 560 calories (2,340 kJ), 47 grams of carbohydrates and 25 grams of protein. In Australia, however, the burger is smaller with 480 calories (2,010 kJ), 36.2 grams carbohydrate, but similar amounts of protein with 25.3 grams.[6]

Comparisons of the Big Mac standard nutritional values in different countries (% = % of recommended daily allowance)

Country	Calories	Carbohydrate	Protein	Total fat	Dietary fiber	Sodium	Serving size (weight)	Reference
Australia	480	36.2g	25.3g	24.9g		800 mg		.au
Canada	530	44g (15%)	24g	29g (45%)	3 g (12%)	1.02g (43%)	208g	.ca
Denmark	497	43g	27.1g	24.1g			219g	.dk
United Kingdom	493	44g	26.7g	22.9g	5.9g	2.25g		.uk
Germany	503	44g	26g	25g				.de
France	492	38.9g	26.2g	25.8g	4.2g	900mg		.fr
India - West Zone (Chicken Maharaja Mac)	573	54g	32g	26g			255g	.com
Japan	508	42.7g	26.1g	25.8g	2g	864mg	216g	.jp
Republic of Korea	535	46g (14%)	27g (45%)	29g (57%)		750mg (22%)	219g	.kr
Malaysia	484	46g	26g	23g		730mg	209g	.my
Mexico	600	50g	25g	33g	4g	1.05g	219g	.mx
Turkey	496	49.8g	27.9g	21.1g		810.9mg		.tr
United States	560	47g (16%)	25g (45%)	30g (47%)	3g (14%)	1.01g (42%)	219g	.com

McDonaldland character

Main article: Big Mac (McDonald's character)

Jingles

The Big Mac advertising jingle as sung in other languages:

• Portuguese (Brazil): "Dois hambúrgueres, alface, queijo, molho especial, cebola e picles num pão com gergelim"
• Spanish (Argentina): "Dos partes de carne, salsa especial, pepino, cebolla, lechuga, queso y pan hacen el Big Mac"
• Turkish (Turkey): "Açsan, gidersin meke yersin bir Big Mac, çocuğuna da Small Mac."
• Chinese (Cantonese) (Hong Kong): "雙層牛肉巨無霸，醬汁洋蔥夾青瓜，芝士生菜加芝麻，人人食到笑哈哈。"

See also

• Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.
• McDonald's TV campaigns and slogans

External links

• Official product information for the Big Mac
• Official product information for the Maharaja Mac
• The Big Mac Index

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