This year, McDonald’s iconic burger creation, the Big Mac will have been served for half a century. To celebrate, the fast food chain will be handing out McCoins today in recognition of the Big Mac’s inventor’s birthday, Jim Deligatti. The McCoins may be redeemed for a Big Mac. More
21 Comments on Big Mac Turns 50
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I remember when big macs and whoppers were Actually BIG. Good times.
Now half the size and taste!
The Big Mac of today, is a sorry shadow of the Big Mac of 50 years ago.
Stopped eating fast food when they started employing people that hate me because I’m white.
I’ve eaten Big Macs exactly twice in my life. Each time, I up-chucked them into the toilet.
I remember my first Big Mac 1968 after my dad and I were coming home from Lions Drag Strip. 69 cents.
I like a Big Mac from time to time. Generally speaking McDonalds is consistently mediocre, you are not getting a gourmet meal, but what you get is not inedible either. My kids love their cheeseburger or McChicken and my kids are trim, fit and healthy as kids can come. Particularly compared to the larded up little meatbags whose parents like to criticize me for what I feed my kids. My kids diet diet consists primarily of deer, elk and game birds at home though.
Yup. Half the size, half the taste, yet double the price.
They bent over for Big Mike 0bama early on and wrecked their menu.
I mentioned here before that the last straw (currently unavailable in CA)for me was when they wrecked their french fries. I’m done with the whole brand.
And by the way, McDonald’s… Can a family of blacks or hispanics ever be on your ads WITHOUT them dancing? I swear on my ass, I’ve never seen such culturally stereotyped ridiculous ads for fast food in my life. There are more grandparents with kids in McDonalds. Where are they in your ads?
That reminds me, maybe spend that ad cash on a power wash for those ‘playlands.’ Sheesh!
“Generally speaking McDonalds is consistently mediocre”
LOL. Exactly.
In late 1968 I was waiting for my letter from the Army telling me when to report for Basic. Nobody wanted to hire me under those circumstances. Nobody but McDonalds that is. I was there when the Big Mac was introduced and helped put the first ones out there for our customers. People liked them a lot.
My memory is different from grayjohn’s and anonymous’s. I think the Macs of today are actually a bit bigger than the original ones, and today’s packaging is better. When first introduced, we put a light cardboard ring around the sandwich and then wrapped it all up in a foil/paper sheet. They got soggy fast back then.
Aside: I also saw the introduction of frozen French fries. My first “position” at McD’s was “fries man”. I’d get there early in the a.m. and wrestle two or three 50-lb bags of russet potatoes into the back kitchen where I’d wash, peel, slice, re-wash, and then blanch them so they wouldn’t turn black while waiting for the lunch rush. Scrubbing the deep fryers was also on my task list, and topping them up with what then was a 50:50 mix of vegetable shortening and beef tallow. I really miss those fresh French fries – they were much MUCH better than today’s.
I’ll always be grateful to McD’s for hiring me when they knew I wouldn’t be there very long.
I worked at McD’s way, way back when. Anybody else remember the packaging? The white collar around the sandwich which was then wrapped in paper then placed in the square, red iconic box. It actually worked extremely well at keeping the Mac hot, moist, tasty and tidy. Later they first stopped using the paper wrapping sheet then the collar went. The red box was replaced by foam and then the paper box. Too bad because now the Mac is usually a mess when you open the box which doesn’t keep the burger hot or moist. Today’s Mac is only a shadow of what it was back in ’75. By the by, it was one of the best jobs I ever had. It taught a hard work ethic, rewarded good performance, instilled teamwork and basically gave a kid the tools they would use for life. Seeing the action in a McD’s today I don’t think that’s available any longer to the same depth that we had it. Too bad.
Uncle Al- “and topping them up with what then was a 50:50 mix of vegetable shortening and beef tallow.”
*sigh* When they stopped that, that’s when I knew they weren’t serious about their ‘flavor’.
My comments aren’t to clown employees past and present and the company’s existence. I’m griping about the fact that they really disappointed me since they started catering their menu to people who exist in liberal fairytales. lol
First served at the McDonald’s in Uniontown, PA. I was born there. Our other claim to fame, besides the Big Mac, is that Uniontown was the birthplace of George C. Marshall.
I missed out on McD’s. So cal was taco bell and in and out land. I do remember lil’ burgers though. Quite the shock when I went there with my kids about a month ago. Big mac coke and fries was 10 bucks. 10 bucks? The hell did that happen? They make bigger, fresher burgers now…. but 10 bucks? Hell of a lot of better burgers out there for 10 bucks.
No matter what the subject, there are always contrarians on iotw.
I hope this means the concept of a Big Mac is 50.
Not the next hamburger served to me.
When they started adding Sriracha sauce to the BM I stopped thinking about them.
I have never eaten a Big Mac or any hamburger from a McDonald’s or any fast food restaurant.
There. My secret is out there.
I have never had one.
I like them. I usually have one about once a year or so, so I am not an into comparisons with how they used to be.
Carroll’s “Club Burger” urinated all over the “Big Mac.” Not to mention the “Barn Buster,” that started the whole burger competition.
Anyone besides me remember Whiz Burger in Portland in the early 70’s. They had good cheap hamburgers but the name Whiz Burger just wasn’t right if you know what I mean.