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McDonald's Big Mac Turns 40

By ASHLEY M. HEHER,

Posted: 2007-08-24 13:38:40

CHICAGO (Aug. 24) - Normally, a 40-year-old sandwich would be something to be avoided. Unless you're one of millions who flock to McDonald's each year to chow down on a Big Mac. The triple-decker burger, which helped breed America's super-size culture and restaurants' ever-expanding jumbo meals, is turning 40. For some fast-food junkies, that's cause for celebration.

Photo Gallery: Happy 40th McDonald's!

Diether Endlicher, AP

After 40 years as one of the most eaten fast food sandwiches, the Big Mac celebrates its 40th birthday. McDonald's estimates that 550 million Big Macs are sold each year in the U.S. alone.

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More Coverage: McDonald's Most Famous Employees

"The flavors that come together - it's like heaven in your mouth," said April Kohlhaas, a 31-year-old Chicago resident. "It's just tradition, like American comfort food."

The Big Mac was first introduced in 1967 by Jim Delligatti, a McDonald's franchise owner in Uniontown, Pa. A year later, it became a staple of McDonald's menus nationwide.

To celebrate the burger's anniversary, Delligatti, 89, and his family opened a Big Mac Museum Restaurant this week in North Huntingdon, Pa., full of memorabilia, celebratory exhibits and "the world's largest Big Mac statue."

Indeed, the sandwich has become a veritable pop culture phenomenon, spawning everything from an impossible-to-forget jingle ("Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame-seed bun," anyone?) to a currency-evaluation index created by The Economist.

Along the way, more people in more 100 countries have given in to Big Mac attacks, according to Oak Brook-based McDonald's Corp.

"The Big Mac is certainly one of our most popular sandwiches," said spokeswoman Danya Proud. "There is only one Big Mac and there will only ever be one Big Mac."

McDonald's estimates 550 million Big Macs are sold each year in the U.S. alone. Do the math and that's about 17 per second. Weighing in at nearly a half-pound, with 540 calories and 29 grams of fat each, that's enough to make nutritionists cringe.

"When it was eaten once in a while there wasn't anything wrong with it," said Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development. "It was just fast food, something fun once in a while. But then it became everyday fare."

Andrea Hawkins had her first Big Mac in high school and likes the treat so much she started a "Big Mac-aholics" group on the social networking Web site Facebook.

She has put her Big Mac attacks on hiatus while she gets ready for her wedding next month. But that's not stopping her friends from building a cake-like tower of McDonald's hamburgers for her upcoming bachelorette party. At the top, of course - a Big Mac.

"(The) first treat on the way to the honeymoon will be a Big Mac," jokes the 25-year-old from Dayton, Ohio, who prefers hers without cheese.

Love them or hate them, the Big Mac has grown from its humble beginnings to become a cultural unifier, said pop culture expert and author Rachel Weingarten.

"You can live in Beijing or Brooklyn and you can enjoy as your favorite snack a Big Mac attack," she said. "Maybe you didn't grow up watching the same cartoons, maybe you didn't grow up speaking the same language, maybe you grew up next door to each other and never said hello, but you suddenly have a point of reference - this warm, yummy, bad-for-you, sometimes-naughty thing."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2007-08-24 06:10:55

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321 comments

asg1936 01:45:45 AM Aug 31 2007

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This would be unique for me, a seasoned hamburger cooked in a smoker with mesquite, oak, hickory or applewood or maybe a blend of all 4 woods

asg1936 04:08:44 PM Aug 29 2007

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Lone Pine mentioned earlier on this board is where A Hudnred Yards Over The Rim a twilight zone episode was filmed, the two lane road cliff robertson walks across is hwighway 395 north which leads commuters to the mammoth mountain ski resorts

frrrfddd 12:22:19 PM Aug 29 2007

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my first job was at Mc D i eat the mack every day now the smell of one make's me sick but they are good

harmon14883 07:07:39 AM Aug 27 2007

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The Big Mac, considered by many (even the French) to be the most delicious, the most mouth-watering burger ever made. People just love them. People demand them. I just love the tangy sauce, the fantastic meat, and the unique tasty bunn. They are available world wide. One doesn't have to go very far to enjoy a juicy, delicious Big Mac. As a Frenchman, we are crazy about them. It is part of what have kept our two peoples so close. We may disagree on some tthing, but never about the mouth-watering Big Mac.

patrickbgawne 03:11:15 AM Aug 27 2007

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Big Mac Big Mac yum yum yum
Flavor fill my tum tum tum
Colon Cancer what a shame
Big Mac Big Mac you to blame

Thank You,
Thank you very much

calitay2000 03:02:05 AM Aug 27 2007

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I love McDonalds but because of the fat content I cant eat it like I use to. I use to take my kids there once a week for a meal, and not break the bank, not no more, when I take them now we stick to the dollar menu, and we only go maybe once a month now. Why can't they invent aa soy or vegi burger that takes like that, and yeah i agree it's in there specail sauce.

nr2187 02:45:46 AM Aug 27 2007

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kathlekrp 09:40:43 PM Aug 26 2007

Report This! i would rather have a white castle burger any day

nr2187

Report this! I tried one of those....once! But, I'm not from up north...and prefer fried foods rather than those steamed thru the holes.

ddonswn 01:04:34 AM Aug 27 2007

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THAT'S RUDE

ddonswn 01:01:11 AM Aug 27 2007

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The employees are rode, the food stinks and the kids love it.

bhkflowers 12:04:35 AM Aug 27 2007

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you ass hats. the sizes are the same your fat asses are twice the size they were 30 years ago and your fat hands make everything look smaller including your brains.

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321 comments