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Template:Foodbox 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 double-decker 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 biology teacher at Uniontown Area High School 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 the "griddle cake," a the baked product that contains an injection of maple-flavored syrup deep within the recesses of its griddle folds.

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. The Mega Mac began sale in Japan on January 12, 2007. 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 for an active adult male.

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 reference from Hip Hop artist Mad Skillz, who references the marketing ploy in his track "2005 Wrap Up" by stating "And I'm beefin' wit' Mickey D's man, y'all dead wrong, Talkin' 'bout payin' rappers to mention Big Macs in their song, We do rap from the heart, y'all better have some respect, Alright, Big Mac! Big Mac! Big Mac! Now where's my check?"

When he was in the White House, U.S. President William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton said that Big Macs were his favorite snack.^{[citation needed]}

In India, where Hindu and Islamic Sharia dietary laws prohibit Hindus from eating beef and Muslim from eating 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.[2] [3] 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".[4] 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^[1] that some McDonald's stores in Melbourne, Australia had introduced Halal meat for their Big Macs 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.

Nutritional values

In the United States, the Big Mac has 540 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.[5]

**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		800mg	201g	.au
Brazil	504	41g (14%)	25g (33%)	27g (49%)	3.5g (14%)	1023mg (43%)		.br
Canada	530	44g (15%)	24g	29g (45%)	3g (12%)	1020mg (43%)	208g	.ca
Denmark	497	43g	27.1g	24.1g			219g	.dk
United Kingdom	493	44g	26.7g	22.9g	5.9g	2250mg		.uk
Germany	494.94	39.42g	26.28g	24.09g				.de
France	492	38.9g	26.2g	25.8g	4.2g	900mg		.fr
Italy	505	43g	27g	25g	4g			.it
Japan	508	42.7g	26.1g	25.8g	2g	864mg	216g	.jp
South 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	1050mg	219g	.mx
New Zealand	464	33.9g	24g	25.4g		1020mg	195g	.nz
Turkey	496	49.8g	27.9g	21.1g		810.9mg		.tr
United States	540	45g (15%)	25g (45%)	29g (45%)	3g (12%)	1040mg (43%)	214g	.com

McDonaldland character

In addition to the McDonald's signature hamburger, Big Mac was the name of a character in McDonaldland, the fictional world created as an advertising campaign for McDonald's. Big Mac was similar to Mayor McCheese, except he was the chief of police, wearing a constable uniform and sporting a large Big Mac for a head.

The Big Mac jingle

The Big Mac advertising jingle ("Two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame seed bun") 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。"

References

^ Big Mac - Halal article in The Herald-Sun

External links

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

[1] Big Mac - Halal article in The Herald-Sun

[1]

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 The Big Mac was inspired by the Big Boy, a similar double-decker hamburger sold by the [[Big Boy (restaurant)|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  biology teacher at Uniontown Area High School 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. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
-According to a [[Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun|famous advertising jingle]], it consists of "two all-[[beef]] patties, [[special sauce (McDonald's)|special sauce]], [[lettuce]], [[cheese]], [[pickled cucumber|pickles]], [[onion]]s on a [[sesame seed]] bun," though the most distinctive feature is a middle layer of bread used to stabilize contents and prevent spillage.
+According to a [[Twoallbeefpattiesspecialsaucelettucecheesepicklesonionsonasesameseedbun|famous advertising jingle]], it consists of "two all-[[beef]] patties, [[special sauce (McDonald's)|special sauce]], [[lettuce]], [[cheese]], [[pickled cucumber|pickles]], [[onion]]s on a [[sesame seed]] bun," though the most distinctive feature is the "griddle cake," a the baked product that contains an injection of maple-flavored syrup deep within the recesses of its griddle folds.
 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. The Mega Mac began sale in Japan on January 12, 2007.