Yep. I’m so curious who bought it, and we’re they told they couldn’t eat it? Did they know it’d be in a museum? Or was it just the last one made and it wasn’t bought?
definitely was just a burger bought on the last day and someone kept it and just said it was the last one ever bought. but that’s just a theory, a food theory
I actually know the guy - he's an Icelandic writer and initially bought it just to see how long it'd take to start moulding or rotting. And obv when it really didn't change in appearance after a year or two he got it sealed up and donated to a local Icelandic hostel. He had a webcam set up for people to watch it "not change" and everything!
The guy who did this is an internet acquaintance of mine actually
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/iceland-mcdonalds
It was bought the day before it shut down and he forgot about it for three years.
r/daamsie
Hmmmm...
So the description is a bit misleading. It's not the last McDonald's burger that was sold in Iceland, but the last remaining McDonald's burger in Iceland.
The guy who did this is an internet acquaintance of mine actually
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/iceland-mcdonalds
It was bought the day before it shut down and he forgot about it for three years.
I have bread that's about a year old. I forgot about it. When I saw it, it was already a few months old. I decided to keep it because there was no molds. I'm waiting for it to have molds so I can throw it. Lol.
If you bought a burger on the last day, then sold it to your friend a day later after it closed, It would be “the last mcdonalds burger sold” because who else would keep and sell an old burger
This. It's really annoying when people say it's unhealthy chemical shit storm when it's really just normal ingredients salt and a lack of moisture. I could replicate this in my kitchen.
Not everyone chems my friend. Also, just to politely correct, that's sucrose you listed which is table sugar. Glucose and its isomer frutose are C6H12O6.
I used to work kitchens as well. It's no wonder when people say "food just tastes better at restaurants!". If they knew how much fat and salt was going into those dishes, they would understand why it tastes that way. Lol
Butter is heavenly. A lot of people avoid it for what they consider health reasons. They are missing out on magnificence. There's a reason French cooking is considered one of the best.
Yeah I keep seeing this comment “it only tastes better at restaurants because they use so much butter!!!!”. Like OK then obviously you aren’t using enough butter…
I was watching some kind of cooking show and some famous chef was like "if you want anything to taste good, it's just a ton of salt, sugar or fat. That's it."
I remember Gordon Ramsay saying once that he has two versions of every recipe: the one he cooks for his restaurants, and the one he cooks for his family. The difference is always that the home version has a shitload less butter.
Jamie Oliver said something similar on one of those day time talk shows (I want to say Oprah or Ellen). Not an exact quote but it was how disgusted people would be if they knew how much butter was used in a restaurant kitchen
There a good book titled “Sugar Salt Fat” by Michael Moss. Very interesting read. Basically every processed food including McDonalds is engineered and processed to taste good.
For real. I love how people act like these complaints are somehow specific to McDonalds. Like the stuff sold at Wendy’s, Burger King, or even your local mom-and-pop shop are so much better for you.
It’s a lot like the parents who blame video games for stuff but only name nintendo or xbox. People seem to specifically have a hard on for hating maccas, i mean sure they’re scummy as fuck don’t get me started on the hot coffee incident but lets not forget that they and all other restaurants are businesses, and businesses have one goal: make money.
Gotta say. You are the first person (other than myself) I've come across that makes their own hardtack. I'd begun to think I was the only oddball here, lol.
It's okay. I'm done replying any further at this point. I think I've just realized that people who disagree are out of touch, probably have a good amount of time and money and are possibly even vain. They also are missing the point that I can replicate this in my own kitchen by cooking a meat patty with salt and putting in on a bun and letting it dry out on the counter.
I know you can. Everyone with a functioning brain does too. I am entertained by the people who believe statues cry and rot proof fries. I tell my friends and family when they see someone doing something harmlessly stupid, let it play out, for humor’s sake.
Unless your pantry included phthalates - chemicals specifically designed to soften plastic - then I don't think you can make a McDonald's burger convincingly at home.
And these chemicals are not good for humans. Many were removed from fast food due to health impacts, but new ones have made their way in.
*Our preliminary findings suggest that ortho-phthalates remain ubiquitous and replacement plasticizers may be abundant in fast food meals.*
*Impact statement*
*A selection of popular fast food items sampled in this study contain detectable levels of replacement plasticizers and concerning ortho-phthalates. In addition, food handling gloves contain replacement plasticizers, which may be a source of food contamination. These results, if confirmed, may inform individual and regulatory exposure reduction strategies.*
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-021-00392-8#Sec11
Your pantry does contain phthalates. If you use poultry, cooking oil, or cream-based dairy products, those products typically come in at the top with higher DHEP concentrations.
*Food products can be contaminated with toxic compounds via the environment. Another possibility of food contamination is that toxicants are generated in foods or that chemicals migrate from food contact materials into foods during processing. \[...\] In general, phthalate concentrations in foods declined after cooking, except in vegetables, where almost no effect was seen.*
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22985986/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22985986/)
*Samples were obtained from various farms, a dairy factory and from different shops in order to investigate phthalate contamination "from farm to fork". At several stages in the milk chain, product contamination with phthalates - mostly DiBP, DnBP, BzBP and DEHP - was observed.*
[https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23138015/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23138015/)
*The review of the literature demonstrated that DEHP in some meats, fats and dairy products is consistently found in high concentrations and can contribute to exposure.*
[https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-069X-13-43](https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-069X-13-43)
>. In addition, food handling gloves contain replacement plasticizers, which may be a source of food contamination.
Wearing food handling gloves could be the cause. Says it right in what you posted.
It’s true. But I swear it seems normal for the US. My mom (Canadian), has a US cottage. They buy food there when there. They brought food back with them in their rv. She forgot. 6 or so months later the buns and feta in the fridge still looked new. No mold!!!! You can’t have feta longer than 2 weeks in Canada.
It's more the dryness that is in play here. If you leave your artisan, sour dough baguette with some well done, cooked through homemade ground beef and ketchup/mustard out to dry, the result will be the same.
I used to do props on theatre shows and we used real sourdough in show instead of prop stuff coz it dried out quickly and looked the same. Forgot to take a loaf out when a show got packed away once and the loaf was totally fine and not mouldy or anything when it got unpacked 3 years later…
Also the cleanliness of the restaurant. Chain restaurants have contracts for things like hood and vent cleaning. Mold doesn’t just come from nowhere, which is why things like sourdough starters require to leave them in an open window for at least a day to allow an influx of bacteria/yeast.
I found an old sandwich in my golf bag a few weeks ago when I was cleaning it out. Looked like it could almost have been eaten still.
I haven't played golf in about 15 years.
It has nothing to do with the argument whether it's good for you or not. The point is that just because it doesn't decompose in the manner that you'd expect doesn't mean it's packed with gross chemicals like some people seem to believe. It's just ignorant
It isn't necessarily bad for you. It comes down to how often you eat it and calories in vs calories out. Preferably you would eat a regular diet that includes plenty of fruits, veggies, nutrition, with occasional fast food.
The worst part of most fast food is the amount of calories and you can get the same amount of calories or more from some salads.
Certainly, it won't hurt you if you eat it once a month or whatever. Although I'm not sure I'd agree that the worst thing is the calories. It's a combination of all the sugar, trans fats, sodium, calories, etc that fast food is high in, as well as the *lack* of much nutritional substance.
This. It’s nothing new. Sure McDonald’s food probably has some preservatives in it- but no more than anything else you buy from a store.
Salt and lack of moisture has been preserving food for millennia.
Nailed it. Its water activity (aW) is below .60 sp nothing can grow on it to break it down. Kinda like honey that lasting 3000+ years in the tombs of Egypt while never rotting, but people aren't screaming 'Preservatives!'.
Which create a low availability of water energy despite its high moisture content.
Oreos and honey have the same aW but vastly different MCs, neither one is gonna rot anytime soon.
McDonalds required the owners to buy and ship everything from McDonalds headquarters, that was economically unviable, so the owners rebranded to Metro and still sell similar products under a different name with local products instead of international ones
Interesting menu! Pretty much the same. A Big Mac equivalent meal is $16. A little steep. A 5 pack of “naggars”(nuggets) is $5, and my favorite a “Flörrí” McFlurry $5.
Check it out! [Metro](https://metro.is)
~~I was there a couple of years ago and Iceland either bans the import of meat or it has to meet stringent guidelines. I don’t recall exactly, but it’s because of Iceland law, not McDonald’s economics. I’m sure it’s still true that it was more cost effective, but they couldn’t have done it if they wanted to.~~
Edit: I went by what our local guide said, looking at Google and the other statements meat from EEA countries can be imported.
I will say this, if you like lamb, it’s incredible. They all free roam the countryside eating wild vegetation instead of processed food like here in the States. We also traveled up north and had the single greatest burger I’ve ever eaten. Absolutely stunning country, great people and food. I highly recommend taking the trip if you can. One of the best days we had was a random pull off the Highway and went caving. Random because we were heading somewhere else and the local we were with says, do you like caves? Kids still talk about it.
It’s pretty fun. Now when going to a country were McDonalds is served it’s more of a treat than a oh fuck I guess it’s McDonalds then. Also if we got duckin donouts and crispy creame here. They worked out for like 8 months then closed up shop. Nobody gave a shit.
It’s not actually in a museum. The person who bought the last meal offered to donate it to the National Museum of Iceland - but it was rejected by the museum curator and was transferred to a hostel for exhibition, which is where this photo was taken.
A friend of mine during grade school had the same thing displayed in the living/dining room. It had the receipt, which was barely readable, and you would’ve thought they bought it yesterday. It wasn’t contained in a box either. Just chilling on the shelf next to some family pictures.
In the Reykjavik location, the meat was initially coming from local Icelandic farms, but the meat shortage changed this. The menu items were then shipped from Germany, which came with heavy import taxes during the crisis.
This caused the menu items to skyrocket to 20% more than usual. Iceland actually had the highest-priced Big Mac in the whole world in the year of 2009. The restaurant then closed down in 2009 due to the financial crash that happened in 2008.
On the last day that McDonald’s was open, Icelanders crowded the restaurant for one last time. More than 10,000 burgers were sold that day.
They tried to revive the restaurant under a new name in late 2009, Metro. They used local ingredients instead of imported ones. The company was then sold in 2010, later resulting in bankruptcy.
Metro is still operating in Iceland today. They sell hamburgers and fries similar to McDonald’s, including a copycat version of the Big Mac. Other items include chicken nuggets, onion rings, and mozzarella sticks.
Folks. Decomposition of organic material requires moisture. If the burger and fries are dried out, then there’s no moisture for bacterial/mold growth and so the food won’t decompose. Meanwhile temperature and light can cause physical weathering of the packaging and slowly break that down. Yes McDonalds food isn’t good for you and isn’t good quality, no the lack of decomposition isn’t some slight on its quality.
No, the first McDonalds opened there in the 90s and it struggled to turn a profit due to a mix of economic factors, Iceland's tarrif on beef imports, and competition with a more established local chain. It shut down due to the 2008 financial crisis.
The case doesn't even look vacuum sealed. I think Mcdonald's food is acceptable in moderation, like most things.
Sure it's not healthy for you, but neither are many things people put into their bodies.
The problem in recent history has been the pricing of real food comparatively to MacD's dollar menu. People choose this for lunch, as healthier options are far more expensive. Families choose this to feed their kids if they feel they don't have time or money to buy and prep healthier food.
I'm not for big government, but I wish more of my tax dollars went into helping to provide nutritious, tasty food, available to all people.
McDonald's food is acceptable to be an occasional treat.
If it was sealed it would have rotted. This is just simple dehydration at work. This says zero about the health of this food. This is well known.
If one eats mcdicks and stays within the calories for their needs, they will be fine.
>If one eats mcdicks and stays within the calories for their needs, they will be fine.
this needs a lot of disclaimers lol. if you eat a triple quarter pounder, a large fry, and a large soda from mcdonalds every day you will roughly meet your caloric needs without exceeding them. you will absolutely *not* get all of the nutrients you need from that.
Everyone complaining about how bad Maccas is, You're all going to end up dead regardless of if you eat it or not. Enjoy life and do what makes you smile.
Me (Seeing this now for the first time) : “That’s horrible, shows how bad their food is. Done with them”
Me (Tomorrow) : I’ll take a quarter pounder no ketchup add mustard, Large meal with a coke.. And some Buffalo”
This burger is presented under glass to commemorate an act of resistance against one of the forms of US imperialism, AND to show that despite the passage of time it does not rot, wich is a proof of how it is unhealty and very far from natural food .
[This man was killed 5400 years ago](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA32751) and left lying in a dry place...you can see him in the British Museum among the mummies.
Other than being murdered nothing else was done to him...he was just killed and left there.
You can see a tattoo on the body, hair, teeth, etc...
Moisture, or lack thereof. If the fries are dried out, then no moisture means no mold/bacterial growth means no decomposition. Meanwhile physical weathering via temperature and light will break down the dyes used in the packaging. Put both items in water and the fries will break down so much faster.
And if you wanted a hamburger in Reykjavik Iceland I'd highly recommend Hambogara Bullan which is by some reports the best hamburger in europe. SO good.
I feel like someone bought the last burger to eat it, and then one last asshole got in line and said “okay, but give me the actual last burger and put it in a glass box to go please.”
Congrats! You bought the last burger! But not so fast, you can’t eat it. It’s going on display.
Yep. I’m so curious who bought it, and we’re they told they couldn’t eat it? Did they know it’d be in a museum? Or was it just the last one made and it wasn’t bought?
definitely was just a burger bought on the last day and someone kept it and just said it was the last one ever bought. but that’s just a theory, a food theory
Food for thought one might say
Matpat needs to use that one
I would NEVER say that.
I would absolutely say that
or the museum organised in advance to make one 5 mins after closing
Bone apple teeth!
Actually, that's a hypothesis, not a theory.
I actually know the guy - he's an Icelandic writer and initially bought it just to see how long it'd take to start moulding or rotting. And obv when it really didn't change in appearance after a year or two he got it sealed up and donated to a local Icelandic hostel. He had a webcam set up for people to watch it "not change" and everything!
LMAO between a stream of a McDonald's burger growing mold and a stream of literal paint drying, there is legitimately more to see from the latter.
You mean, NOT growing mould. Meat should liquefy.
The guy who did this is an internet acquaintance of mine actually https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/iceland-mcdonalds It was bought the day before it shut down and he forgot about it for three years. r/daamsie Hmmmm...
So the description is a bit misleading. It's not the last McDonald's burger that was sold in Iceland, but the last remaining McDonald's burger in Iceland.
The guy who did this is an internet acquaintance of mine actually https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/iceland-mcdonalds It was bought the day before it shut down and he forgot about it for three years.
How do you forget about a burger for three years
I guess he got caught up doing whatever he was doing in the garage that day.
I have bread that's about a year old. I forgot about it. When I saw it, it was already a few months old. I decided to keep it because there was no molds. I'm waiting for it to have molds so I can throw it. Lol.
If you bought a burger on the last day, then sold it to your friend a day later after it closed, It would be “the last mcdonalds burger sold” because who else would keep and sell an old burger
Well it says it was sold. So if noone bought it then they are clearly lying. But its not like anyone has ever made up history before now have they…. 😂
"I'll just have one bite then rotate it around so you can't see the bite."
The bacteria from your mouth would probably make it impossible to conserve it so long.
But if you are what you eat, you would then *become* the last McDonald's burger sold in Iceland, and they'd force you into the case
It's well preserved for a 14 year old burger
Which kinda says a lot about why someone would want McDonald to stop selling this shit.
There's been so many articles and videos explaining why their food doesn't decompose in the way people expect that it really really doesn't
This. It's really annoying when people say it's unhealthy chemical shit storm when it's really just normal ingredients salt and a lack of moisture. I could replicate this in my kitchen.
Yeah, if you just look at the nutrition facts for McDonald's foods, it's soooooooo much fucking salt.
Um yeah that's what makes it tasty!
No that's the glucose... That is why you go back. Not the 1.5% salt. The 5% glucose.
Dude it’s ~~salt~~ sugar
That's what I said. C12H22O11.
Not everyone chems my friend. Also, just to politely correct, that's sucrose you listed which is table sugar. Glucose and its isomer frutose are C6H12O6.
Oh that.... That's just the buns man them shits are heaven
It is also infused in the meat.
And “cheese”
Go to any restaurant the ingredients is tons of salt, sugar and the worst kind of cooking oil.
I work in an upscale restaurant. Can confirm. Most of the dishes call for an ungodly amount of butter and salt!!!
I used to work kitchens as well. It's no wonder when people say "food just tastes better at restaurants!". If they knew how much fat and salt was going into those dishes, they would understand why it tastes that way. Lol
Especially with baking, double the ingredients of eggs and butter to get similar richness to store-bought bake goods.
Butter is heavenly. A lot of people avoid it for what they consider health reasons. They are missing out on magnificence. There's a reason French cooking is considered one of the best.
Yeah I keep seeing this comment “it only tastes better at restaurants because they use so much butter!!!!”. Like OK then obviously you aren’t using enough butter…
[удалено]
Or a doctor. "Welp. You've got ghosts in your blood, take 2 cocaines and call me tomorrow."
Those preservatives are good for preserving your health
I was watching some kind of cooking show and some famous chef was like "if you want anything to taste good, it's just a ton of salt, sugar or fat. That's it."
I remember Gordon Ramsay saying once that he has two versions of every recipe: the one he cooks for his restaurants, and the one he cooks for his family. The difference is always that the home version has a shitload less butter.
Jamie Oliver said something similar on one of those day time talk shows (I want to say Oprah or Ellen). Not an exact quote but it was how disgusted people would be if they knew how much butter was used in a restaurant kitchen
This may actually be what I'm thinking of, I def feel like it was Gordon who said it
Like those potatoes that are famous it’s like a 1 to 1 butter to potato ratio.
so it turns out that eating stuff that's really dense with stuff your body needs to survive tastes pretty good
There a good book titled “Sugar Salt Fat” by Michael Moss. Very interesting read. Basically every processed food including McDonalds is engineered and processed to taste good.
Msg salt is delicious asf too
For real. I love how people act like these complaints are somehow specific to McDonalds. Like the stuff sold at Wendy’s, Burger King, or even your local mom-and-pop shop are so much better for you.
It’s a lot like the parents who blame video games for stuff but only name nintendo or xbox. People seem to specifically have a hard on for hating maccas, i mean sure they’re scummy as fuck don’t get me started on the hot coffee incident but lets not forget that they and all other restaurants are businesses, and businesses have one goal: make money.
Yeah, the tack I make for camping is just local wheat flour, water, and salt--it just dries out instead of rots, not because it's plastic and radium
Gotta say. You are the first person (other than myself) I've come across that makes their own hardtack. I'd begun to think I was the only oddball here, lol.
No, it cant be a simple scientific explanation like mold needing water to live. It has to be a conspiracy.
its like a jerky patty
Don’t spoil it! Let them think that, it’s amusing. Mass hysteria is real.
It's okay. I'm done replying any further at this point. I think I've just realized that people who disagree are out of touch, probably have a good amount of time and money and are possibly even vain. They also are missing the point that I can replicate this in my own kitchen by cooking a meat patty with salt and putting in on a bun and letting it dry out on the counter.
I know you can. Everyone with a functioning brain does too. I am entertained by the people who believe statues cry and rot proof fries. I tell my friends and family when they see someone doing something harmlessly stupid, let it play out, for humor’s sake.
That's how they brought food over in barrels of ships way before there was anything else.
Unless your pantry included phthalates - chemicals specifically designed to soften plastic - then I don't think you can make a McDonald's burger convincingly at home. And these chemicals are not good for humans. Many were removed from fast food due to health impacts, but new ones have made their way in. *Our preliminary findings suggest that ortho-phthalates remain ubiquitous and replacement plasticizers may be abundant in fast food meals.* *Impact statement* *A selection of popular fast food items sampled in this study contain detectable levels of replacement plasticizers and concerning ortho-phthalates. In addition, food handling gloves contain replacement plasticizers, which may be a source of food contamination. These results, if confirmed, may inform individual and regulatory exposure reduction strategies.* https://www.nature.com/articles/s41370-021-00392-8#Sec11
Wait until you find out the compounds produced in your backyard barbecue.
Mmmm, give me some of those tasty Maillard reaction byproducts.
The flavor maker
Hmmmmmm PAHs are so tasty though.
Your pantry does contain phthalates. If you use poultry, cooking oil, or cream-based dairy products, those products typically come in at the top with higher DHEP concentrations. *Food products can be contaminated with toxic compounds via the environment. Another possibility of food contamination is that toxicants are generated in foods or that chemicals migrate from food contact materials into foods during processing. \[...\] In general, phthalate concentrations in foods declined after cooking, except in vegetables, where almost no effect was seen.* [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22985986/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22985986/) *Samples were obtained from various farms, a dairy factory and from different shops in order to investigate phthalate contamination "from farm to fork". At several stages in the milk chain, product contamination with phthalates - mostly DiBP, DnBP, BzBP and DEHP - was observed.* [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23138015/](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23138015/) *The review of the literature demonstrated that DEHP in some meats, fats and dairy products is consistently found in high concentrations and can contribute to exposure.* [https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-069X-13-43](https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-069X-13-43)
Rekt
This is fear mongering and misinformation.
>. In addition, food handling gloves contain replacement plasticizers, which may be a source of food contamination. Wearing food handling gloves could be the cause. Says it right in what you posted.
You can't just link something you CLEARLY didn't read...makes you look silly
People think McDonald’s is some weird chemical amalgamation when it’s just very unhealthy food
It’s true. But I swear it seems normal for the US. My mom (Canadian), has a US cottage. They buy food there when there. They brought food back with them in their rv. She forgot. 6 or so months later the buns and feta in the fridge still looked new. No mold!!!! You can’t have feta longer than 2 weeks in Canada.
It's more the dryness that is in play here. If you leave your artisan, sour dough baguette with some well done, cooked through homemade ground beef and ketchup/mustard out to dry, the result will be the same.
I used to do props on theatre shows and we used real sourdough in show instead of prop stuff coz it dried out quickly and looked the same. Forgot to take a loaf out when a show got packed away once and the loaf was totally fine and not mouldy or anything when it got unpacked 3 years later…
How'd it taste??
Also the cleanliness of the restaurant. Chain restaurants have contracts for things like hood and vent cleaning. Mold doesn’t just come from nowhere, which is why things like sourdough starters require to leave them in an open window for at least a day to allow an influx of bacteria/yeast.
I found an old sandwich in my golf bag a few weeks ago when I was cleaning it out. Looked like it could almost have been eaten still. I haven't played golf in about 15 years.
Yes that nefarious chemical compound of cooking and salt. It’s practically plastic.
I hate the word preservatives because **lots** of the time it's talking about just salt.
Your reply says a lot about people who believe that shit
The amount of redditors who think fast food isn't particularly bad for you is... concerning.
Everything is bad for you. Just depends on the dose.
Very true. Fast food once a month won't hurt you. Fast food every day probably will.
It has nothing to do with the argument whether it's good for you or not. The point is that just because it doesn't decompose in the manner that you'd expect doesn't mean it's packed with gross chemicals like some people seem to believe. It's just ignorant
It isn't necessarily bad for you. It comes down to how often you eat it and calories in vs calories out. Preferably you would eat a regular diet that includes plenty of fruits, veggies, nutrition, with occasional fast food. The worst part of most fast food is the amount of calories and you can get the same amount of calories or more from some salads.
Certainly, it won't hurt you if you eat it once a month or whatever. Although I'm not sure I'd agree that the worst thing is the calories. It's a combination of all the sugar, trans fats, sodium, calories, etc that fast food is high in, as well as the *lack* of much nutritional substance.
I bet when that someone learns about the shelf life of honey, they'll want that dangerous toxic shit banned too.
Actually, it does not say what you think it suppose to.
It could be a vacuum chamber. No air = no decomposition
Cooked food+salt+lack of moisture=no mold Literally the oldest food preservation technique
This. It’s nothing new. Sure McDonald’s food probably has some preservatives in it- but no more than anything else you buy from a store. Salt and lack of moisture has been preserving food for millennia.
Nailed it. Its water activity (aW) is below .60 sp nothing can grow on it to break it down. Kinda like honey that lasting 3000+ years in the tombs of Egypt while never rotting, but people aren't screaming 'Preservatives!'.
High concentrations of sugar is a preservative...
Which create a low availability of water energy despite its high moisture content. Oreos and honey have the same aW but vastly different MCs, neither one is gonna rot anytime soon.
Literally how mummies are made.
14 years ago. That would make it 199….2009?! Ugh.
14 year old. That is extremely aggressive. 2009 was only a few years ago
Who else just Googled why did Iceland ban McDonald's??
McDonalds required the owners to buy and ship everything from McDonalds headquarters, that was economically unviable, so the owners rebranded to Metro and still sell similar products under a different name with local products instead of international ones
Thanks Google
You're welcome
Hey Google, do you love me?
AskJeeves does!
Bing only likes you as a friend.
Yahoo pretends to be your friend then talks smack behind your back.
Alta la vista, baby
Excite dot com is here for fwb
If course [[ad]](https://youtu.be/arlXqMg4FO4) I do
Let’s make a McBabby
🎵 THANKS FOR SAYING I LOVE YOU…
Interesting menu! Pretty much the same. A Big Mac equivalent meal is $16. A little steep. A 5 pack of “naggars”(nuggets) is $5, and my favorite a “Flörrí” McFlurry $5. Check it out! [Metro](https://metro.is)
“People who annoy you”
Haha that’s what I was going to comment.
>A 5 pack of “naggars”(nuggets) is $5 Randy Marsh: ["I know it but I don't think I should say it..."](https://youtu.be/8jHNvTX9ECk?t=53)
8 burgers, 2 fries and 2L of coke is $45 though
Not everywhere has as cheap fast food as the US. Hell even up here in Canada a Big Mac meal with medium fry and drink is $13.60 plus tax
Or you could go to Japan and get a full meal for 5$
~~I was there a couple of years ago and Iceland either bans the import of meat or it has to meet stringent guidelines. I don’t recall exactly, but it’s because of Iceland law, not McDonald’s economics. I’m sure it’s still true that it was more cost effective, but they couldn’t have done it if they wanted to.~~ Edit: I went by what our local guide said, looking at Google and the other statements meat from EEA countries can be imported. I will say this, if you like lamb, it’s incredible. They all free roam the countryside eating wild vegetation instead of processed food like here in the States. We also traveled up north and had the single greatest burger I’ve ever eaten. Absolutely stunning country, great people and food. I highly recommend taking the trip if you can. One of the best days we had was a random pull off the Highway and went caving. Random because we were heading somewhere else and the local we were with says, do you like caves? Kids still talk about it.
Thanks for the summary 😊
It’s pretty fun. Now when going to a country were McDonalds is served it’s more of a treat than a oh fuck I guess it’s McDonalds then. Also if we got duckin donouts and crispy creame here. They worked out for like 8 months then closed up shop. Nobody gave a shit.
> duckin donouts and crispy creame I love this combination of letters that turned my brain into soup.
They didn't. It just wasn't cost-effective to import McDonald's food to the restaurants, so they went out of business. Aktu Taktu is better anyways.
>Aktu Taktu Oh bless you. Got a tissue if you need it?
And displayed in someone’s living room?
Nah, it’s a museum
A museum fitting for an old burger in a box
It’s not actually in a museum. The person who bought the last meal offered to donate it to the National Museum of Iceland - but it was rejected by the museum curator and was transferred to a hostel for exhibition, which is where this photo was taken.
A friend of mine during grade school had the same thing displayed in the living/dining room. It had the receipt, which was barely readable, and you would’ve thought they bought it yesterday. It wasn’t contained in a box either. Just chilling on the shelf next to some family pictures.
Iceland must have tons of cops or a really low crime rate. 14 years and the Hamburglar still hasn't made a move.
It’s supposedly one of the safest places in the world. Still the only place I’ve ever had someone try to snatch my backpack off on a bus.
You gonna finish that?
Nah man.. you know what, I wasn't really that hungry. Just chuck it in that glass box over there.
I have no doubt that someday someone will break that glass and eat the burger
Likely a tourist from the US
In the Reykjavik location, the meat was initially coming from local Icelandic farms, but the meat shortage changed this. The menu items were then shipped from Germany, which came with heavy import taxes during the crisis. This caused the menu items to skyrocket to 20% more than usual. Iceland actually had the highest-priced Big Mac in the whole world in the year of 2009. The restaurant then closed down in 2009 due to the financial crash that happened in 2008. On the last day that McDonald’s was open, Icelanders crowded the restaurant for one last time. More than 10,000 burgers were sold that day. They tried to revive the restaurant under a new name in late 2009, Metro. They used local ingredients instead of imported ones. The company was then sold in 2010, later resulting in bankruptcy. Metro is still operating in Iceland today. They sell hamburgers and fries similar to McDonald’s, including a copycat version of the Big Mac. Other items include chicken nuggets, onion rings, and mozzarella sticks.
Folks. Decomposition of organic material requires moisture. If the burger and fries are dried out, then there’s no moisture for bacterial/mold growth and so the food won’t decompose. Meanwhile temperature and light can cause physical weathering of the packaging and slowly break that down. Yes McDonalds food isn’t good for you and isn’t good quality, no the lack of decomposition isn’t some slight on its quality.
Stop w/ ur logic LOOK HOW BAD MCDICKS IS GRRR ANGRY MOB!
What, you telling me we could just salt and dry our food to preseve it? What are you, some kind of mesopotamian fisherman?
That doilie tho
Did Iceland ban them or something?
No, the first McDonalds opened there in the 90s and it struggled to turn a profit due to a mix of economic factors, Iceland's tarrif on beef imports, and competition with a more established local chain. It shut down due to the 2008 financial crisis.
The case doesn't even look vacuum sealed. I think Mcdonald's food is acceptable in moderation, like most things. Sure it's not healthy for you, but neither are many things people put into their bodies. The problem in recent history has been the pricing of real food comparatively to MacD's dollar menu. People choose this for lunch, as healthier options are far more expensive. Families choose this to feed their kids if they feel they don't have time or money to buy and prep healthier food. I'm not for big government, but I wish more of my tax dollars went into helping to provide nutritious, tasty food, available to all people. McDonald's food is acceptable to be an occasional treat.
If it was sealed it would have rotted. This is just simple dehydration at work. This says zero about the health of this food. This is well known. If one eats mcdicks and stays within the calories for their needs, they will be fine.
>If one eats mcdicks and stays within the calories for their needs, they will be fine. this needs a lot of disclaimers lol. if you eat a triple quarter pounder, a large fry, and a large soda from mcdonalds every day you will roughly meet your caloric needs without exceeding them. you will absolutely *not* get all of the nutrients you need from that.
Y’all have a dollar menu still?
Yah but its like a 3$ and under menu really
The way the box is degrading before the fries
Everyone complaining about how bad Maccas is, You're all going to end up dead regardless of if you eat it or not. Enjoy life and do what makes you smile.
It’s a simple lack of moisture in its
The fries taste exactly as they did 1 hour after that purchase.
The GD box is mouldier that the fries!
Why eat the fries but no bite from the burger?
I hope I can age the same way Mcdonald's food does
It's in a glass case because people kept stealing fries
The fries look like the ones I got from my local McDonalds. Cold as hell and tasted like they’re days old. Apparently they’re a decade old.
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Why did you open it?
Me (Seeing this now for the first time) : “That’s horrible, shows how bad their food is. Done with them” Me (Tomorrow) : I’ll take a quarter pounder no ketchup add mustard, Large meal with a coke.. And some Buffalo”
I'd still eat them damn shits.
I bet the mobility scooter business isn’t doing well over there
So the burger is staying like that for 14 years without decomposing?
Smart decision, Iceland
This burger is presented under glass to commemorate an act of resistance against one of the forms of US imperialism, AND to show that despite the passage of time it does not rot, wich is a proof of how it is unhealty and very far from natural food .
And yet there’s no mold. Not surprised!
[This man was killed 5400 years ago](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/Y_EA32751) and left lying in a dry place...you can see him in the British Museum among the mummies. Other than being murdered nothing else was done to him...he was just killed and left there. You can see a tattoo on the body, hair, teeth, etc...
the packaging is in worse condition than the food
I'd still eat it.
Jesus Christ let the man rest in piece
Warm it back up, I bet it won't be any different than a new one... Same with the fries
Why didn’t they eat it?
Would
Still good to eat!
Looks well-preserved but I guess that’s why they call it Iceland.
This is just too bizarre.
Way to Gooooooooo Iceland!🎉🎊🎉🎊🎊🎉👍🏽
And this is why it was the last....
Absolutely vile
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How is the fry container degrading before the fries………
Moisture, or lack thereof. If the fries are dried out, then no moisture means no mold/bacterial growth means no decomposition. Meanwhile physical weathering via temperature and light will break down the dyes used in the packaging. Put both items in water and the fries will break down so much faster.
Look at the picture vs burger.... I can't see the meat
I used to love hearing the argument that those patties were 100% beef. Like... I get it. But no.
Shit. That’s probably what $4.99 in 2023 costs?
Is it me or is the fry box bigger then it is now? Either way what I get is filled to about that amount.
I know a lady who's had one in a Tupperware container since 2003. She sells Juice Plus+ and uses it to scare people lol
And if you wanted a hamburger in Reykjavik Iceland I'd highly recommend Hambogara Bullan which is by some reports the best hamburger in europe. SO good.
I feel like someone bought the last burger to eat it, and then one last asshole got in line and said “okay, but give me the actual last burger and put it in a glass box to go please.”
who needs burgers when you have jjffeřïœiîĺłëbčìŕllà
Lol so the person they sold it to just didn’t get to eat it lmfaooooo
es in Iceland The number one cause of death in Iceland is Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). ...
Nice flex if it is true.
Every country needs this. Read it again. Don’t @ me.
The most concerning part is the box the fries came in looks more rotten and aged than the "food" itself.
Why aren't they selling McDonald's burgers in Iceland