This week, a Wisconsin man made history. Not for some amazing scientific discovery or amazing athletic feat. Don Gorske celebrated heating a McDonald’s Big Mac nearly every day for 50 years. He has the Guinness World Record for most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime with 32,672.
Gorske claims that Big Macs make up 90-95% of his diet. He also says he drinks nothing but Coca Cola. His Big Mac habit started in 1972. After buying his first car, the first stop he made was to his local Mcdonald’s. He ate 3 Big Macs for lunch that day, and went back two more times, eating a total of 9 the same day he discovered the burger.
There have only been 8 days in the past 50 years that Gorske hasn’t eaten a Big Mac. But now he keeps a stash in his freezer for emergencies. He proposed to his wife at a McDonalds and he has a statue of Ronald McDonald in his yard. In 2008, Gorske said his OCD fuels his love for Big Macs – he records when and where he eats the burgers in a notebook, and he has kept every receipt.
The Big Mac was first introduced at Pittsburgh area McDonald’s stores in 1967. It was created by an early franchise owner who designed it to compete with the Big Boy hamburger. Before it was called a Big Mac, it was known as “The Aristocrat” and the “Blue Ribbon Burger”. The name Big Mac was created by an advertising secretary who worked at McDonald’s headquarters.
The new product was launched nationwide in 1968. By 1969 it made up 19% of total sales. By 2007, 17 Big Macs were being sold every second in the United States. There’s now even a Big Mac Museum. It’s in North Huntingdon, PA, and opened in 2007 to celebrate the iconic burger’s 40th anniversary. There you can find the world’s largest Big Mac statue and hundreds of historic artifacts and exhibits. Learn more here.