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November 2, 2019 7:49 PM   Subscribe

 
The cautionary political tale of Iceland’s last McDonald’s burger that simply won’t rot, even after 10 years

You mean salty, dehydrated things last a long time? You'd think we would have learnt that at some point in human history...
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 8:10 PM on November 2, 2019 [24 favorites]


TLDR: It’s a weird Highlander thing where the hamburgers are immortal and there can be only one.
posted by compartment at 8:11 PM on November 2, 2019 [16 favorites]


Burying the lede: The main link features a livestream camera on the thing.

> According to museum staff, some of the fries had been eaten by museum guests.
This is a country where shark is fermented by letting it rot on the beach for a couple months before hanging it to dry.
posted by ardgedee at 8:20 PM on November 2, 2019 [10 favorites]


Any burger the size of a standard McDonalds hamburger if left out in the open will dry out before mold can form.
posted by ckape at 8:28 PM on November 2, 2019 [26 favorites]


When it comes to the fries, not only does the frying process remove water, but they're cut so fin that more water is removed per unit of volume than usual, thanks to the square-cube law. (This also enables McDonald's fries to contain more fat per unit of volume while being deceptively thin.)
posted by BiggerJ at 8:30 PM on November 2, 2019 [4 favorites]


The Icelandic children filed out silently into the darkness as the piped in Bjork soundtrack slowly faded on the speakers in the brightly lit Playplace. Goodnight sweet Ronald.
posted by fairmettle at 10:45 PM on November 2, 2019 [4 favorites]


It's the new pitch drop hotness with the kids.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 11:15 PM on November 2, 2019 [1 favorite]


Another buried lede here is the fact that a country managed to rid itself of Macdonalds. How did that happen? Did the locals simply not have a taste for the food? Or was there some kind of Nordic edict saying “we are not going to do this because it is not healthy for us”?
posted by rongorongo at 12:23 AM on November 3, 2019 [7 favorites]


If such Nordic edicts exist, I would like a couple to be pronounced here in Sweden banning bulk-bin candy and online gambling. Thanks.

The Swedes do the rotted-fish thing, too, only with herring. Shark sounds much more tasty somehow.
posted by Bella Donna at 1:37 AM on November 3, 2019 [1 favorite]


The Icelandic McDonalds failed because of supply chain issues; it was too expensive for the franchise-holder to have the processed McDonalds ingredients shipped over during the economic crash.
posted by The River Ivel at 2:33 AM on November 3, 2019 [14 favorites]


The years when me being a slovenly teenager and me living in a house with a well functioning air conditioner were coincident made it difficult for me to be surprised when foods of nearly any kind fail to visibly degrade even over long periods of time.

If the location becomes humid temporarily for some reason or bugs find the bounty, however, the situation can and will escalate from "merely revolting" to "definite hazard to public health that makes 'Livin' in the Fridge' seem like the epitome of good housekeeping in a matter of hours."
posted by wierdo at 4:13 AM on November 3, 2019


This is the internet I miss.
posted by Young Kullervo at 7:12 AM on November 3, 2019 [3 favorites]


I was kind of mystified to find that the patty’s details are hosted on a site that advertises a sketchy-sounding tourist lodging place. The reason I apply the adjective is that there are no prices, which pings my scamdar, but maybe there are Icelandic regulations that prohibit that? I would have taken an oath that I’d seen a piece on MF about this in the past, but apparently I am a bit sketchy-sounding lately too, because I found nothing...
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 7:38 AM on November 3, 2019


Bella Donna: "If such Nordic edicts exist, I would like a couple to be pronounced here in Sweden banning bulk-bin candy and online gambling. "

But, but...lördagsgodis!
posted by Chrysostom at 12:42 PM on November 3, 2019 [2 favorites]


Ok, but Twinkies last decades.
posted by kozad at 1:34 PM on November 4, 2019


On Icelandic radio there was a short little series of features about McDonalds' history in Iceland. Long story short, the people who started the franchise in the mid-90s made sure that nearly everything was sourced locally, but after they sold it in 2004, a mixture of changing corporate policies by McDonalds and the new owners not being as dedicated to getting things from local providers (which was admittedly difficult because McDonalds has very particular standards so a company would be loath to gear everything towards serving just that one client) meant that when there was a currency crash in 2008, the business became unsustainable.

The Icelandic franchises rebranded themselves as Metro, which they did practically overnight, and used the same foreign food suppliers as before, but didn't have to buy all the McDonalds branded things anymore and were able to survive. They still exist.
posted by Kattullus at 4:21 AM on November 5, 2019 [3 favorites]


> The Icelandic franchises rebranded themselves as Metro, which they did practically overnight...

Google Translate says the caption under the pic of looks-like-Happy Meal boxes says, "HAVE YOU CHECKED OUR CHILDHOOD," which is kind of aggro for a fast food joint.

(The complete phrase, since part of the caption lost its styling and slid down the page, seems to be "Hefur þú SKOÐAÐ BARNAHORNIÐ OKKAR Með öllum barnaboxum fylgir leikfang :)" and Google Translate says that means "DID YOU VIEW OUR CHILDREN'S CORNER With all the children's boxes comes a toy :)" which is a lot more marketing-friendly although the smiley at the end makes me wonder whether maybe they're being sarcastic anyway.)
posted by ardgedee at 6:01 AM on November 5, 2019 [3 favorites]


Is Metro selling Korean-style fried chicken?
posted by needled at 6:51 AM on November 6, 2019


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