I’m a McDonald’s superfan – what item the plastic toy replaced in Happy Meals and the surprising origins of the Big Mac

SINCE the 1940s some of McDonald’s most popular meals have gone through huge transformations to keep up with the everchanging world around them. The fast-food giant started out selling mostly hotdogs before it became what it is today. For kids, the original Happy Meal was called a Menu Ronald. Rather than a toy, it came […]

SINCE the 1940s some of McDonald’s most popular meals have gone through huge transformations to keep up with the everchanging world around them.

The fast-food giant started out selling mostly hotdogs before it became what it is today.

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The original Happy Meal came with a sundae instead of a toy[/caption]

For kids, the original Happy Meal was called a Menu Ronald. Rather than a toy, it came with something some kids may think is better.

The original idea allegedly came from an employee named Yolanda Fernández de Cofiño in Guatemala. Fernández de Cofiño developed the meal deal to cater to kids visiting her restaurant.

Before going national in 1979, the kid’s meal came with a hamburger, small fries, and a small sundae.

When it became a regular menu item, McDonald’s advertising executive Bob Bernstein suggested swapping the sundae for a small toy.

The company loved the idea and the first Happy Meals had a circus theme.

In 2021, McDonald’s announced they’d be swapping the plastic toys for “renewable, recycled, or certified materials.”

Big Mac fans can thank Esther Glickstein Rose, who was a 21-year-old secretary for the company’s advertising department.

In 1967 fellow employees laughed at the name, but it went on to become “one of the best-known product names of all time.”

It wasn’t until the 80s that McDonald’s Corp. finally gave Rose recognition for coming up with the name.

The biggest Big Mac fan in the world may be Donald Gorske, who has eaten one almost every day for the past 50 years.

Gorske, 68, has made it into the Guinness World Records  – and naturally, he celebrated his achievement by heading down to his local fast food outlet in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

The retired prison guard usually eats two Big Macs a day.

In August 2021, Gorske updated his own record for the most Big Mac burgers eaten in a lifetime with an official total of 32,340.

Gorske marked his 50th anniversary of eating the iconic burger on May 17 and has only gone eight days without the “best sandwich in the world” eight days since 1972.

Once was in 1982 when his local McDonald’s was shut during a snowstorm and another was on the day his mum died as a mark of respect.

He told the Guinness World Records about the first time he tried the sandwich: “I drove straight to McDonald’s, got my first three Big Macs, then got in the car and ate them.

“In that moment I said ‘I’m going to probably eat these for the rest of my life’.”

Gorske is so highly regarded by staff at his local McDonald’s that they have put up a portrait of him on the wall.

On the day of his record-breaking milestone, the branch put up a sign outside that said: “Congrats Don on 50 years of Macs.”