In 2009, tragedy struck Iceland. No, not the Pots and Pans Revolution, something much, much, much more awful, for 2009 was the year that McDonalds left our beautiful country.
“Meat” & “Cheese”
It was a betrayal like that of Walder Frey and Rob Stark. While McDonalds, of course, didn’t kill any Icelanders with knifes and arrows, their departure hurt the morale of this fair country. Where else would hungover Icelanders stuff their face with “meat” and “cheese”?
In the face of this absolute terror, on the last day McDonalds was open, one brave Icelander, Hjörtur Smárason, bought the last McDonald’s cheeseburger ever sold in Iceland. Deciding he would preserve it, Hjörtur kept the burger and fries in a plastic bag for 3 years during which time it remained untouched by time or decay.
“I had heard something about McDonald’s never decaying so I just wanted to find out for myself whether this was true or not,” explained Hjörtur who initially donated the hamburger to the National Museum of Iceland after realising nothing had happened to the burger in the first 3 years it was in his possession. The burger stayed at the National Museum of Iceland for a few years before heading to the Reykjavík Bus Hostel, where it remained on display with a live feed web cam on it.
Currently, the burger resides at the at the Snotra House in Hella. Like the Bus Hostel, they’ve got a live feed of the burger and fries, so you can see them…not decay.
BURGER BASH!
Today though, is a majestic occasion, for the burger is officially TEN YEARS OLD. Yes, this burger is officially a pre-teen—and it looks no different from the day it was born. While the Grapevine refuses to take political positions against McDonalds, we will say that that is kind of…nasty.
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