Don Gorske | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1953or1954(age 69–70) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Retired correctional officer |
| Known for | Record holder of having eaten the most Big Macs |
| Spouse | Mary Gorske (m. 1976) |
Don Gorske (born 1953or1954) [1] is an American world record holder known as the "ultimate Big Mac fan," having eaten over 34,268 [2] such hamburgers from the U.S. fast food chain McDonald's in his lifetime (as of March 2024), earning him a place in the Guinness Book of Records . [1] [3] A resident of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Gorske claims the Big Mac constitutes 90–95% of his total solid food intake. He is featured in the documentaries Super Size Me (2004) and Don Gorske: Mac Daddy (2005), and is the author of 22,477 Big Macs (2008).
Gorske claims that after getting his first car, the first place he went to was the McDonald's on Military Road in his hometown of Fond du Lac on May 17, 1972. [4] [5] He purchased and ate three Big Macs at lunchtime. He returned two more times to consume nine Big Macs the same day he discovered the burger. He further claims to have eaten 265 Big Macs the following month, an average of 8.5 Big Macs daily. If true, this would equal over 4,600 calories and 247 grams of fat daily, for 143,100 calories and 16.9 pounds (7.7 kg) of fat in one month. He also claims to drink almost nothing but Coca-Cola and, according to Super Size Me , he rarely eats the fries. At first, Don kept all the boxes of Big Macs he ate in the back of his car. In addition, he has a statue of Ronald McDonald in his yard. Gorske had a single Burger King Whopper sandwich in 1984 and never ate one again. Gorske tried the Whopper after his friend bet him $5 to do so, later spending the winnings on Big Macs.
In 2003, Gorske ate 741 Big Macs, an average of 2.03 Big Macs daily. Gorske is 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m), 185 pounds (84 kg), and claims a cholesterol level of 140. Daily consumption of two Big Macs amounts to 1,080 calories, according to McDonald's published nutritional information, [6] compared to the USDA recommendation of 2,200 calories per day. [7] Gorske consumes mainly calorie-rich food, but he maintains a stable weight by consuming fewer calories daily than the average American. He says his taste buds have always fluctuated in sensitivity, so he often eats a Big Mac without being able to taste it. [8]
Gorske commented in 2008 that his obsessive–compulsive disorder is what fuels his love of Big Macs, noting he also records when and where he eats his Big Macs in a notebook he always carries and that he has kept every burger receipt in a box full. [4]
On May 17, 2011, Gorske ate his 25,000th Big Mac at his favorite McDonald's restaurant in Fond du Lac. [9] On his birthdays, he puts candles in a Big Mac like a cake, and when Christmas time comes around, he treats himself to more Big Macs while his family has more traditional Christmas food. He claims that since he ate his first Big Mac, there have only been eight days on which he did not eat a single Big Mac. One of these days was when his mother died, and he did not eat a Big Mac to respect her request. [4] Other days included a "snow day" when McDonald's was unable to open due to snow, a Thanksgiving, days he was traveling and could not find a McDonald's, and various days Gorske had to stay at work past midnight. Gorske has since started keeping an "emergency stash" of Big Macs in his freezer for emergencies and snow days. [10]
Gorske ate his 30,000th Big Mac on May 4, 2018. [11] On May 17, 2022, Gorske celebrated 50 years of eating Big Macs nearly every day since May 1972. [12]
By March 2024, Gorske had surpassed eating 34,000 Big Macs. [2]
Gorske claims to skip breakfast, and the only other food he eats is a small evening snack such as ice cream, a fruit bar, or potato chips. His favorite food other than Big Macs used to be lobster, but in 2024 Don said the last time he ate it was "over 28 years ago." [2]
Gorske met his wife, Mary, in September 1973, and he proposed to her in the parking lot of a McDonald's three years later. Gorske ate a Big Mac before the start of their wedding ceremony. [10]
He was a correctional officer at Waupun Correctional Institution for 25 years, retiring in May 2011. [13] Just before retirement, at his first doctor visit since 1985, his cholesterol level was 156 mg/dl, below the average of 208 mg/dl. [13]
He appeared in the documentary Super Size Me . In the DVD extras for the film, it is revealed he works as a correctional officer. He also makes a cameo appearance in cartoon form in the film.
In 2006, Gorske appeared as a contestant on the game show I've Got a Secret . Celebrity panelist Billy Bean guessed the Big Mac as Gorske's food of choice.
On May 25, 2009, Gorske was featured on The Rachael Ray Show .
To celebrate eating his 25,000th Big Mac, he appeared on The Kyle & Jackie O Show on May 20, 2011, and Lopez Tonight on May 23, 2011. [14]
The Netflix series History 101 featured Gorske to start its 2020 episode examining fast food.
A hamburger or simply burger is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis; condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, or a "special sauce", often a variation of Thousand Island dressing; and are frequently placed on sesame seed buns. A hamburger patty topped with cheese is called a cheeseburger.
The Big Mac Index is a price index published since 1986 by The Economist as an informal way of measuring the purchasing power parity (PPP) between two currencies and providing a test of the extent to which market exchange rates result in goods costing the same in different countries. It "seeks to make exchange-rate theory a bit more digestible." The index compares the relative price worldwide to purchase the Big Mac, a hamburger sold at McDonald's restaurants.
The Big Mac is a hamburger sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced in the Greater Pittsburgh area in 1967 and across the United States in 1968. It is one of the company's flagship products and signature dishes. The Big Mac contains two beef patties, cheese, shredded lettuce, pickles, minced onions, and a Thousand Island-type dressing advertised as "special sauce", on a three-slice sesame-seed bun.
Michel Lotito was a French entertainer, born in Grenoble, famous for deliberate consumption of indigestible objects. He came to be known as Monsieur "Mouth" Mangetout. He started eating this unusual diet at age 9.
The Whopper is the signature hamburger and an associated product line sold by the international fast food restaurant chain Burger King and its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's. Introduced in 1957, the hamburger has undergone several reformulations, including changes to portion size and bread used. The hamburger is well known in the fast food industry, with Burger King advertising itself as "the Home of the Whopper" and naming its kiosk stores the BK Whopper Bar. In response to the Whopper, Burger King's competitors have developed similar products designed to compete against it.
Super Size Me is a 2004 American documentary film directed by and starring Morgan Spurlock, an American independent filmmaker. Spurlock's film follows a 30-day period from February 1 to March 2, 2003, during which he ate only McDonald's food. The film documents the drastic effect on Spurlock's physical and psychological health and well-being. It also explores the fast food industry's corporate influence, including how it encourages poor nutrition for its own profit and gain.
The Big King sandwich is one of the major hamburger products sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King, and was part of its menu for more than twenty years. As of March 2019, it is sold in the United States under its 1997 Big King XL formulation. During its testing phase in 1996–1997, it was originally called the Double Supreme and was configured similarly to the McDonald's Big Mac—including a three-piece roll. It was later reformulated as a more standard double burger during the latter part of product testing in 1997. It was given its current name when the product was formally introduced in September 1997, but maintained the more conventional double cheeseburger format.
The Heart Attack Grill is an American hamburger restaurant in Downtown Las Vegas, Nevada. The restaurant serves deliberately unhealthy junk food that is high in fat, sugar and cholesterol, which if eaten frequently, may increase the chance of a heart attack, hence the name.
Fit for Life is a diet and lifestyle book series stemming from the principles of orthopathy. It is promoted mainly by the American writers Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. The Fit for Life book series describes a fad diet which specifies eating only fruit in the morning, eating predominantly "live" and "high-water-content" food, and, if animal protein is eaten, avoiding combining it with complex carbohydrates.
Evidence suggests that either the United States or Germany was the first country where two slices of bread and a ground beef patty were combined into a "hamburger sandwich" and sold. There is some controversy over the origin of the hamburger because its two basic ingredients, bread and beef, had been prepared and consumed separately for many years in both countries before their combination. Shortly after its creation, the hamburger quickly included all of its currently typically characteristic trimmings, including onions, lettuce, and sliced pickles.
Fat Head is a 2009 American documentary film directed by and starring comedian and health writer Tom Naughton. The film seeks to refute both the documentary Super Size Me and the lipid hypothesis, a theory of nutrition started in the early 1950s in the United States by Ancel Keys and promoted in much of the Western world.
Criticism of fast food includes claims of negative health effects, animal cruelty, cases of worker exploitation, children-targeted marketing and claims of cultural degradation via shifts in people's eating patterns away from traditional foods. Fast food chains have come under fire from consumer groups, such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a longtime fast food critic over issues such as caloric content, trans fats and portion sizes. Social scientists have highlighted how the prominence of fast food narratives in popular urban legends suggests that modern consumers have an ambivalent relationship with fast food, particularly in relation to children.
The McDouble is a hamburger sold by the fast-food restaurant chain McDonald's. It is a variation on the double cheeseburger, with only one slice of cheese placed between the two beef patties. It was introduced in 1997. It is one of the cheapest products sold by the company, and for this reason is often included in the chain's budget menus.
Molly Schuyler is an American competitive eater. In 2013, she signed with the competitive eating organization All Pro Eating. She has stated that she "usually swallows her food whole."
Matthew Kai Stonie is an American competitive eater and YouTuber. Stonie won the 2015 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, dethroning 8-time defending champion Joey Chestnut. Stonie has gained fame from his YouTube channel, to which he uploads video footage of his eating challenges.
Eating live animals is the practice of humans eating animals that are still alive. It is a traditional practice in many East Asian food cultures. Animals may also be eaten alive for shock value. Eating live animals, or parts of live animals, may be unlawful in certain jurisdictions under animal cruelty laws. Religious prohibitions on the eating of live animals by humans are also present in various world religions.
Kevin Thomas Strahle, better known as the L.A. Beast, is an American professional competitive eater who hosts a challenge-based channel on YouTube. Strahle started making videos in his hometown of Ridgewood, New Jersey, before moving to Los Angeles, California. After several years at his home in California, he moved back to his hometown of Ridgewood. As of 2024, his channel has over 2.9 million subscribers & over 500 million total views. In addition to his online presence, he has made appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Today Show Australia and Tosh.0.
Thousand Island dressing is an American salad dressing and condiment based on mayonnaise that can include olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, paprika, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, vinegar, cream, chili sauce, tomato purée, and ketchup or Tabasco sauce. It also typically contains finely chopped ingredients, which can include pickles, onions, bell peppers, green olives, hard-boiled egg, parsley, pimento, chives, garlic, or chopped nuts.
Lisa Ann French was a 9-year-old girl from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, who was sexually assaulted and murdered by her neighbor, Gerald Miles Turner Jr., on Halloween night 1973, while she was trick-or-treating alone.
...said Gorske, a 64-year-old retired prison guard.
