Whopper

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the chocolate-coated malted milk candy, see Whoppers. For other meanings, see Whopper (disambiguation).

Whopper
Serving size	1 sandwich (290g) Jr. ( g)
Energy	670 Jr. xxx cal
Energy from fat	350 Jr. xx cal
Total fat	39 g (60%) Jr. x g ( %)
Saturated fat	11 g (61%) Jr. x g
Trans fat	1.5 g Jr. x g
Sodium	1g (42%) Jr. x g ( %)
Dietary fiber	3 g (12%) Jr. x g ( %)
Sugars	11 g Jr. x g
Protein	28 g Jr. x g
Source	www.BK.com (PDF)
Notes	May vary outside US market. US % Daily Value based on 2000 calorie diet.

The Whopper sandwich is the signature product sold by the international fast-food restaurant chain Burger King. The term "Whopper" also refers to the sandwich's variations. "Whopper" is an old-fashioned slang term for something large and imposing.^[1][2]

Contents 1 Product description 2 Variants 3 History 4 Competition 5 Notes 6 Popular Culture 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Product description

The Original Whopper sandwich is a hamburger, consisting of a quarter-pound fire-grilled beef patty, sesame seed bun, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, pickles, ketchup, and sliced onion. Optional ingredients such as American cheese, bacon, mustard or Jalapeño peppers may be added upon request. Regional and international condiments include BBQ sauce, Salsa and Guacamole. BK will also add any condiment it sells, including Tartar sauce, honey mustard, Steak sauce and hot sauce.

Different promotional varieties have appeared throughout the years for a limited time.

[edit] Variants

The standard variants of the Whopper sandwich are:

• The Original Whopper (1 Burger King 1/4 lb hamburger patty)
• The Double Whopper (2 Burger King 1/4 lb hamburger patties)
• The Triple Whopper with cheese (3 Burger King 1/4 lb hamburger patties)
• The Whopper, Jr. (1 Burger King 2.2 oz hamburger patty)

Other variants available:

• The Veggie Whopper (a Whopper without the meat patty; not to be confused with the BK Veggie)
• The Double Whopper, Jr. (2 smaller Burger King 2.5 oz hamburger patties)
• The Triple Whopper (3 Burger King 1/4 lb hamburger patties)
  The standard Triple Whopper has cheese as part of the sandwich, you have to ask not to have cheese included.

Previous promotional products:

• The Extreme Whopper w/ Cheese (double order of American cheese and 8 half pieces of bacon)
• The Fiesta Whopper (Salsa and pepperjack cheese)
• The Western Whopper (BBQ sauce, cheddar cheese and bacon)
• The Bacon Swiss Whopper (Swiss Cheese and bacon)
• The California Fresh Whopper is made with a sour cream-onion dressing and cucumbers instead of pickles and Mayo.
  Available in Sweden
• The Whopper Mexican has hot sauce and hot peppers instead of mayo and pickles.
  Available in Sweden
• The Texas Double Whopper (Jalapeño peppers, bacon and mustard and no ketchup)

Regional variants:

• Mustard Whopper (mustard is substituted for mayonnaise)
  Available in the US states of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas
• The Rodeo Whopper, (onion rings and barbecue sauce replace raw onion and ketchup)
  Available in Argentina and Israel
• Garlic Whopper (with Garlic) - Available in Israel
• Whopper with roasted onions and mushrooms - Available in Israel

Discontinued variants:

• The Chicken Whopper (mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato with a grilled chicken fillet)
• The Chicken Whopper, Jr. (smaller chicken fillet and bun, smaller amount of toppings)

The Chicken Whopper is still available in parts of Europe and the Middle East. In the US, Turkey and New Zealand it has been replaced by the TenderGrill Chicken Sandwich, with honey mustard, lettuce and tomatoes on a corn-dusted roll. It has also been known as The BK Broiler and the Chicken Baguette.

[edit] History

The Whopper was created in 1957 by Burger King founders James McLamore and David Edgerton and sold for 37 cents; nowadays, the cost of a Whopper (in the USA) ranges from 99 cents (during promotions) to 2.49 USD and higher, depending on restaurant pricing. Burger King sells about 1.7 billion Whoppers each year.

[edit] Competition

For several years McDonalds has attempted to introduce competition to the Whopper sandwich (a Whopper stopper), examples of this are the Big N' Tasty, McDLT and McLean Deluxe. Other competitor's products include Wendy's Big Classic burger, Carl's Jr.'s Six Dollar Burger, and Hardee's Monster Thickburger.

[edit] Notes

• There are trillions of possible variants in which a customer can order a Whopper sandwich:

1. Using the six standard ingredients with (in BK terminology) "Minus", "Light", "Heavy", or in the standard amounts, there are 4,096 (4^6) variants of each type for a total of 16,384 ((4^6)*4) ways to have a Whopper made. Including the Veggie Whopper sandwich brings the number up to 20,480 ((4^6)*5).
2. By adding any of the "usual" optional ingredients, the total number of variants will jump to 5,242,880 ((4^10)*5).
3. In the US, the less used condiments that can be added to the sandwich will pump the number of variants to over 1 billion ((4^14)*5 or 1,073,741,824). Having the Whopper cut in half will double its numbers to over a 2 billion.
4. In all the various countries in which Burger King has restaurants, there are over 20 possible ingredients available, and together with the four standard variants of the Whopper, the total ways to prepare a Whopper, including cut in half, is just over 5 trillion ((4^20)*5).
5. It should be noted that some of these totals may include combinations that might be considered nonsensical by some, such as a bun with nothing on it.

• A properly made Whopper sandwich will weigh 10 oz.^[3]

• The Whopper has over 600 calories, more than McDonald's Big Mac. However, the Big Mac is smaller than the Whopper (7.8 ounces vs. 10.0 ounces), skewing the comparison. A closer comparison based on size and ingredients would be the Big N' Tasty sandwich vs the Whopper (8.2 ounces vs. 10.0). Because the McDonald's sandwich has fewer ingredients than a Whopper, the comparison is again skewed.^[4].

• For several years in the 1980s, the weight of the Whopper was increased to 1/3 lb. The bun was also replaced by a Kaiser roll.^[5] The Whopper reverted to the original formulation a few years later. However, the "Third Pound Whopper" made a return with the craze of "thick burgers" in the early 2000s.

[edit] Popular Culture

Due to the shades of meaning to the word, it is the subject of various jokes, such as gag-gift underwear for men, imprinted with ripped-off BK slogans such as "Home of the 'Whopper'" or "It takes two hands..."

The 1988 hit single "It Takes Two" by (MC) Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock contains the lyric "I like the Whopper, fuck the Big Mac". In nearly all UK versions however, the expletive has been bleeped out making the line difficult to comprehend.

[edit] References

1. ^ Definition of the word on Wiktionary
2. ^ Definition of the word on WordNet
3. ^ Burger King Nutrition Guide Whopper serving size 290g=10.2 oz
4. ^ McDonald's Nutrition Guide Big & Tasty serving size 230g=8.2 oz
5. ^ BK commercial Featuring Mr. T from 1985

[edit] External links

• Burger King nutritional facts