This is What Happened to the Last McDonald’s Burger in Iceland

I’ve always found it extremely interesting how different countries and cultures treat the food they eat. What’s more surprising is the different priorities they place on their food and the responsibilities they enforce on the companies that supply their food.

How Other Countries Treat Their Food

Let’s look at Bhutan as an amazing example; they’ve recently announced that they’re going make sure that every single item of food produced is going to be organic instead of exposing their citizens to the dangers of GMO and non-organic production methods.

Following a similar suit, Denmark is also looking to double its output of organic foods to feed its citizens and the soldiers stationed in the multiple mess halls in the country.

Don’t you wish our soldiers had these amazing meals at their disposal?

Even our neighbors in South America have perfected their diets and supply chains to offer their citizen the freshest possible produce and meals. Ecuador alone has become one of the easiest places on the planet to eat and live healthy.

To add insult to the injury of our nation’s pride, some countries have even beaten us to the punch in taking the simple step of banning a dangerous food provider like McDonald’s.

Amongst these countries, is Iceland, and what they did to commemorate the closing of this infamous franchise is amazing.

What Happened?

Although Iceland closed down McDonald’s for the wrong reasons, I still consider it a victory in the long run.

But first, brief history lesson: in the latter half of 2008 the entire world was in the initial grip of the current great recession. As a result, Iceland’s currency, the krona, suffered a complete collapse.

As a result, all three McDonald’s in Reykjavik closed down. Up to this day, there are still no plans for McDonald’s to come back and reopen any locales.

Iceland isn’t too keen on wooing McDonald’s back. Instead, it has opted to try to fund and open a chain, called Metro that is supplied by locally grown ingredients (to help generate employment and improve the economy).

So the good news for the people of Iceland is that they’re no longer exposed to McDonald’s dangerous menu items.

What Happened to the Last Hamburger?

On October 31st, 2009, McDonald’s sold its last hamburger. Fortunately, it did not end up in someone’s stomach. Instead, it ended up in the hands of someone who had a great idea for the future.

Hjortur Smarason decided to do something extraordinary with that last burger: he decided to store it in his garage in a display to show the world how the “natural” ingredients would decompose eventually.

As you’ve seen from the image gracing this post, it clearly didn’t.

So much for McDonald’s claim that its burgers are made from real beef, cheese, and buns.

As usual, I recommend sticking to making your own food and depriving these companies of your hard earned money.