People Can't Believe This '70s McDonald's Menu
These days, when it comes to fast food, choice is king. Whether you're visiting a Burger King, KFC, Chipotle, or basically any other fast food chain, you're met with a sometimes staggering variety of menu options.
Take Burger King, for instance. Given its name, you might think that the superchain's offerings start and end with burgers — but you'd be wrong. Today, at BKs across the country, you can order up a fried chicken sandwich, a fish filet sandwich, chicken nuggets, or a garden salad, among many other options, per Burger King. Likewise, while KFC specializes in fried chicken, their restaurants also offer chicken pot pie, mashed potato bowls, bundt cake, and more on the menu.
But back in the day, fast food restaurants didn't necessarily offer the laundry list of items they do now. That's why people are bugging out over a recently released photo of a McDonald's menu snapped in 1973, as ABC 10 News reports. Patrons who are used to choosing from about 145 menu items (via Marketplace) were shocked by the slimmed-down offerings — at least in quantity, if not in nutritional value — shown in the photo. Let's take a look at the retro menu, shall we?
McDonald's former menu had just the basics
Four basic sandwiches, fries, a variety of shakes and beverages, plus apple pie and ice cream: that's about all you could expect to order at McDonald's in 1973, according to a photo circulating on the internet (via Snopes). The menu is real, and features only a quarter pounder with or without cheese; a Big Mac; a hamburger or cheeseburger; a Filet-O-Fish; fries; a variety of hot and cold beverages; apple pie; and an ice cream cone. For McDonald's customers today — who take items such as Chicken McNuggets and Egg McMuffins for granted — the nearly 50-year-old menu might come as something of a shock.
As explained by Insider, the original McDonald's restaurants, the first of which opened in 1955, had bare-bones menus, featuring just hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, sodas, and milkshakes. Over the years, franchises have added a steady stream of then-new, now-beloved items: the Filet-O-Fish in 1965, the Big Mac in 1968, and Chicken McNuggets in 1983. Today, most McDonald's locations boast more than 130 menu items, providing something for everyone.
As for us, we'd be happy with a cheeseburger, fries, and a chocolate shake. Take us back to 1973?