Conspicuous consumption doesn’t get more in your face than a mile high multi-patty burger! These 9 larger than life heaping hamburger helpings turn fast food into vast food while proving that even if your eyes are bigger than your stomach, eating to your heart’s content isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
1. Burger King Japan’s Windows 7 Whopper
Images via: PC Games Hardware and Gigazine
Japan is a leader in the expanding field of mind-bogglingly big burgers, though the average citizen’s waistline doesn’t reflect that unless you’re attending a sumo match. Outsize eats are an accepted way to advertise, however, and the Windows 7 Whopper was made for just that purpose. Introduced on October 22nd of 2009 in conjunction with the release of the Windows 7 operating system, the Windows 7 Whopper sold so well (10,000 burgers in only 9 days) that the promotion was extended an extra week.
Image via: Electronista
Comprised of 7 layers of beef patties and providing 2120 calories, the $16 Windows 7 Whopper weighed in at a massive 950 grams (2.09 lbs) and inflicted an astonishing 280 grams of fat (equal to 2.5 sticks of butter) upon the arteries of anyone hungry to eat the whole thing. Om nom nom ACK!
2. The Squeeze Inn’s “Squeeze With Cheese”
Images via: BurgerJunkies.com, Fat Kid Blog and TripAdvisor.ca
With just 8 locations (all of which are in California), The Squeeze Inn doesn’t skirt the issue of being a regional chain. What it DOES skirt, are its cheeseburgers - with cheese, of course! “Our famous squeeze with cheese is made in a unique way,” according to the Squeeze Inn website. “After cooking the patty on a flat top grill we cover it with a handful of cheese and the top of the bun before throwing a handful of ice chips on the grill and covering the whole thing in a hood. The skirt comes out perfectly.”
Image via: Tumbler/Mielstrom
While the Squeeze With Cheese boasts but a single 1/3-pound beef patty, the burger is made 100% fresh ground beef topped with lettuce, pickles, red and white onions, tomatoes, mayo and mustard, all stuffed between a pair of steamed sourdough buns from the Muzio Baking Co. All dressed, one might say, especially when the finishing touch is a voluminous skirt made from real cheddar cheese. Finish this burger and you might NEED a skirt ’cause squeezing into your skinny jeans is gonna be near impossible.
3. In-N-Out’s 4×4 Burger
Images via: Harvey-Harv and Gigazine
At In-N-Out Burger, ordering is as easy as 1,2,3…and 4×4! Found online at the popular burger-flipper’s “not-so-secret menu“, the 4×4 features four 100% pure beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, “spread”, four slices of American cheese, and optional onions, stacked between a sliced and freshly baked bun.
Image via: Gigazine
While In-N-Out endeavours to accommodate menu requests both secret, not-so-secret, and flat out bonkers like the ridiculous 100×100 ordered in Las Vegas on October 31st of 2004, the not too big, not too small 4×4 is about the biggest cheeseburger on the menu that’s actually edible in a single sitting.
4. McDonald’s’ Mega Mac
Image via: Mike’s Blender
Good thing we can look to McDonald’s to be our island of sanity in a supersized burger storm, and the imposingly-named Mega Mac may just be the island you’ve been looking for. Introduced on January 12th of 2007 by McDonald’s Japan, the Mega Mac was advertised as being “meat heaven”…obviously they weren’t angling for Vegans to come try one. The Mega Mac looks a lot sloppier in real life but then again, so undoubtedly were its purchasers.
Image via: Creative Loafing
McDonald’s Japan is sort of the wild & crazy black sheep brother of the global McDonald’s family and the item above confirms it in spades. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Mega Tamago: three beef patties, one Egg McMuffin-style egg, and two slices of bacon. Not only does it contain the ingredients of breakfast and lunch, it could sub for them.
5. Lotteria Tower Cheeseburger 10
Lotteria is an East Asian fast food chain owned & operated by Japanese-Korean food conglomerate Lotte, with stores in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and Vietnam. The company has been a regional industry leader in the struggle to make fast food healthier - trans-fats were eliminated from Lotteria’s fries in 2007, for example. Is the Lotteria Tower Cheeseburger a step back, then? Who can say, especially with one’s mouth oh-so-full.
Image via: Japanese Ties
The basic Tower Cheeseburger contains five beef patties interspersed with slices of American Cheese but that’s where things get interesting. Their basic one-patty cheeseburger costs 160 yen ($1.75) and adding another layer costs just 100 yen (just over a dollar) with a maximum of 10 patties per burger: a ten-patty Tower Cheeseburger will run you 1,060 yen or about $11.65.
6. Jolly Friar’s Super Scooby
Images via: MSN UK and METRO/Associated Newspapers Limited
When a country creates a corps of Beefeaters to guard the Royal Jewels, you can bet they know their way around beef. Such is the case with the United Kingdom, no matter that England has a less than sterling reputation for gourmet dining. The outrageously beefy “Super Scooby” sold by Jolly Fryer (not Friar) in Bristol could help or hurt the country’s gastronomical image, depending on whether you eat it or have it thrown at you. The latter would hurt indeed: a Super Scooby weighs 1.5kg (3lb 4oz), “the same as a family-sized roast chicken”.
Image via: I Woo For Adventure
Introduced in September of 2009, the Super Scooby is made using four quarter-pound beef burgers, eight rashers of bacon, eight slices of cheese, 12 onion rings, 2 lettuce leaves, 6 tomato slices, and three different sauces. The finished burger stands 15 cm (6 inches) tall and provides a whoppering 2,645 calories. That’s 145 calories higher than the recommended daily limit for men. You’ll have to fork over a 10-pound note for just one Super Scooby and no change is given, though rumour has it a free Diet Coke is given to anyone who can actually down one on-site.
7. Burger King’s BK Stacker Quintuple
Images via: Discover Buenos Aires and Twicsy/ReydePilos
The BK Stacker was introduced domestically in 2006 and it’s been a semi-regular component of Burger King’s menu ever since. Stackers contain from one to four grilled beef patties…or so you thought! Meet the new (well, summer of 2011) Beast of the Pampas, Burger King’s BK Stacker Quintuple! Five beef patties, an equal number of cheese slices, lots of bacon and special Stacker sauce. Don’t cry for me, Argentina, cry for the foreigners limited to a mere four beef patties.
Image via: Sir Chandler
You’ll find no lettuce, tomato, onions or pickles on this or any BK Stacker. According to Denny Marie Post, Burger King’s chief concept officer, “We’re satisfying the serious meat lovers by leaving off the produce and letting them decide exactly how much meat and cheese they can handle.” This is one Mucho Grande you’ll never get over.
8. Lotteria’s Ebi Tree Burger
Images via: Shimaizumibijintokei, T_Yasudasu and Gigazine
Remember Lotteria, the Japanese fast food chain that’s serving healthier food? Well, about that…check out the Ebi Tree Burger, a stack of five fried shrimp patties that is to McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish what Godzilla is to the Geico gecko. How any anatomically correct human can possibly (not to mention neatly) eat this precariously balanced tower of breaded shrimp has to be one of the world’s last unanswered questions.
Image via: Gigazine
Lotteria’s Ebi Tree Burger: the other jumbo shrimp. Over four Fridays in October 2012, Lotteria stores featured the Ebi Tree Burger at the “Super Fry-Day” special price of 500 yen (around $5.50). Not a bad deal if you bring a family of five, dissect and divvy up the burger, and dole out a little shredded cabbage and tartar sauce from under the topmost bun.
9. Carl’s Jr. 12x12x12 Burger
Image via: Facebook/Carl’s Jr.’s Page
By now you must be thinking these bodacious burgers just can’t be real but you’d be wrong…until now. American burger vendor Carl’s Jr. created what’s likely the healthiest big burger of the bunch - healthy because it only exists as an image. The stupendous 12x12x12 burger released, as it were, on December 12th of 2012 (12/12/12…get it?) on the company’s Facebook page was merely a ploy to drum up a little social media interest. “If it’s not the end of the world, then it’s definitely the end of your hunger. #burgergeddon #baconpocalypse #cheesetastrophe” read the text accompanying the photo. One wonders what the actual ancient Mayans would have thought if they knew they’d inspired this monumental sandwich but they’ll never know. Eat your hearts out, ancient Mayans!
What a scary looking food! Can give people nightmares ;p
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