The History of The Whopper- The Burger of Kings

First, you take a 1/4 pound patty and put it through the broiler along with a sesame seed bun. Take the bottom bun and the burger, slap on two slices of cheese and put it in the microwave for 12 seconds. While the bottom is in the microwave, take the top bun and evenly apply a coat of mayo, a handful of lettuce and two tomatoes. Grab the bottom out of the microwave, throw on 4 pickles, a swirl of ketchup and a handful of onions. Wrap that baby up and send it out for someone to enjoy. This was the process I repeated over and over again as an employee at Burger King. Of course, since you can Have it Your Way, this wasn't always the exact process but you get the idea. The Whopper is Burger King. It was created in 1957 by Burger King founder James McLamore and sold for just 37 cents. Using the original ingredients, there are 221,184 different ways to make a Whopper. Through the years there have been many different variations on the original Whopper which I will talk about in a bit. Burger King has marketed the sandwich with many different entertaining advertising campaigns. Throughout the years, the Whopper has proven to be the best signature item in the fast food business. 

I'm going to list here all of the Whopper's that have been offered over the years and then talk a bit about the Whopper's that I have personally eaten. 

The standard variants of the Whopper sandwich are:

• The Original Whopper — one ¼ lb (113.4 grams) hamburger patty;
• The Bacon and Cheese Whopper — one ¼ lb (113.4 gram) hamburger patty, 4 pieces of bacon and 2 slices of American cheese;
• The Double Whopper — two ¼ lb (226.8 grams) hamburger patties;
• The Triple Whopper — three ¼ lb (340.2 grams) hamburger patties;
  In Europe the standard build for the Triple Whopper is without cheese, while in the Americas the Triple Whopper comes with cheese standard.
• The Whopper Junior — one 2.2 oz (62.4 gram) hamburger patty

   

These are the standard Whopper's offered pretty much everywhere. For a long time, at least in New Jersey, the Double Whopper was the biggest sandwich offered. Affectionately known as the #2 in our circle, the Double Whopper packed a nice punch as a value meal but still allowed enough room to add a side of tenders. I have never attempted to eat the Triple Whopper, although I imagine it to be quite good, I think that it would make it tough to throw in an additional side or two with the meal. 

Other variants available

• The Veggie Whopper — a Whopper without the meat patty; not to be confused with the BK Veggie
• The Double Whopper Junior — two 2.2 oz hamburger patties.

I have never heard of a Double Whopper Junior and it doesn't really make much sense because you could just get a Whopper and it would basically be the same thing. The Veggie Whopper was actually pretty popular when I was working there.. not sure how many people still get it today. 

Promotional variants

• The Angry Whopper - pepperjack cheese, jalapeños, Angry Sauce and "Angry Onions" are added
  Sold in Europe, Canada, Australia and the U.S.
• The Bacon Swiss Whopper - Swiss Cheese and bacon are added
  Sold in the US and Canada
• The California Fresh Whopper - sour cream-onion dressing and cucumbers instead of pickles and mayo.
  Sold in Sweden
• The Dark Whopper - pepperjack cheese, Black-Pepper Ketchup and Grill Sauce
  Sold in the UK and Ireland.
• The Dark Whopper - Barbecue sauce instead of ketchup, with no pickles.
  Available in Australia in conjunction with the film The Dark Knight.
• The Indy Whopper — pepperjack cheese, blackened cajun mayo and bacon.
  sold in the US and Canada.
• The Ultimate Double Whopper (f.k.a. The Extreme Whopper w/ Cheese, also as Homer Burger for The Simpsons Movie promotion.) - features a double order of American cheese and 8 half-pieces of bacon
  Sold in the US, Canada; sold permanently Argentina and Chile as the Ultra Whopper Double and The Extreme Whopper Double with half the bacon and cheese.
• The Fiesta Whopper — spicy sauce replaces the ketchup, pepperjack cheese and no pickles
  Sold in the US and Canada.
• The Piñata Whopper — Jalapeños, tortilla chips and hot sauce are added
  Sold in Sweden and Denmark.
• The Texas Double Whopper - Jalapeño peppers, bacon, mustard replacing the ketchup
  Sold in the US and Canada. Sold permanently in El Salvador, Argentina and Chile as the Whopper Texano.
• The Whopper Mexican/Mexican Whopper - hot sauce and hot peppers instead of the mayo and pickles.
  Sold in Sweden, Mexico and Australia
• The Western Whopper - BBQ sauce, Cheddar or American cheese and bacon. It is also available as a double and triple.
  Sold in the US, Canada and Australia.
• The Meat Beast Whopper — Bacon, American cheese and sliced pepperoni are added.
  Available in the UK and Ireland.

The Angry Whopper was the inspiration for this entry. It really pains me to watch the commercials day after day and know that I may never ever get to try this Whopper. I would appreciate it if someone could go out and get one and try it and let me know their thoughts. It seems like it would be delicious. I remember ordering the Bacon Swiss Whopper before and it was good as expected. The next three are all Whoppers from other countries. The California Fresh Whopper seems kinda strange and I'm not sure how the cucumbers would taste on a burger. The two Dark Whopper variants seem pretty standard. I've never had the Indy Whopper, nor do I remember hearing of it but it seems like it was a promotion for the Indiana Jones movie that came out last year. It sounds quite delicious and by the looks of a quick google search it seems as though people loved it. The Ultimate Double Whopper is my kind of sandwhich. It was introduced to promote The Simpsons Movie in 2007. Anything with 8 slices of bacon is great in my book. I have a lot of experience with the Fiesta Whopper. I believe this Whopper came out around the time I started working at BK in 1999. The spicy sauce was really, really good and I actually prefer it over the regular mayo. I remember it didn't really sell well though and they scrapped it at our BK after only a few weeks. I haven't had any of the next 3 Whoppers. The Pinata and the Mexican Whopper seem particularly interesting to me and I'll give them a shot when I go to Sweden. The Western Whopper is definitely the most memorable Whopper to me on this list. It's introduction coincided with the beginning of my employment at BK. It was introduced as a promo for the Will Smith movie " Wild Wild West" and featured Bullseye BBQ sauce. I used to eat one of these every day I worked, it was so delicious. Coincedentally, the Western Whopper was responsible for me almost quitting BK on my 2nd day. I had a manager named Wes who was the no nonsense type. He was doing the expo and asked me for a Western Whopper, no onion. I told him I had just put one up there. He asked again for it and I said.. I just put it up there. He walked around to the back and looked me square in the eye and said, "Son, when I ask you for a Western Whopper with no onion, you make me a Western Whopper with no onion". I was furious at that point and strongly considered leaving the job and the $6/hr I was making but instead convinced myself to become the best Burger King employee ever. From that day forward, I made my Whoppers with a passion that I have not displayed for any other job I've ever had. Last but not least, the Meat Beast Whopper is an interesting idea but I'm not sure how the pepperoni would taste. I would like to hear from my UK friend Rob on this one if he's ever had one. 

Regional variants

• The Garlic Whopper has chopped garlic added
  Available in Israel
• The Mustard Whopper substitutes mustard for mayonnaise
  Available in the US states of Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas
• The Rodeo Whopper replaces the raw onion and ketchup with onion rings and barbecue sauce
  Available in Argentina and Israel
• The Whopper with roasted onions and mushrooms
  Available in Israel
• The Whopper with egg — a fried egg is added to the sandwich
  Available in Australia ( Hungry Jacks franchise )
• The Aussie Whopper - beetroot replaces the mayonnaise and pickled cucumbers and a fried egg, bacon and cheese are added to the sandwich.
  Available in Australia
• The Whopper Teriyaki has teriyaki sauce instead of ketchup
  Available in Japan
• The Italian Whopper has avocado instead of lettuce
  Available in Chile
• The Bacon and Cheese Double Whopper — two ¼ lb (113.4 gram) hamburger patties, 4 pieces of bacon and 2 slices of American cheese
  Available in Japan

I can say without a doubt that I've never had any of these Whoppers. The Rodeo Whopper sounds pretty much like the Rodeo Cheeseburger that BK used to have on the 99 cent menu so I can imagine what that tastes like. The Aussie Whopper seems really weird and I don't have the slightest idea what beetroot is or tastes like. I like the idea of avocado on a Whopper so I imagine the Italian Whopper would be quite good. 

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 Quarter pound cheeseburger — A copy of the Quarter Pounder with ketchup, onions, pickle and mustard.

The Chicken Whopper was pushed really hard as a promo for the Chicken Little movie. The sandwich was originally known as the BK Broiler. In 2002, they changed the name yet again to its current name, the tendergrill chicken sandwich. I personally like it with cheese and bacon although I could say that about pretty much anything. I don't remember ever hearing of a quarter pound cheeseburger. 

Burger King has always done a great job marketing the Whopper especially in the past few years. Recently, they've had the Whopper Virgins ads running which garnered a lot of attention in the media. They also had the Whopper Freakout ads where they told people that they were taking the Whopper off the menu. Even more recently they introduced the Whopper Sacrifice. The promotion was a tool on facebook that you could add and if you sacrificed 10 of your facebook friends by deleting them you would get a free Whopper. 233,906 people were defriended before Facebook put a halt to the promotion after less than a week. BK has also introduced a perfume for men called Flame that allows men to carry that great Whopper scent with them all day. I started using this in December of 2007 and Jody clearly could not resist that flame broiled scent and WHAM next thing you know I had a baby 9 months later**. 

Plain and simple, the Whopper is the best signature sandwich in the business. The strength of the sandwich lies in its versatlity, something I should know a lot about as Most Versatile, Class of 2001 Deptford High School. I look forward to the day that I can once again eat a Whopper and I can't wait to see what BK has in store for the future. For those of you that can eat fast food, do not take the Whopper for granted. In fact, I suggest you go out right now and get an Angry Whopper.. take a picture of it, eat it and enjoy every bite and then let me know your thoughts. Also, feel free to leave any other comments on the entry. 

**This did not happen. 

Let it be known that I used Wikipedia for most of my research. 

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