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The Savory History Of The McMuffin
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Jun 4, 2025
Take a trip with Weird History Food, to the very germ of an idea that was breakfast sandwhiches. Though we have all lost count of exactly how many delectable Egg McMuffins we have all consumed, is hard to imagine a world in which Egg McMuffins just did not exist. How did they even come about? What brilliance created this morning mainstay?
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Today, we're serving up the sunrise with the history of the Egg McMuffin
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While today it's unclear exactly which genius first placed egg and ham between two slices of bread
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many point to London street vendors at the onset of the Industrial Revolution as being those very eggheads
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While there's no record of the breakfast sandwich's arduous journey across the pond
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it first showed up in the U.S. around the time of the American Civil War
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At first, Americans didn't seem to think of these sandwiches as being specifically meant for breakfast
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and their portability made them the perfect camp food for wartime feasting
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Once the Civil War ended, these non-breakfast breakfast sandwiches found a new home among pioneers headed west
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and it was already becoming an all-American classic by the start of the 1900s. Herb Peterson grew up in Chicago, fought in World War II
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and in the 1960s became the vice president of McDonald's Chicago-based advertising firm
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McDonald's own Mayor McCheese, Ray Kroc, took a shine to Herb, and he soon encouraged Herb to open up his very own franchise location
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It was in 1971 at his Santa Barbara State Street location that he turned from fast food hero to fast food legend
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Apparently, Herb caught wind that his State Street customers were dissatisfied with his restaurant's opening time
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11 a.m. just wasn't early enough for them. The only problem? McDonald didn have any items other than hamburgers and french fries And so Herb always the go took matters into his own hands Herb Peterson wanted to recreate his own favorite breakfast food
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Eggs Benedict, for his franchise customers. When Herb Peterson took his brainchild to the
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McDonald's board of directors, it was an open-faced sandwich with a fried egg
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a slice of American cheese, and a slice of Canadian bacon atop a buttered and toasted
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English muffin. The sandwich was an instant hit with Mickey D's executives, because it was an Egg McMuffin
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Still, Herb's invention didn't yet have a proper name. Enter Patty Turner
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the wife of soon-to-be McDonald's CEO Fred Turner. It was Patty who coined the name Egg McMuffin
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The fluffy little McMiracles sold at select locations for 63 cents a pop for three whole years
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but they expanded nationally by the mid-1970s. And after just a couple of years of McMuffin success
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the company decided to expand its breakfast game even further, unveiling the first ever breakfast menu in 1977
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This original menu featured hot cakes, scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns, and danishes
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with the Egg McMuffin front and center like a breakfast quarterback. Just four years after the breakfast menu launched
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breakfast items accounted for 18% of all McDonald's sales. And within 10 years, McDonald's breakfast had grown so popular
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that their sales then accounted for 25% of all restaurant breakfasts sold within the U.S
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America was stuffing McMuffins. Today, McDonald's remains number one in fast food breakfast
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