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.jpg) | |||
| Nutritional value per 1 sandwich(141 g) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 390 kcal (1,600 kJ) | ||
38 g (13%) | |||
| Sugars | 5 g | ||
| Dietary fiber | 2 g (7%) | ||
19 g (29%) | |||
| Saturated | 4 g (19%) | ||
| Trans | 0 g | ||
17 g | |||
| |||
| Other constituents | Quantity | ||
| Energy from fat | 170 kcal (710 kJ) | ||
| Cholesterol | 45 mg (15%) | ||
May vary outside US market. 360 kcal (1,500 kJ) in UK. Some restaurants publish nutritional information for the sandwich with the tartar sauce removed. | |||
| †Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults,[1] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies[2] Source: McDonald's | |||
The Filet-O-Fish is a fish sandwich sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's.[3] It was created in 1962 by Lou Groen, a McDonald's franchise owner in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood of Monfort Heights in Cincinnati, Ohio,[4][5] in response to declining hamburger sales on Fridays due to the practice of abstaining from meat on that day. While the fish composition of the sandwich has changed throughout the years to cater to taste preferences and address supply limitations, the framework of its ingredients have remained constant; a fried breaded fish fillet, a steamed bun, tartar sauce and pasteurized American cheese.
History
The sandwich was invented in 1962 by businessman Lou Groen, a McDonald's franchise owner in Cincinnati.[4][5] His store at 5425 West North Bend Road[6] was in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood, which led to falling hamburger sales on Fridays resulting from the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays. The product was named by Cye Landy of Cye Landy Advertising Agency, which was the advertising firm for that particular McDonald's franchise.
The sandwich was the first non-hamburger menu item brought in by Ray Kroc, who purchased McDonald's in 1961.[7] Kroc made a deal with Groen: they would sell two non-meat sandwiches on a Friday, Kroc's Hula Burger (grilled pineapple with cheese on a cold bun) and the Filet-O-Fish, and whichever sold the most would be added to the permanent menu. The Filet-O-Fish "won hands down"[8] and was added to menus throughout 1963 until reaching nationwide status in 1965.[9]
In 1981, when an owner of a New Zealand fisheries company was dissatisfied with the pollock Filet-O-Fish he purchased at the Courtenay Place, Wellington restaurant, he said to the manager that he could make a better-tasting fish fillet. He was handed a box of fillets and told to come back with identical, better-tasting fillets. He substituted the pollock with red cod and after the manager was satisfied with the better-tasting red cod fillets, ended up in agreement to supply the Courtenay Place restaurant (and eventually several other New Zealand restaurants) with the red cod fillets. The similar-tasting hoki was substituted several years later, due to its competitive market value and its boneless fillets, and eventually was introduced widely in the early 1990s when global pollock stocks were facing low numbers.[10]
McDonald's removed the Filet-O-Fish from its menus in the United States on September 26, 1996,[11] and replaced it with the Fish Filet Deluxe sandwich, which was part of McDonald's ill-fated Deluxe line of sandwiches. However, the Filet-O-Fish was brought back to its menus on a gradual basis starting in the middle of 1997, due to overwhelming letters and petitions, receiving the larger fish patty from the Fish Filet Deluxe. The Fish Filet Deluxe itself was discontinued at most restaurants early in 1998, while others continued to offer it until 2000, when it was finally removed from all McDonald's menus.
In November 2007, McDonald's lowered the use of New Zealand hoki and increased the use of Alaska pollock, due to declining New Zealand hoki fishery sustainability and large cutbacks in the total allowable commercial catch of hoki by the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries - from 250,000 tonnes in 1997 to 90,000 tonnes in 2007.[12] McDonald's originally used Atlantic cod, before declining cod catches forced McDonald's to find sustainable fish elsewhere. McDonald's is trying to maintain fish only from areas certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, but that is becoming more difficult each year. Hoki is still a major ingredient.[13]
As of March 2009, the Marine Stewardship Council[14] placed the Alaska pollock fisheries in a re-assessment program[15] due to catch numbers declining by over 30% between 2005 and 2008, and by-catch problems with salmon.
As of January 2013, the Marine Stewardship Council stated that the pollock comes from suppliers with sustainable fishing practices, and McDonald's packaging and promotion will reflect that change.[1
A fish sandwich is, most generally, any kind of sandwich made with fish. The term is frequently used to describe food made with breaded, fried fish, which are commonly found in fast food venues.[1]
In American English, a sandwich is any two pieces of bread with filling, including rolls and buns; in British English (and also some other national English varieties such as those of Australia and New Zealand), the word sandwich is defined more narrowly, to require the pieces of bread to be sliced from a loaf, and a roll or bun with filling would not generally be called a sandwich.[2] Thus, what would be considered a fish sandwich in the US may not be considered a sandwich at all in some other English-speaking countries, if it is on a roll or bun as opposed to sliced bread. In Australia, a piece of whole fried fish served on hamburger-style bun would be called a fish burger;[3] that would not generally be considered to be burger in American English, since in American English a burger requires a patty made of ground meat, so something could only be a fish burger if it contained a patty made of ground fish.[citation needed]
Types
Examples include:
- Fish finger sandwich, a sandwich made with fish fingers popular in Britain where it is a comfort food.[4][5]
- Tuna sandwich, usually made from canned tuna combined with other ingredients, and which has been called "the mainstay of almost everyone's American childhood".[6]
- Salmon burger, a type of fishcake made mostly from salmon in the style of a hamburger, common in Alaska where they are routinely offered as an alternative to beef hamburgers.[7] The salmon requires a binder to make it stick together and is easy to overcook which makes it too dry.[8]
- Fried fish sandwiches such as the Filet-O-Fish (from McDonald's) and BK Big Fish (Burger King).
- Fischbrötchen, a sandwich made with fish and other components commonly eaten in Northern Germany, due to the region's proximity to the North Sea and Baltic Sea.
- Balık ekmek (lit. fish bread), a Turkish fish sandwich made with mackerel fillets or other oily fish, which is a specialty of the seafood stalls lining the docks of Istanbul.
See also
- Fishcake, a product used as a patty between buns, for some fish burgers
