When news broke that Burger King wanted to put its differences with McDonald's aside to raise awareness for Peace Day on Sept. 21, the world waited with bated breath to see if McDonald's would accept its rival's altruistic proposal. But even though the House of the Golden Arches shot the idea down, all is not lost. The Burger King Peace Burger is on the way, and it's a collaboration not between two fast food giants, but four. The resulting sandwich will feature one signature item from each chain, making it the ultimate olive branch. Burger branch? Whatever. It's delicious-looking, is what it is.
In all seriousness, the concept behind the original McWhopper proposal was brilliant. To help the nonprofit organization Peace One Day realize their dream of solidifying an annual day of global unity, Burger King responded to the question, "Who will you make peace with?" in a decidedly talk-is-cheap kind of way: They wrote an open letter to McDonald's suggesting that the two fast food monoliths merge their most famous burgers in a tasty symbolic gesture. On Peace Day itself, the McWhopper would be available at one location, and only one: Atlanta, Ga., an equal distance between the two company's headquarters. So poetic! So very Miranda Hobbes and Steve Brady reuniting on the Brooklyn Bridge in Sex and the City!
Unfortunately, McDonald's wasn't having it. Seemingly taking issue with Burger King's open letter style of communication — which, c'mon, is pretty much the medium in which people now correspond on the interwebz — the McDonald's answer to the McWhopper proposal was a big ol' McNo. On Aug. 26, CEO Steve Easterbrook posted a prickly response on the company's Facebook page:
And just like that, our dreams of noshing on a burger that was equal parts delicious (the Femail team's McWhopper test run told us so) and philanthropic were dashed. Until now, that is. Burger King has restored our faith in fast food humanity with this tweet:
You guys! Dreams do come true! Not only did that Jaws reference earn Burger King my lifelong fandom, but the tweet also clued us all into some super exciting developments. While McDonald's declined to take part in Burger King's Peace Day proposal, several other restaurants felt inspired by the challenge — so much so, in fact, that they will all tentatively be teaming up with BK on Peace Day to create one-of-a-kind, one-day-only, pop-up "Peace Burgers."
The resulting Franken-burgers will be just as glorious as you might expect, with one item from every participating restaurant's menu represented. Who precisely does that entail? I'm so glad you asked. As of right now, Denny's, Giraffas (a Brazilian fast food favorite), Krystal, and Wayback Burgers have all expressed interest in participating, thereby cementing in our minds how truly rad they all are.
This benevolent pop-up burger merger will still be held in Atlanta, and Burger King still hasn't retracted the olive branch it originally extended to McDonald's. So, Mickey D's, if you're listening: Give peace a chance, bruh. In the immortal words of Willa Cather, "Where there is great food, there are always miracles."
Or, you know, something like that.
Images: Burger King/Facebook; Giphy (2)
