The 1975 McDonald’s Puke-In

Oct 17, 1975: A group of protestors calling themselves the Radical Vegetarian League staged a "puke-in" at a McDonald's on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan. The protestors drank down a mixture of mustard and water, and then they vomited from the second-floor balcony of the restaurant onto the floor below. They said they were "protesting the poor quality of food served in places like this and the fact that fast food chains go into local communities and drive out small, independent restaurants."

Thanks to this story I learned that mustard water has been used as an emetic since ancient times.

Michigan Daily - Oct 18, 1975

Benton Harbor Herald-Palladium - Oct 18, 1975

The McDonald's at which the puke-in occurred. The building was torn down in 1995.

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Alex Boese Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes. Paul Di Filippo Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over forty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. Contact Us

Posted By: Alex - Thu Jun 13, 2024
Category: Restaurants | Riots, Protests and Civil Disobedience | 1970s

Comments

I know how they felt. When I was little and we´d drive up to the mountains to play in the snow the last city before you started the climb was San Bernardino. The family always wanted to stop at McDonalds (when it was still Richard and Maurice, before Ray Kroc) and eat. I disliked it even then.

Posted by F.U.D. in Stockholm on 06/13/24 at 06:42 AM

That explains both why there's no mustard in McDonald's food, and how the legend of anti-emetics in said food came to be.

Posted by Yudith on 07/02/24 at 06:50 PM

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