The Discontinued Burger King Sandwich We Want Back Rivaled McDonald's Filet-O-Fish - Tasting Table

"If there were an Academy Awards-style "In Memoriam segment" for all the discontinued fast food items that still have cult followings, Burger King's forgotten offerings would take up a good chunk of Lady Gaga singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," or whatever. The fast food giant has been around since the 1950s, so it stands to reason that the menu has seen its fair share of changes in that time."

"The discontinued Burger King sandwich that continues to break hearts with its perpetual absence is none other than the Whaler, a delicious-sounding fish sandwich that rivaled even McDonald's famous Filet-O-Fish. According to an ominous, vaguely "Jaws"-coded commercial from 1983, the Whaler was "a crispy fish filet, tender all white meat, topped with creamy tartar sauce," lettuce, and housed in a sesame seed bun. It was also roughly twice the size of its slyly unnamed competitor's fish sandwich (ahem, Mickey D's), hence the moniker."

"While it was arguably a good move to highlight the size difference between the Whaler and the Filet-O-Fish, Burger King probably should have figured out a way to do it without making it sound like it was frying up Free Willy. Especially since the Filet-O-Fish is still a staple menu item at the Golden Arches. Burger King does still have a fish sandwich on the menu, but do you even know what it's called? Exactly. Poor, unknown Fish'N Crisp."

Burger King has repeatedly changed its menu since the 1950s, including items like salads, the Enormous Omelet Sandwich, and the BK Turkey Burger. The Whaler, a fish sandwich introduced by the early 1970s, was marketed as "a crispy fish filet, tender all white meat, topped with creamy tartar sauce," with lettuce on a sesame seed bun. Marketing emphasized that the Whaler was roughly twice the size of the Filet-O-Fish, positioning it as a larger competitor to McDonald's fish sandwich. Burger King currently sells a fish sandwich called the Fish'N Crisp, but the Whaler maintains a cult following among customers who remember the original offering.

Read at Tasting Table