What 38,000 Soviets Were Really Buying at McDonald’s

On January 31, 1990, the first McDonald's in the Soviet Union opened in Moscow — and 38,000 people stood in line for hours in the freezing cold. A Big Mac cost 2 days' wages. So what were they really buying? I grew up in Russia, and in this video I break down what was actually going on in people's heads in that line on Pushkin Square: the real price of one burger for a Soviet family, why people traveled hundreds of kilometers to Moscow just for this, how Western radio and the "not-so-iron" Iron Curtain built up 40 years of curiosity — and why so many people took the paper cups home as proof, afraid the doors would close again. CHAPTERS: 0:00 38,000 people in line 1:05 What one burger really cost 2:30 The trip to Moscow 3:20 Voices through the static 4:12 A place where food never ran out 5:55 The myth about the collapse 7:03 The fear: 1979 8:55 What happened next Would you have stood in that line? Tell me in the comments. #McDonalds #SovietUnion #ColdWar #History #Moscow