May is National Hamburger Month annually in the United States, and May 28 is National Hamburger Day.
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m a huge fan of cheeseburgers and they would be my choice if I had to pick a single food as the only thing I could eat. They have the ability to completely satisfy my tastebuds and given the right preparation, I find their texture to be outstanding.
And maybe the best thing about burgers is how there are countless variations, most of which are certainly worthy of devouring. Few other foods allow for so much creativity.
Interestingly, how and where the hamburger was invented is a subject of a little controversy among burger experts, but the wonderful food item most likely originated in Hamburg, Germany.
Similarly, the exact origin of the modern-day hamburger is also a point of contention. Some historians say it was invented by Louis Lassen, who introduced a hamburger steak sandwich at his restaurant in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1900, while others believe it was “Hamburger Charlie” Nagreen at Wisconsin’s Outagamie County Fair in 1885, or the Menches brothers at a fair in Hamburg, New York, also in 1885.
Conversely, there seems to be agreement that the burger as we know it today gained notoriety and popularity at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis (an event that also gave us the ice-cream cone) when “Uncle” Fletcher David (from Allen, Texas) set up a stand and sold them to attendees. I’m guessing Uncle Fletch had no idea what he had started.
Another point of contention is whether a burger can be made with anything other than ground beef. While some folks would disagree, I personally believe that chicken on a bun is a chicken sandwich, not a chicken burger, and the same goes for everything else that isn’t ground beef.
A point often made by the fill-in-the-blank-burger crowd is that any ground meat can constitute the main ingredient of a “burger.” Sorry, but I just can’t agree with that. Burgers are made of ground beef, and other ground meats comprise sandwiches.
And “plant-based?” I don’t think there’s any such thing in true burger world.
Of course, any popular food item can generate some fascinating statistical information.
- The Guiness Book of World Records lists the world’s largest hamburger as a 2,566-pound, 9-ounce behemoth created in Pilsting, Germany, in July 2017.
- The heaviest burger ever measured was made in Rutland, North Dakota, in 1982. It was shared by about 8,000 people.
- In America’s 50 states, the national average of burger restaurants (burger joints, if you wish) per capita is 15 per 100,000 people. The highest concentrations are found in New Mexico (22), Mississippi (21.9), Arkansas (21.1) and Oklahoma (21.0).
- There are more than 84,000 burger restaurants in the U.S.
- According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans consume more than 50 billion hamburgers annually and more than half of us eat them at least once a week.
- But why not? I mean, it’s like the perfect form of sustenance, with ingredients from pretty much every food group, including meat, grain, vegetable and fruit (remember, tomato is a fruit).
- The first fast-food hamburger chain was White Castle, which started in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas.
- With stores all over the world, McDonald’s sells an estimated 6.5 million burgers every day (including 5.4 million in the U.S.) and about 2.5 billion annually. The company has also sold a total of over 300 billion burgers.
Anyway, I think burgers are almost always worthwhile, but sometimes they’re downright great. Like when you use some locally-grown beef and cook them just right on the grill, and then top them with some “clean” white cheddar, freshly-cut onion, lettuce and tomato, and have a pickle or two at the ready on the side.
Yum; that’s the good stuff right there.
I think it’s safe to say that burgers will always be my favorite food, and I’m glad they have their own special month and day.
Doug Davison is a writer, photographer and newsroom assistant for the Houston Herald. Email: ddavison@houstonherald.com.
