National Hamburger Day on May 28th wraps up National Burger Month and also ushers in summer grilling season.
- The term hamburger originally derives from Hamburg, Germany‘s second-largest city. In German, Burg means “castle”, “fortified settlement” or “fortified refuge” and is a widespread component of place names.
- The exact origin of the hamburger may never be known with any certainty.
- The Library of Congress credits Louis Lassen, a Danish immigrant, owner of Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut as the creator of the hamburger as we know it.
- New Haven’s Louis Lunch, where the burger was born, only serves onions, tomatoes, and cheese spread as a condiment – maintaining a ban on ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise!
- The hamburger gained national recognition at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair when the New York Tribune referred to the hamburger as “the innovation of a food vendor on the pike”.
- White Castle is the oldest burger chain in America. It was started in 1921 by Walter A. Anderson and E.W. Ingram who sold their burgers for 5 cents apiece.
- On average, Americans eat three hamburgers a week. That’s a national total of nearly 50 billion burgers per year.
- If all the hamburgers eaten by Americans in a year are arranged in a straight line, it would circle our Earth 32 times or more!
- McDonald’s Corporation is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries.
- According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the hamburger was first abbreviated to burger in 1939.
- The Hamburger Hall of Fame is located in Seymour, Wisconsin.
- 60% of sandwiches sold globally are actually burgers
- In 2008, Burger King released a meat-scented cologne called “Flame.”
- The Economist has an indicator of the purchasing power of a country measured in how many Big Macs could be bought in that country with $50 USD – The Big Mac Index.
- The Big Mac had two previous names: “aristocrat” and “blue ribbon burger”, both of which failed in the marketplace.
- During WWI, the US Gov’t tried to rename hamburgers as ‘liberty sandwiches.’
- Hamburgers along with cheeseburgers account for 71% of beef served in commercial hotels in the US.
- McDonald’s sells 75 or more burgers every second.
- Hamburger (ground beef patty) is the most popular food for the grill, followed by steak and chicken.
- More than seven of every ten burgers (73% or 9.6 billion) consumed in the U.S. were prepared and purchased outside of the home.
- The world’s largest hamburger was 2,566 lb – 9 oz and was achieved in Pilsting, Germany, on 9 July 2017.
- In Wisconsin’s Seymour, there is something known as the Hamburger Hall of Fame!
Sources:
Disclaimer
The information contained in South Florida Reporter is for general information purposes only.
The South Florida Reporter assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions in the contents of the Service.
In no event shall the South Florida Reporter be liable for any special, direct, indirect, consequential, or incidental damages or any damages whatsoever, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tort, arising out of or in connection with the use of the Service or the contents of the Service. The Company reserves the right to make additions, deletions, or modifications to the contents of the Service at any time without prior notice.
The Company does not warrant that the Service is free of viruses or other harmful components
