International Hamburger Day
Israel does not celebrate professional or other holidays, only religious holidays and a few national holidays. They even don’t celebrate Brewer’s Day! We can’t change this, we don’t write the laws, but there is one holiday you can’t get around, and that’s International Hamburger Day!
Imagine for a moment a juicy fried hamburger in a browned bun and a mountain of golden chips, and you’ll immediately understand why May 28 the whole world celebrates this delicious “cutlet” day, but first a little history.
The first hamburger was created in Hamburg, Germany, but it was later modified slightly in Seymour, Wisconsin. A baked bun, beef cutlet, mustard, ketchup, onions, pickles – simple, but delicious! Maybe that combination is why the hamburger has been popular for over 250 (!) years!
As far back as 1758, it had a slightly different name: “Hamburger sausage”. It is believed that the modern hamburger got its name from the famous German port city. There is another version: in the mid-1800s, a cruise company called Hamburg America Line served the same sandwiches to its passengers; perhaps that’s where the modern name came from. To this day, there is no consensus on who actually created this iconic food, but does it really matter?
The hamburger might have remained a local culinary specialty had it not been introduced in 1904 at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, an event that also gave us the ice cream cone. It was after that that its victorious march across the planet began.
Now there are different variations of burgers – chicken burgers, buffalo meat burgers, veggie burgers. A classic burger, on the other hand, should be made with chopped beef and beef fat for juiciness.
Nowadays, the hamburger is one of the most common meat dishes on the globe. In any, even the most remote corner of the world, ask a waiter for a hamburger and he will understand you. A couple of interesting facts about this “hamburger sausage”:
- On average, every American eats four hamburgers a week
- Of all the sandwiches sold in the world, 60% are hamburgers
- The weight of the world’s largest burger at Black Bear Resort Casino in Minnesota is 914 kg
- The largest burger in the world is 3 meters in diameter
- McDonald’s sells 75 hamburgers every minute
Impressive, but for some reason arise question: what about beer, do you really have to eat your hamburger dry?! Beer is as integral to a hamburger as chips. The fat in the hamburger coats the taste buds in our mouths. The alcohol and hops in beer break down the fat chains and the beer flushes them off the tongue. Each sip of beer refreshes our mouths and allows us to enjoy its magical hamburger flavor all over again.
I would recommend a Belgian beer with a rich malt flavor, an IPA or a Marzen. Either one is fine, the choice is yours! I’m not providing a recipe for hamburgers in this article – there are plenty of them online. Just find the one, your hamburger that works for you and enjoy the taste. Happy Holidays, friends!