There is no other food item which is sold at as large of the rate as hamburgers. They are considered to be the quintessential fast food item of the world. This simple combination of bread and beef has transformed into many more forms and varieties and continues to be the highest sold fast food item throughout the world. But there are also some very interesting and astonishing facts related to these hamburgers.
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Facts about Hamburgers
So, here we present you the list of Top 10 Strange Facts about Burgers:
10. The Origin Of Hamburger
It is assumed that the hamburger got its name from a German city – Hamburg. Burg in German means a fortified settlement or castle. It was German immigrants who brought these to US as Hamburg steak which was actually a patty of ground beef that had been salted. And a hamburger will be authentic only if it contains beef while many other sandwiches that call themselves burgers can contain buffalo, turkey, kangaroo or any other type of meat available for consumption within a country. It was during 19th century when this term – hamburger, started becoming more common and popular, referring to hot beef sandwiches as hamburgers.
9. A Hamburger Can Save One’s Life As Well
Although hamburgers are always blamed to have an adverse effect on health but this is not the case always. It is reported that it is the hamburger which saved Robert Downey Jr. from his drug addiction. It was during 2003, when he was at a stop at Burger King with his car having tons of drugs. There he ate a burger and he found it so disgusting that it made him rethink his life and he decided to discontinue with the drugs.
8. An Average American Eats 3 Hamburgers A Week
Reports have shown the figure that every year 14 billion burgers are consumed by Americans which make an average American to eat three burgers a week. And this is the scenario of America region only. If we take the picture of only one chain – McDonald’s, then there are more than 34,000 outlets operating in over 123 countries. McDonalds itself serves astonishing 65,000,000 people per day which accounts to 1% of the world population on a daily basis. And if these are the pictures from one chain, then you can imagine the reach of hamburgers throughout the world.
7. Hamburgers Are The Indicator Of Purchasing Power Of A Country
It sounds weird but it is true that 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. So, the number of big Macs sold can be used as a factor to determine the present condition of any country’s economy, such as an effect and importance of hamburgers in today’s world.
6. World’s Largest Commercially Available Hamburger
The love for the hamburgers has made several restaurants and corporations try to produce the world’s largest hamburger. And after the burgers made by several restaurants there stands one hamburger created by Mallie’s Sports Grill & Bar which is the largest commercially available burger recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. This hamburger weighs 185.6 pounds. But for ordering this, customers need to call at least 24 hours in advance. The price for delivered hamburger is USD 2000 and in-store serving it is UDS 399. It is also named as “Absolutely Ridiculous Burger” and it takes 3 men to flip it and 12 hours to prepare.
5. Hamburger Harry’s – A Connoisseur Of Edible And Inedible Hamburgers
This restaurant is run by a German immigrant living in America who has the largest collection of hamburger-related merchandise. Having collected over 1000 different pieces of hamburger memorabilia, he displays them at Hamburger Museum. He has really interesting things related to hamburgers, the two most famous being the hamburger Harley and a cheeseburger shaped water bed. The Hamburger Harley packs an interesting and tasty looking punch. It has been shaped to replicate a hamburger. He has completely customized a water-bed to include the likeness of a man-made creation: a hamburger. He has created many things showing his special interest and love for this fast food and allows the world to look into his craziness about hamburgers.
4. The Heart Attack Hamburger
Everyone is aware of adverse health effects of this world famous fast food as it is considered to be quite unhealthy food item. But instead of hiding these facts unlike most restaurants and food chains, there is a restaurant called The Heart Attack Grill in Nevada which does not hide these harsh but true facts. Instead, it publicizes and does the marketing using the ill effects of having hamburgers itself. The burgers are served under the names of single, double, triple and quadruple bypass burgers. The Quadruple burger has 8000 calories with four patties and 20 strips of bacon. Seeing this controversial publicity and style, this restaurant has always been criticized for the inherent medical issues that can occur when eating burgers.
3. Elvis Presley Loved Burgers
The King of Rock n’ Roll also could not get himself away from the love and craziness of hamburgers. Elvis Presley was just mad about hamburgers and would constantly go to every single burger joint possible at his home and also during his world tour as well. He used to create different recipes for various burgers. According to one of his biography, he used to try every other ingredient like banana, peanut, syrup, egg etc. in his burgers as part of his experiments with his love of hamburgers. One other strange way that he used to prepare his burger was that he always used to have the inside of the buns to be burnt black to a crisp. Moreover, he used to insist the use of only fresh, lean ground beef.
2. Variation Of Burgers According To The Countries And Their Culture
Hamburgers served all over the world don’t follow the same standards, ingredients and methodologies but they vary keeping in mind the culture and customs of that particular country. The countries have adopted their own methods and recipes in order to create country-specific burgers. In Mexico, hamburgers are served with an additional piece of ham on the top. In China, hanbao is served which is a burger with extremely sweet bun. In Japan, burgers are served without any bun and only with the pure beef. The biggest exception and customized burgers are from India where due to religious purposes, beef is banned and they are created using only chicken and vegetable patties. But they are not nearly as healthy an alternative to beef as they made out to be. The soy used in these veggie burgers is often made with hexane, an air-pollutant which has adverse effect on the health.
1. McDonalds Hamburgers Are Not Decomposed
McDonald’s is known as the biggest fast-food chain ever and the one that has distributed the most burgers in the history of mankind has another crazy and very bizarre fact associated with its hamburgers. In a food survey, it was found out that the McDonalds hamburgers simply don’t decompose. In the experiment, the hamburger was left open unwrapped for 30 days. But even after such a long period of time, there was no sign of decomposition on the burger. The bun remained the same and the meat patty also remained the same.