A RUGBY burger bar has shared some lesser-known facts about the popular fast food on National Burger Day.
Local business Libertine Burger is celebrating National Burger Day – which is held in the UK on August 25 each year – with five facts you might not know about the beefy delicacy.
To mark the event, the Chapel Street restaurant has launched a special edition burger, which will make an appearance at national food festival The Big Feastival in the Cotswolds across the August Bank Holiday weekend.
And for anyone wondering why burgers are so popular that they have their own special day, Libertine is reminding people of some of the things they might not know about burgers.
Charles Harres, founder of Libertine Burger, said: “Burgers are pretty much a staple of the British diet these days, but not many people know some of the fun facts behind them, so we thought it would be fun to share them as the nation marks National Burger Day.”
When was the first burger eaten?
The Oxford English Dictionary lists the first mention of a hamburger in 1889, but it is thought to have been appearing on menus long before this. In Germany, a meat patty between bread called Rundstuck Warm was popular at least 20 years earlier.
Why do we call it a hamburger when it’s actually made from beef?
It’s generally agreed that the origins of the burger as we know it today can be traced back to the German city of Hamburg, hence the use of the word ‘ham’ as a precursor. Ground meat, which was a type of salt beef, was shaped into a patty and cooked, although there was still no bun at this stage. But did you know a real Hamburg steak can also be served raw and probably came first? It is thought the Germans got the idea after sailors travelling to Russia were inspired by their steak tartare.
How did burgers become so popular?
As Hamburg was a popular port for German immigrants to travel to the US, they took their burger recipe with them. Burgers started to appear on menus in America in the 19th century. Similarly Germans also emigrated to the UK, and by the time of the First World War hamburgers were being sold as ‘Liberty Sandwiches’ to avoid the German name.
When was the first cheeseburger made?
Everyone knows burgers taste better with cheese, but it seems no one actually had the idea of adding it until 1924. Many food historians credit 16-year-old Lionel Sternberger with slapping a slice of American cheese onto a cooking hamburger at his father’s sandwich shop ‘The Rite Spot’ in Pasadena, California. And so the cheeseburger was born!
How many burgers are eaten in the UK each year?
UK meat eaters consume 2.5 billion beef burgers a year, a recent survey revealed. This equates to 52 burgers per person over a 12 month period. But for those wanting to cut down on their meat consumption to help the planet, the University of Oxford said swapping at least one meat-based meal a week for a plant-based alternative could collectively save the equivalent C02 emissions of driving 27 billion miles in a car.
