Today is National Cheeseburger Day, so in honor of the precious, delicious invention of the cheese burger, we have to know some facts, including where it came from and what the general opinion is of cheeseburgers.

The cheeseburger doesn’t have a true origin story, as who made the cheeseburger has been bouncing around, but we do know that its popularity started to boom in the mid-1920s to 30s. One supposed cheeseburger-founder was Lionel Stenberger, who worked at “the Rite Spot,” his father’s sandwich joint in Pasadena, California. Stories have said that he created the cheeseburger in 1926 by experimenting with flavors and deciding to add a piece of cheese on a beef patty. An alternate version tells that a homeless man told him to add a piece of cheese to hamburgers. Lionel decided to put it on the menu and named it the “cheese hamburger.” Because the Stenbergers named the dish “cheese hamburger” instead of the name we know and love, people deny them the right of the invention of the “cheeseburger.”

Fun Facts:

• The most expensive burger sold in America is sold from the New York City food truck 666 Burger. The $666 burger is wrapped in a gold leaf, topped with lobster, caviar, truffles, foie gras, and aged Gruyere cheese, melted with steam from champagne, and poured on a hot griddle. The good thing is you get $300 back, as the burger comes wrapped in three greasy $100 bills.
• Each year, Americans eat a whopping 50 billion burgers, or three burgers a week. That’s a lot of beef!
• Approximately 40 percent of hamburgers served in the United States contain cheese on them. A survey conducted at Red Robin stated that over 70 percent of their customers would like cheese added into the patty itself.
• During the First World War, the U.S. Government tried to rename burgers as “Liberty Sandwiches” in order to promote patriotism and avoid using its original German name.

What do GBHS students think about the cheeseburger?

Junior Kaylee Bryant simply said, “They are good!” Sophomore Jesse Jackson went into more detail with “Cheeseburgers are possibly the best creation mankind has ever created and have blessed this world with.” Sophomore Caleb Murphy had similar thoughts as he said, “There [sic] good they make me feel like heaven in my mouth.”

Credits:

“Fun Cheeseburger Facts to Celebrate National Cheeseburger Day.” Shooters Woodfire Grill, www.shooterswoodfiregrill.com/blog/2016/09/fun-cheeseburger-facts-to-celebrate-national-cheeseburger-day/.

http://www.historyoffastfood.com/fast-food-types/cheeseburger-history-and-facts/