National Hamburger Day

On this Day in 1900 the first ‘hamburgers’ were served at Louis’ Lunch diner in New Haven, Connecticut.

Five Food Finds about Hamburgers

  • The oldest fast food restaurant in the world is the White Castle franchise, which opened in 1921.
  • The people of America eat more burgers out at restaurants or on the go than they do at home.
  • The largest hamburger ever created was over 8,000 pounds and was cooked for a burger festival in Wisconsin.
  • However, the hamburger in its current form, with ground beef and a bun, is a decidedly American creation.
  • Hamburgers are made of beef, not ham, and there is much debate over whether they actually originated in Hamburg.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1586 The potato was introduced to England. It is claimed that Sir Thomas Harriot introduced potatoes to England on this day. (Some sources give December 3 as the date).

1852 Andrew Jackson Downing died. An American horticulturist, he was the author of ‘The Fruits and Fruit Trees of America’ (1845) and editor of the ‘Horticulturist’ periodical.

1866 The metric system was authorized to standardize weights and measures in the U.S. (Authorized, yes, but we still don’t use it very much).

1900 One of the many claims to the origin of the hamburger, is that Louis Lassing (or Lassen) first served hamburgers on a bun in his diner in New Haven, Connecticut.

1907 Earl S. Tupper was Born. The inventor of Tupperware. (Tupperware makes the containers used to conduct mold and bacterial experiments in the back of refrigerator shelves).

1977 At 11:02 p.m. the first oil from Prudhoe Bay arrived at Valdez in the trans-Alaskan pipeline. It took 38 days to travel the 800 miles.

1989 The largest halibut (Atlantic) caught with rod and reel weighed over 255 pounds. It was caught in Gloucester, Massachusetts by Sonny Manley