The “Big Mac Index” Is An Indicator Of The Purchasing Power Of A Country Measured In How Many Big Macs Could Be Bought In That Country With $50

National Hamburger Day on May 28th wraps up National Burger Month and also ushers in summer grilling season.

• 1758 – An English cookbook describes “Hamburgh sausage” as salted, minced beef shaped into patties, an early forerunner of Hamburg steak that later inspired the American hamburger.
• 1842 – American newspapers began mentioning “Hamburg steak,” a seasoned, hand-minced beef patty associated with German sailors and immigrants, served as a standalone meat dish rather than a sandwich.
• 1896 – A Chicago Tribune article refers to the growing popularity of the ‘hamburger sandwich’ amongst rail commuters.
• 1873 – Delmonico’s in New York City lists “Hamburg steak” on its menu, served with onions and gravy, showing that the patty-style meat had entered mainstream American dining decades before the bun sandwich.
• 1904 – The hamburger gained national recognition at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair when the New York Tribune referred to the hamburger as “the innovation of a food vendor on the pike”.
• 1921 – White Castle is the oldest burger chain in America. It started in 1921 by Walter A. Anderson and E.W. Ingram, who sold their burgers for 5 cents apiece.
• 1939 – According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “hamburger” was first abbreviated as “burger” in 1939.
• 1940 – The first McDonald’s restaurant opens in San Bernardino, California
• 1948 – In San Bernardino, California, Richard and Maurice McDonald introduced the “Speedee Service System,” focusing on hamburgers, fries, and shakes, and pioneering the production model that shapes modern fast-food burger chains.
• 2008 – Burger King released a meat-scented cologne called “Flame.”
• 2011 – Beyond Meat was founded to create plant-based patties that closely mimic beef, marking a new era in hamburger history as meatless burgers gain traction in supermarkets and fast-food outlets.
• 2017 – The world’s largest hamburger was 2,566 lb – 9 oz and was achieved in Pilsting, Germany, on 9 July 2017.
• 2019 – In partnership with Impossible Foods, Burger King begins serving the Impossible Burger, made entirely from plants, at locations worldwide.
• The term hamburger originally derives from Hamburg, Germany‘s second-largest city. In German, Burg means “castle”, “fortified settlement,” or “fortified refuge,” and is a widespread component of place names.
• The exact origin of the hamburger may never be known with any certainty.
• The Library of Congress credits Louis Lassen, a Danish immigrant and owner of Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, as the creator of the hamburger as we know it.
• New Haven’s Louis Lunch only serves onions, tomatoes, and cheese spread as a condiment – maintaining a ban on ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise!
• On average, Americans eat three hamburgers a week. That’s a national total of nearly 50 billion burgers per year.
• If all the hamburgers eaten by Americans in a year were arranged in a straight line, it would circle our Earth 32 times or more!
• McDonald’s Corporation is the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries.
• The Hamburger Hall of Fame is located in Seymour, Wisconsin.
• 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 – The Big Mac Index.
• The Big Mac had two previous names: “aristocrat” and “blue ribbon burger”, both of which failed in the marketplace.
• During WWI, the US Gov’t tried to rename hamburgers as ‘liberty sandwiches.’
• Hamburgers, along with cheeseburgers, account for 71% of beef served in commercial hotels in the US.
• McDonald’s sells 75 or more burgers every second. That’s 6.5 million burgers worldwide, of which 5.4 million are sold in the US.
• Hamburger (ground beef patty) is the most popular food for the grill, followed by steak and chicken.
• More than seven out of ten burgers (73%, or 9.6 billion) consumed in the U.S. were prepared and purchased outside the home.
• 49 cents – the price at which the McDonald’s Big Mac was introduced.
• 40 billion – the estimated number of hamburgers consumed by Americans in a year.
• $15,000 – the number of dollars offered by PETA once to the town of Hamburg, New York, to change their name to ‘Veggieburg.’
• 4 – the average number of hamburgers eaten by every American in a week.
• 1 nickel – the price at which White Castle’s first burger was sold.
• 60% – the percentage of all sandwiches sold in the world that are hamburgers.
• 2,014 pounds – the weight of the world’s biggest burger, at Black Bear Resort Casino in Minnesota.
• 10 feet – the diameter of the world’s biggest burger.
• 75 – the number of McDonald’s Big Macs sold every minute.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Savor Tonight

Facts Legend

Mobile-Cuisine

Just Fun Facts

Fact Republic

Mental Itch

National Today

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