the.com/burger

a fistful of cow engineered to make grown adults forget every diet they've sworn to

means a sandwich built around a flat patty of ground meat (usually beef) tucked into a split round bun, often dressed with cheese, lettuce, and sauce.

from A clipping of "hamburger," which points back to Hamburg, the German port city — the original "Hamburg steak" was minced beef said to have crossed the Atlantic with German immigrants. The funny twist: people misread "ham-burger" as "ham + burger," so "burger" got cut loose as its own word. That false split then bred a whole litter of offspring — cheeseburger, veggieburger, fishburger — none of which contain a scrap of ham.

name origin
named for Hamburg, Germany, not ham
scale
Americans eat about 50 billion yearly
world record
heaviest topped 3,000 pounds, cheese included
lab grown
first cultured burger cost $330,000 in 2013
moon connection
McDonald's once trademarked a McMoon for space
for instance

whopper — burger king's signature flame-grilled burger, introduced 1954, sold in 100+ countries

big mac — mcdonald's two all-beef patties special sauce burger, introduced 1968, iconic mcdonald's item

five guys burger — customizable burger chain founded 1986 in virginia, now 1,500+ locations worldwide

shake shack burger — premium burger chain founded 2004 in madison square park, nyc, uses angus beef

the.com · every word