Hamburger

Overview

The hamburger is a very popular type of sandwich consisting of a bun with a meat patty in the middle, often combined with various condiments and/or toppings and garnishes. Usually the patty is made of ground beef, though chicken, turkey, and vegetarian options like bean patties are also popular. Popular toppings for the patty include tomatoes, onions, pickles and lettuce. Commonly found condiments include mustard, ketchup, and mayonnaise. Variations on the hamburger are wide-ranging, from cheeseburgers (slice of cheese on the patty) to the infamous Luther Burger, which uses two glazed donuts as buns, and bacon and cheese on the patty. The ubiquity and widespread popularity of the hamburger may have contributed to this variety. Many believe they are the cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.

The Hamburger is basically used for food in gaming as it is in the real world. It is a common food you can find in the Dead Rising's series, though it only heals one block of health. The Grand Theft Auto series has constantly offered variations on the hamburger as one of the many healing items in the game.

History of the Hamburger

There are many claims to the creator of the first hamburger. One claim is that the first hamburger was made by Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin when he decided to flatten a meatball and serve it between two slices of bread at the Seymour Fair in 1885. Another is that Menches brothers of Hamburg, New York who ran out of pork for their sausage patty they were serving at the 1885 Erie country fair and were forced to use beef meat instead. They found it bland so they added coffee, Brown sugar and other ingredients and created what they called the "Hamburg Sandwich" named after their hometown. One more claim is that Louis Lassen invented it in 1895 in his lunch wagon named "Louis' Lunch".

Another person claiming to be the first inventor of the hamburger is Fletcher Davis. In 1974 the New York Times ran an article claiming he was the inventor of the much loved foodstuff. The claim is based on the McDonald's claim that the inventor was an unknown vendor from the St. Louis World fair 1904. Newspaper columnist and historian Frank X Tolbert found that this vendor was Fletcher Davis, who invented it in the late 1880's in his café in Athens, Texas, when he sold an unnamed ground beef sandwich at his lunch counter.

1955 saw a defining moment in the history of the hamburger. McDonald's opened its doors for the first time, which would later become a huge corporation in the fast food market. McDonald's has introduced a number of revolutionary products, such as the Big Mac. Other fast food restaurant chains have opened up, aiming to capitalize upon America's hunger for the hamburger. Burger King quickly became an important rival to McDonald's as they introduced their flagship product; the Whopper, offering consumers new realms of variety in the process. White Castle introduced bite sized small burgers topped with cheese, onions, and pickles. Wendy's also came around with their square shaped Burgers. Even though Burger King, White Castle, and Wendy's are all fairly sizable, McDonald's is still the top hamburger consumer hot-spot worldwide.

On the Side

Hamburgers are often served with a multitude of different side orders. The most common choices in the fast food market are French Fries and Soda.

French Fries

French fries are deep-fried slices of potato, often served with tomato ketchup. The name "french fry" does not infer its country of origin, but in fact refers to the technique by which one creates the cut, known as "frenching."

Many US citizens consider the fry to be a creation from the French. The French consider the fry to be a creation from Belgium. The first statement is quite wrong. The second is an absolute yes... sort of. For you see, the Spanish Netherlands already started baking fries during the 1680s, in the area of the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège, Belgium. The inhabitants of that region had their lakes frozen, ridding the ability of gaining fish to cook. So they instead cut potatoes and baked them in oil until the Lakes became unfrozen.

The French, not long after, annexed Belgium. They took control over the place until the Congress of Vienna of 1815 brought it under Dutch control. So before french fries got into the cook books, Belgium found the french fry since the beginning. That is until France took all the credit once they took control over Belgium, giving someone the idea to put "French" before the name "fry".

Soda/Pop

There are various kinds of soda. Coca-Cola (Coke), root beer, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, 7 Up, and Mountain Dew are some of the better known American brands. All of these beverages can be found in beverage machines in fast food restaurants; sometimes on the cash registry counter or by the napkins and straws. To use these contraptions, you simply press a button that's right below the soda's main logo and the contents spew out like a water fall, hopefully into your cup. Or better yet, directly into your mouth. Soda is often served with large amounts of ice but the soda fountains already refrigerate the soda. Sometimes the fountains run out of syrup so the drink tastes like carbonated water with a couple drops of your selected soda in it.

Onion Rings

Onion rings are a common type of fast food often served as a side order. They consist of a ring of onion that is deep fried in breadcrumbs or batter. Similar to fries, onion rings are often served with tomato ketchup, or a range of other dipping sauces. Onion rings are particularly popular in countries such as Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, where they have become a popular choice on any fast food menu. In some other Western countries, like Australia, Onion Rings are not served at McDonalds and other major fast-food chains and are not considered a popular side-order.

Salads

Eager to convey a healthy message to consumers, many fast food chains began to offer healthy alternatives to some of their products. Salads can be served as a side order to accompany something like a hamburger, or it can be eaten as a meal in itself. Many consist of vegetables such as lettuce and tomato, often with other ingredients, such as chicken, to make the salad more wholesome. Often a dressing is added for extra flavor.

Use in Video Games

Hamburgers are commonly used to restore health or hit points in video games.

Breakdown

The 2004 Xbox game Breakdown broke new ground in its intro sequence by being the first game to employ the wonderful act of eating hamburgers in a First Person perspective. It continued its ground-breaking work in immersion by then causing the player to vomit said hamburger in the toilet, while still in the first person perspective. Continuing further allowed you to pick up and consume burgers which restored a set amount of health.

Grand Theft Auto

In Grand Theft Auto IV hamburgers can be purchased from street vendors or at various Burger Shot locations. It only takes one hamburger to restore all of Niko Bellic's health. Also, in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you can buy hamburgers from Burger Shot as well.

Mafia II

In Mafia II, burgers can be purchased from diners scattered around Empire Bay to restore health. Of note, burgers are insanely cheap in Mafia II, as the game is set in the 1940's and 1950s.

BurgerTime

The game BurgerTime revolves around walking across the top of various pieces of a hamburger to push them down and build a delicious meal. The player must do this while avoiding various enemies, such as the dastardly Mr. Egg.

The World Ends with You

In The World Ends with You, Neku Sakuraba and company can eat various foods in order to boost stats and sync rate. Among the foods is a hamburger, which can be obtained either at Sunshine Stationside or Sunshine Shibuyuku. The hamburger costs 360 yen, increases the sync rate by 25%, and will boost the characters max HP by 8. The Hamburger goes down in 8 bites.

Disaster: Day of Crisis

One of the many food items Ray can find in crates, mailboxes and trash cans is an enormous hamburger. It will instantly regenerate a considerable amount of stamina, though not quite as much as the big shank of meat and the grilled lizard on a stick.

Rock Band

Jimmy Buffett's song "Cheeseburger in Paradise" was released as DLC for Rock Band on June 3rd of 2008. Among the lyrics, there are lines such as "I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes, fresh kosher pickle and a cold draft beer..." and "Cheeseburger in Paradise, heaven on earth with an onion slice...".

Deadly Premonition

Hamburgers can be used inside Deadly Premonition to recover hunger. A rogue hamburger is one of the suspects in the murder of Anna Graham.

Dead Rising

Hamburgers are used in the Dead Rising series to restore some health. The player can also find spoiled hamburgers, which are green in color and make the character vomit due to food poisoning.

Bad Dudes

Burgers play a large role in the plot of Bad Dudes, especially the conclusion. During President Ronnie's thank you speech he will jokingly invite you to go for a burger. This is most likely a joke but since there is nothing that says what the Bad Dudes did afterwards it would not be impossible for them to have really eaten a burger with the president. Most gamers like to think that they totally did.

Mother series

Burgers act as health restoration items in and outside of combat in the Mother series of games, coming in varieties such as standard Hamburger, Double burger, Mammoth Burger, King Burger and Big City Burger.