Do you ever wonder about the history or the events leading to certain things that you either participate in, or consume? Not making any sense? Okay, so when I was in the sixth grade, my mom made me get braces. I was against it at the time because I thought my teeth were “unique,” but thank Based God that I had no option. Upon getting braces, I found it so strange that somebody had developed a way to alter a natural occurrence, such as crooked teeth. Who thought that putting brackets connected by wires was the solution to straightening teeth?! Much like banana slicers for slicing bananas, why would you do that and who was the genius behind those? Or what about Shake Weights, who thought of that?!

Summer of 2014. My roommate is out at the dog park and I had the apartment to myself. I’m watching this documentary (I forgot the title, but I searched only to find “No Results.”) about the best burgers in the United States. It was a countdown of 10. A bit of personal history here, I love, love, love burgers. I love cheese burgers, so much that I would consider myself a connoisseur of some sort. I’m always down for a burger, no matter when and where. Medium-well with cheese, mayo, extra ketchup, and lettuce when I’m feeling real earthy. As I sat on the couch eating pasta, more regrettably with every forkful, the burgers being prepped (and EATEN!) on screen looked so dreamy. They glistened. They were juicy. Buns were buttered to perfection. They were raved about. Most were even plated well! I realized that I loved burgers more than I had previously thought, but in the midst of this epiphany, I became curious. I wondered who came up with this idea of a “burger?” You see, more than beef patty and a bun, those two entities have separate histories that lead to the creation of what we now know as the hamburger.

I thought back curiously about who had the idea of eating a cow and thinking it would be good? Delicious at that. Not only that, but to prepare the beef in such a way to make it convenient for an American classic. Also, who thought of buns, and why they had to come in pairs. Well, obviously the ‘s’ in buns infers that there is more than one, but the naming always happens after the creation. Before they were named buns, who thought of manufacturing bread and splitting it in two down the middle?

Turns out, the domestication of cattle for food can be traced back 10,000 years back to the ancient region of Mesopotamia according to History.com. Combine this with the growth of the beef industry within Hamburg, Germany, in the 17^th century, and you have the foundation for the hamburger to be created. Immigrants from Hamburg arrived in America during the mid-late 19^th century. Along with themselves, they brought over the Hamburg styled steak. The only difference between the Hamburg styled steak and the hamburger, was that the latter was served on a bun.

Where this gets conflicting, is that nobody knows for sure who was the first to put the Hamburg styled steak in between a bun. Many think it’s Oscar Weber Billby of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1891. Some say the hamburger was in fact an invention coming from the Frank and Charles Menches families straight out of Akron, Ohio in 1885. Whatever the case, the hamburger became a nationwide hit at the 1904 World’s Fair held in St. Louis.

This led to the first hamburger-based chain, White Castle, opening in 1921. McDonald’s and In-N-Out followed in 1948, which led to Burger King in 1954 and Wendy’s in 1969. Putting cheese on a burger, much like the history of the original hamburger, is debatable. The origins of the original cheeseburger are traced back to Pasadena, Louisville, and Denver. While we can’t for sure say where the cheeseburger came from with factual confidence, what we can say is that the burger has remained wildly popular with Americans, with citizens eating approximately 50 billion burgers annually.

One of the top 10 burgers mentioned in the documentary was offered at Holeman & Finch Public House in down town Atlanta. My parents have a place in Athens, Ga, which is about an hour or so outside of Atlanta. Not only did the vicinity of this restaurant stand out to me, but the way they offered their burgers not only gave me a feeling of excitement, but it gave me somewhat of a challenge to look forward to. A regular person looking to eat a burger could not just walk in H&F and enjoy this exceptionally remarkable, documentary-worthy burger. One would have to wait until “burger time,” which was 10PM, to be able to have an opportunity to consume this burger. To make matters worse, only 24 were prepared on a nightly-basis. It’s wasn’t that simple back then, although things have changed and it is now. It’s been two years since the documentary aired, and H&F has decided to offer their burger on a daily basis until “prepared supply is exhausted” according to their website. Luckily for me, that’s how I was able to get my hands on this elusive and legendary burger.

This past June, I embarked on a four city vacation with two of my homies. Atlanta was one of those cities. Being in Atlanta is something special. The city is very clean, the culture is diverse and accepting, and they offer phenomenal food. On the list of places to go was H&F. We went on a Sunday around the afternoon. It wasn’t too busy, surprisingly. Upon getting seated, can you guess what all three of us ordered? The burger. Within 10 minutes, there it was sitting right in front of me. A burger that I was first introduced to by way of a Netflix documentary. A burger that had more television airtime than myself. It was like seeing one of your celebrities on television in real life. Well, kind of, sort of, almost? Regardless, the bun was so perfectly browned that it could’ve tanned with the finest models off the coast of Ibiza. There were pickles that were so fresh. At first glance, the patty looked juicy, and crisp on the edges, but after a second look, there were what seemed to be two patties, with a slice of cheese on top of each, and there were slices of onion molded into the patties. This, my friends, could perhaps be the MJ of burgers.

I took my first bite, and it was exquisite. It was so flavorsome that even those with the most sophisticated of taste palettes could not deny. The juxtaposition of the textures of the crisp pickle slices and the juicy patties was gratifying beyond belief. It was safe to say this burger was not a victim of the hype. It was marvelous. There I was, eating my burger, with mayo, cheese, and extra ketchup, thankful for the German immigrants from Hamburg, which led to whoever really did put the Hamburg steak in between a bun.