Quiz of the Day
Burgers & Food History
Thursday, 28 May 2026
National Hamburger Day — fast food origins, food inventions, eating records
1. Which city is most commonly credited as the birthplace of the hamburger?
- Hamburg, Germany
- All of the above claim it
- New Haven, Connecticut
- Athens, Texas
At least seven different American towns and cities claim to have invented the hamburger, and the debate has raged for over a century. The Library of Congress credits Louis Lassen's lunch wagon in New Haven, Connecticut (1900), but the true origin remains deliciously disputed.
2. How many hamburgers does the United States consume per year?
- About 100 billion
- About 5 billion
- About 10 billion
- About 50 billion
Americans eat roughly 50 billion burgers a year — that is about 150 burgers per person annually, or three per week. Laid end to end, those burgers would circle the Earth more than 32 times.
3. What year did McDonald's serve its first hamburger?
- 1937
- 1940
- 1955
- 1948
The McDonald brothers opened their first restaurant in San Bernardino, California in 1940. Their original menu included hot dogs, not burgers. They switched to a streamlined burger-focused 'Speedee Service System' in 1948, which Ray Kroc later franchised in 1955.
4. What was the first food eaten in space?
- Freeze-dried ice cream
- A hamburger
- Apple sauce in a tube
- A tortilla wrap
John Glenn squeezed apple sauce from an aluminium tube during his Mercury flight in 1962. Scientists were worried that weightlessness might prevent swallowing. Today, the International Space Station has a menu of over 200 items, though crumbs from bread are banned as they float into equipment.
5. Which condiment was originally sold as medicine in the 1830s?
- Ketchup
- Mustard
- Hot sauce
- Mayonnaise
In 1834, an Ohio physician named John Cook Bennett sold tomato ketchup in pill form as a cure for diarrhoea, jaundice, and indigestion. Tomato ketchup as we know it was popularised by Heinz from 1876 — and Americans now consume 10 billion ounces of it per year.
6. What is the world record for the largest hamburger ever made?
- 914 kg
- 500 kg
- 1,164 kg
- 2,500 kg
The record-breaking burger was created in Minnesota in 2012 and weighed 1,164 kg (2,566 lbs). It took over 12 hours to cook in a custom-built oven, required a crane to flip, and was served on a bun baked in a satellite dish. It was then sliced up and sold for charity.
7. Which country invented fish and chips?
- Scotland
- Debated — both England and Portugal claim it
- England
- Ireland
Fried fish likely arrived in England with Portuguese-Jewish immigrants in the 16th century. Chips (fried potatoes) were added much later. The first combined fish and chip shop is claimed by both Oldham (1860s) and London (1860). At its peak, Britain had over 35,000 chip shops.
8. What was the original filling in a sandwich, as created by the Earl of Sandwich?
- Cucumber
- Cheese
- Salt beef
- Ham
John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich, reportedly asked for salt beef between slices of toast around 1762 so he could eat without leaving the gambling table. The concept of bread with filling existed long before him, but his name stuck. The Hawaiian island chain was also named after him.
9. Which fast food chain introduced the first drive-through window?
- In-N-Out Burger
- Red's Giant Hamburg
- Wendy's
- McDonald's
Red's Giant Hamburg in Springfield, Missouri opened a drive-through in 1947. However, In-N-Out Burger (1948) popularised the concept with a two-way speaker system. Today, drive-throughs account for about 70% of fast food revenue in the United States.
10. What is the world's most expensive burger, sold at a New York restaurant?
- $5,000
- $295 with gold leaf
- $295
- $1,000
The FleurBurger 5000 in Las Vegas costs $5,000 and features Wagyu beef, foie gras, truffle, and a bottle of 1995 Chateau Petrus wine. Other extreme burgers have incorporated gold leaf, saffron, and edible diamonds. The average American burger costs about $5.50.
11. Which popular snack was accidentally invented by a chef annoyed at a customer?
- Crisps (potato chips)
- Popcorn
- Nachos
- Pretzels
In 1853, chef George Crum at Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York sliced potatoes paper-thin and fried them crisp after a customer complained his French fries were too thick. The 'Saratoga Chips' became the restaurant's most popular dish.
12. What percentage of the Earth's ice-free land is used for livestock farming?
- 40%
- 26%
- 14%
- 6%
Livestock farming uses 26% of the Earth's ice-free land surface. A single beef burger requires approximately 2,500 litres of water to produce — equivalent to two months of showers. This has driven the rise of plant-based alternatives, now a multi-billion pound industry.
13. What was the first commercially sold frozen food?
- Frozen peas
- Frozen fruit
- Frozen spinach
- Fish fingers
Clarence Birdseye revolutionised the food industry after watching Inuit people in Canada flash-freeze fish in the 1920s. He launched his first frozen foods (fruit, vegetables, and fish) in 1930 in Springfield, Massachusetts. Before this, freezing food slowly created large ice crystals that ruined texture.
14. Which country eats the most burgers per capita?
- Uruguay
- Argentina
- Australia
- United States
Uruguay tops beef consumption at roughly 42 kg per person per year. Their version of a burger — the 'chivito' — is a steak sandwich loaded with ham, bacon, mozzarella, egg, olives, and peppers. It was invented in the 1940s in Punta del Este and is the national dish.
15. What was the first lab-grown burger made of, and how much did it cost to produce in 2013?
- Pork cells — $100,000
- Beef cells — $330,000
- Turkey cells — $250,000
- Chicken cells — $50,000
Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University grew the first lab burger from cow muscle cells in 2013. The single patty cost $330,000 to produce and took two years. Taste testers said it was 'close to meat but not as juicy.' By 2023, the cost had dropped below $10 per patty.