SMILE FOR CHEESE

2006-11-05T22:35:00.000-08:00

Cheese is a firm favourite for 98% of the UK’s population and there are some historic and eccentric facts about one of Britain’s favourite, nutritionally valuable foods…

For her 1858 wedding, Queen Victoria - a renowned cheese enthusiast - was presented with a giant wheel of Cheddar cheese weighing over 1,000 lbs.
Cheshire cheese dates back to Roman times and was originally said to be made in a mould shaped like a cat, later made famous as the smiling Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.
The term “Big Cheese” derives from a medieval term of envy for those who could afford to buy expensive whole wheels of cheese.
During the early years of his career, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart enjoyed the patronage of an Austrian cheesemaker.
There was a tradition in Europe called “groaning cheese”. This refers to when a prospective father would nibble on a massive chunk of cheese while awaiting the home birth of his child. The cheese would be eaten from the inside out, forming a giant cheese ring. The newborn babe would then be ceremoniously passed through the hole.
In 1878, Thomas Nuttall constructed a 60-foot replica of Cleopatra’s Needle from 54 Stilton cheeses. Queen Victoria was so impressed that, when she visited the cheese fair at which the replica was on display, she promptly purchased all the cheeses used in the construction.
The first ever demand for film censorship in Britain came in 1898 from a mortified cheese industry following a scientific film by Charles Urban revealing the bacterial activity in a piece of Stilton.

Where did the hamburger come from?

2006-10-31T21:54:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered where the first hamburger on a bun came from? Which story you believe depends on your definition of a hamburger. Is it a hamburger when served on a bun? Or is it a hamburger when served between two slices of bread? Here are some stories:

1885

Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin, at the age of 15, sold hamburgers from his ox-drawn food stand at the Outagamie County Fair. He went to the Outagamie County Fair and set up a stand selling meatballs. Business wasn’t good and he quickly realized that it was because meatballs were too difficult to eat while strolling around the fair. In a flash of innovation, he flattened the meatballs, placed them between two slices of bread and called his new creation a hamburger. He was known to many as "Hamburger Charlie." He returned to sell hamburgers at the fair every year until his death in 1951. The town of Seymour has a Hamburger Hall of Fame that they built as a tribute to Charlie Nagreen and the legacy he left behind. The town claims to be "Home of the Hamburger" and holds an annual Burger Festival on the first Saturday of August each year. Events include a ketchup slide, bun toss, and hamburger-eating contest, as well as the "world's largest hamburger parade."

1931

Popeye the sailor man, a cartoon figures in the comic strip created by cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar in 1929, and syndicated by the Hearst newspapers’ King Features syndicate featured the character J. Wellington Wimpy, known as Wimpy. Wimpy joined the Popeye comic strip in 1931, and he played a significant role in popularizing the hamburger in the United States. Wimpy is probably best known for his consumption of hamburgers. The popularity of the character Wimpy spawned a successful chain of hamburger restaurants called Wimpy’s, that flourished for over a decade. This burger went for the upscale market at 10 cents a burger. In keeping with the founder’s wishes, all 1,500 restaurants were closed down when he died in 1978.

Food Trivia

SMILE FOR CHEESE

Where did the hamburger come from?