Athens celebrates, the hamburger is 100

By KARI KRAMER | East Texas Edition

June 10, 2004 -- The hamburger is turning 100-years-old, and people in Texas are celebrating.

The history of the hamburger is jumbled with various tales. The name for the hamburger is traced to Hamburg, Germany where tough meat was tenderized and spiced, and then became known as hamburg steak. Later, it is believed the name came to America with German immigrants.

According to several sources, including the Texas Beef Council, the modern hamburger is thought to have originated from Fletcher "Old Dave" Davis of Athens, Texas. It has been said that he served the hamburger at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. Old Dave's hamburger was made with crisp brown-fried ground beef, thick homemade toast, a ground-mustard mixture, and the burger was topped off with an slice of onion. The hamburger was introduced to the world when a reporter from New York wrote of Old Dave selling his sandwiches at the World's Fair.

Athens, Texas has regularly celebrated the hamburger, and will celebrate this year on June 11 with the Burger and Bar-B-Q Cook-Off. A car show will also coincide with the event. What-A-Burger is one sponsor of the event. Nathan Geick, an event coordinator, believed that a 24-inch-round hamburger would be cooked up this year.

Geick said there will be at least 10 teams, some for the car show and others for the cook-off. There are no prizes for winning the cook-off, just "the recognition of winning," according to Geick.

"Last year, Americans consumed more than 13 billion burgers. The favorite day for consuming burgers is Saturday with 1.4 billion eaten in restaurants that day. Saturday's total number may be even greater as more than 7 out of every 10 burgers consumed in the United States are prepared out of the home," according to the Texas Beef Council.

This year, the Athens Burger and Bar-B-Q Cook-off will be one of many summer celebrations that involves the hamburger.