White Castle, Big Boy, and McDonalds (2)

The second portion of reading, from page 37 to page 69, discussed different companies that made the hamburger industry boom and reach its current position as one of the Icons of America.

White Castle- Five-Cent Hamburger!

White Castle was one of the first hamburger businesses discussed carried on from the first portion of reading. 1916 in Wichita, White Castle was started by a cook named Walter Anderson. The reading says, "history has not recorded whether he invented the modern hamburger all at once (p26);" however, it acknowledges the fact Anderson came up with cooking the burger on 500F grill so that it the steak will be brown outside while remaining juicy inside, flattening the burger "reducing all its flavor to one plane," using white bun instead of sliced bread, and putting onions next to burgers while cooking them on grill to soak the juices from the meat.

Big Boy with a Double-decker

"A bass player came in one night and asked for something different (p46):" this was the beginning of a double-decker hamburger and a key to success of Big Boy. Bob Wian from Glendale, California was introduced in the text as one who came up with a double sized burger that "satisfies in a way that transcends its size and weight." The history of Big Boy interested me because the way success came seemed too simple: fulfilling a request from a random customer.

Finally, I reached chapter 3 that said "The Organization Man." I agreed with the author's introduction immediately: "McDonald's is so powerful an entity, looming so large in the eye of American life, that it's hard to believe it actually started somewhere."

This portion of reading about McDonald's, something that took a significant part in my memories from the childhood absorbed all of my attention and every detail that I learned about McDonald fascinated me.

The McDonald's brothers: Richard and Maurice started the business and Ray Kroc founded the McDonald's, Inc., that "represents America to the world in a way no other business ever has or likely ever will (p51)." I learned that the brothers had the following characteristics: hard-working, imaginative, but lacking visionary aspect or "devotion to systemic conformity." The brothers understood the idea that the fastest product was the best in fast-food business and constructed their business around that idea; they got rid of a dishwashers, flatwares, glasses, tablewares and replaced them with products made out of paper or plastic. They made the making and selling of hamburgers a "continuous process" that eventually brought in $277,000 a year and $100,000 profits by the mid-1950s (p57).

McDonald's #1 Store Museum

Apart from the McDonald's brothers, Ray Kroc took away my attention as his strong will and visions were described in detail further into the chapter. The brothers had everything such as yearly Cadillacs, swimming pool, wealth among all, but wives or kids while "Ray Kroc did have a wife and a child and a company of his own: but he risked it all to pursue his dream (p60)." The author states with confidence that McDonaldd today is "purely a product of Kroc's personality;" flawed, troubled, famously difficult, irascible, intolerant, and narrow, he is described in page 61. I knew by this description that a key and a hidden card to success is at times being stubborn and uncompromising in order to maintain order in business.
"McDonald's is not... a hamburger corporation at all. It is a confederation of entrepreneurs, small businesspeople operating according to standards devised by a central organizing authority."

Learning history of many hamburger businesses such as White Castle, Big Boy and McDonalds made me feel enriched as an individual learning about the hamburger as an icon and made me eagerly anticipate for the next reading.

Universal American Food? (1)

My first reading portion which was from page 1 to 37 (chapter 1 and 1/2 of chapter 2) successfully informed and entertained me with author's insightful details regarding to symbolism and overall history of Hamburgers. 

From the introduction, I received the message that Hamburgers are not just any ordinary food and there is something that make them incomparable from sandwiches, hotdogs, patty melt, fried chicken, or an apple pie. Hamburger has a history of its own and contains the story of European immigration in the nineteenth century and urbanization in the twentieth century. In addition, hamburger contributed to building immense economies and to create “corporate culture that drives so many aspects of contemporary America (p3).”

The reading started with a statement, “The hamburger is an American invention.” The author strongly believed that despite the name that comes from German city and Mongols’ connection with hamburger-fueled havoc in 13^th century; he thinks that Hamburger definitely belongs to America and stands as one of the icons of America.

Hamburg City

He supports his statement with numerous dates, names and stories that contain facts that hamburger originates from America: the earliest reference to hamburger in 1763 in Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy, first printed menu in 1837 in Delmonico restaurant, and Charlie Nagreen who put meatball between two slices of bread and sold it in Seymour, Wisconsin in 1885 as the earliest claimer.

Delmonico Restaurant

I continued to discover interesting facts throughout reading such as the essence of hamburger story: Hamburg steak being “the cheapest way for the poorest Americans to eat beef (p14)” and an observation made by Dr. Austin Flint “instinctively most persons prefer beef, as an habitual article of diet, to any other variety of meat” in 1866’s Physiology of Man.

I feel that the author’s writing style and voice contributed in attracting myself as an audience because he bluntly states some facts or misconceptions we have about hamburgers as such: “ Fast food represented everything bad about America- its soullessness, its conformity, its vulgarity (p3-4).” Furthermore, hamburgers were described in mouthwatering manner, which made it impossible for me to drop the book.

Overall, I can say that I am fond of "The Hamburger" by Josh Ozersky and I am excited to learn more of it!

Why Hamburger?

Every Sunday since kindergarten, I looked forward to driving through Mc. Donalds to get my favorite Happy Meal Set; getting a cheese burger and a toy was my motivation to wake up early, go to church and obey my parents when I was young. There were boxes full of toys I collected from eating Happy Meals and I remember the day I had to give it away that I felt like a family member was going away and I almost cried. My parents knew that my favorite food was cheeseburgers, so wherever the family travelled to, we would find the best burger place in city. There are many things I recall from my childhood but these particular memories relating to hamburger always cause me to be nostalgic. 

I chose the book 'The Hamburger' by Josh Ozersky mainly because it was the most familiar topic out of the Icons of America. I knew that no matter what the ideas the book had to share with me, I would be interested and be excited to learn more about the it. Hamburgers have always been a part of my life growing up and still, and the fact that I knew so little about the history, significance and power it had on different cultures, and how it became to be one of the icons of America, I was ready to read and find out more about it.

"Studying its story is one way of studying the country that invented it, and then reinvented it again and again... the meat of the hamburger's meaning lies in how it changed the world, and why," the author says as he introduces the book,The Hamburger by Josh Ozersky; I am thrilled to start my reading about hamburgers as an icon of America!