Today is a National Day Calendar celebration that we can all get behind. This is National Beef Burger Day as well as National Hamburger Day. If you are like me, you may ask, “What’s the difference?” The answer surprised me.
A beef burger is just that – 100% beef. When Wendy’s spokesperson Clara Peller gruffly asked, “Where’s the beef?” there was a reason for that question. She had gone into a typical restaurant that sold hamburgers. There was a little shriveled up disk on the bun. Where’s the beef?
The hamburger has an interesting history that takes us back to Germany.
“Smashing meat into patties with other mix-ins has long been a German tradition bred out of necessity during long and harsh winters along the northern German border, and it is likely we will never know for sure who started this German trend.
“When Germans began coming to the United States in droves, they brought with them a ground meat which they mixed with onions, eggs, and breadcrumbs to form patties. These patties were known as “hamburger steaks” as it was the people from Hamburg, Germany who made them…
“The term “Hamburger” first appeared on a menu in Delmonico’s in New York City in 1873. But it was listed as a “hamburger steak”. The first “hamburgers” (without “steak” attached to the name), were first served in 1895 by Louis Lunch in New Haven,
Connecticut.”1
Though we are still less than a month away from the beginning of summer, grilling season has already begun. The weekend air is filled with the smell of someone in the neighborhood who has fired up the grill, taunting and teasing the neighborhood with the delicious aromas. Slap that burger on a bun with some cheese, tomato, lettuce, bacon, and BBQ sauce and life just doesn’t get much better than that! Yum!!
There are those who cannot or will not eat meat for reasons such as health, weight management, or the rising cost of beef. “According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, prices for uncooked beef steaks are 196.40% higher in 2025 versus 1997 (a $39.28 difference in value).”2 In other words, if you bought a $20 steak in 1997, it would cost you $59.28 today!
However, there are some that will say that meat shouldn’t be eaten because it was a living thing that was killed to satisfy our appetites. Others will claim religious reasons, stating that God doesn’t want us to eat meat. The Bible tells us otherwise.
Genesis 9:1-3 says, “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. (2) And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. (3) Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.”
Cows were permitted to be eaten according to Leviticus 11:3. “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. (3) Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.”
Moving to the New Testament, Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 6:13a – “Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats…” And 1 Timothy 4:1-5 gives this warning: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; (3) Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. (4) For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: (5) For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.”
Today, we can enjoy that burger provided we have no underlying health issues that might deny us this pleasure. We can eat it without shame or fear that we’ve sinned.
Take the words of 1 Corinthians 10:25-26 to heart – or stomach. “Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake: (26) For the earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.”
1https://thegrillingdad.com/how-to-grill/beef/why-is-it-called-a-hamburger/
2https://www.in2013dollars.com/Uncooked-beef-steaks/price-inflation
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