America has one hundred and seventy five unofficial National Food Holidays that are listed ‘just for fun’. They celebrate the extensive and delicious array of unique American foods. The hamburger is one of America’s favourite comfort foods. Summer is the time for Americans everywhere to start firing up their grills and churning out variations of the beloved hamburger. National Burger day is celebrated all over America as an unofficial holiday, on May 28. This annual celebration is a kick off to summer.

FACT 1: The hamburger patty originated in Hamburg, Germany, but the hamburger patty on a bun is as American as baseball and apple pie.

FACT 2: The American hamburger can be traced to the late 19^th century, when a café in Athens, Texas began selling hamburger patty sandwiches. Since then the burger has taken on many different avatars, but it always has trimmings like lettuce, pickles and onions.

FACT 3: The modern hamburger, a ground beef patty sandwiched between two buns, appeared during World War 1. Seymour, Wisconsin claims to have invented the hamburger as we know it today. The city hosts a hamburger festival ‘Burger Fest’ to celebrate National Hamburger Day. The largest hamburger, weighing 8,266 lb. appeared at this fest in 2001. America’s first hamburger fast food chain, White Castle, opened its first store 93 years ago in Wichita, Kansas.

FACT 4: hamburgers and cheeseburgers have been a staple of the American diet for decades. Americans consume 50 billion hamburgers a year. That is 3 burgers a week for every person living in America.

FACT 5: Americans celebrate National Burger Day by hosting backyard hamburger parties, or by going out and feasting on the speciality hamburgers in the hamburger joints in their towns. Hamburger fans make a beeline for the biggest, best and boldest hamburgers.

FACT 6: Justin Chapple of Food and Wine magazine celebrated National Hamburger Day 2015, by sharing some of his best hacks (tricks) and tips on the TODAY show.

FACT 7: In honour of National Hamburger Day the Heart Attack Grill in Chandler Arizona, invites its patrons to gorge on their extremely unhealthy but delicious hamburger, the Octuple Bypass Burger. This burger has eight patties, eight slices of cheese, twenty slices of caramelised onion, baked in lard, eight tomato slices, one tablespoon mayo, two tablespoon tomato ketchup and one teaspoon mustard. It is served with a milkshake and French fries. This meal has a whopping calorie count of 12,410.

FACT 8: At the Big Daddy’s Burger Bar in Donovan, Tejero, a burger made with a 10oz beef patty, home-made cheese, buttermilk fried bacon and vegetables, is a hot seller on National Hamburger Day. Vegetarian burgers are also available. The Cantina Burger is made with a black bean patty, topped with green chillies, avocado and chipotle ranch dressing. It can be had with sweet potato fries!

FACT 9: The all American fast food, the hamburger has taken London by storm, with more and more burger joints opening up. Two American fast food burger chains, the Shake Shack and Five Guys, have sailed in from across the ‘pond’. The long queues for the lunchtime burger are an indication of their popularity. The UK now observes (unofficially as in America) National Burger Day, on 27th August. Tickets to the annual burger party at the Battersea Power Stations Pop Up Park are sold out days in advance. In 2014, the tickets were priced at 15 pounds.

FACT 10: Mac Donald’s gives special discounts to celebrate National Burger Day. Many American burger buffs do not consider Mac Donald’s, one of the biggest American burger chains, with an international reach, worthy of a visit on their special burger day.