Introduction to Burger Monkey
Sunday, September 27, 2009 at 9:15PM If I were on death row my last meal would be a cheeseburger and fries. There is no question of that. It is a complete
The McDonalds double cheeseburger: everywhere meal on a plate - it does not demand a fussy starter - that would just be a distraction before the main event. Nor, unless you are a glutton, will you need a sugary dessert to sate you afterwards. (I guess the Americans, through the milkshake have ingeniously combined the two).
Like Americans, us Brits find the combination of a meat butty with fried potato appeals to our taste for substantial, unfussy, artery-clogging fare. Yet the burger addiction is not exclusively an Anglo-Saxon phenomenon. Even the most ardent defender of French culture from the Yankee invasion will eat a burger - he'll just call it an hache, whilst the younger generation of French, who couldn't give a merde about cultural protectionism, stuff lukewarm Big Macs down their Gallic gullets in between chaining Camels and watching MTV.
Little wonder, then, that this all-conquering statement of Americana has crossed the world: cheap, filling and able to be made quickly on an industial production line. McDonalds and Burger King took the burger all over the planet with a winning combination of low price and consistency all wrapped up in the American dream.
The critics blame burgers - and in particular the global mega chains - for obesisty. But can corporate power be held accoutable for the greedy bastards who can't stop themselves from filling the hours between meals with a Big Mac and fries? No, we must be honest with ourselves. The burger pushes our buttons and it is does so across cultures, whilst spitting in the face of recession, fad and fashion. People will still be chowing on burgers in 100 years time from Ginza to Giza.
So I have set up this blog to focus solely on finding cracking burgers. I will be eating my way through 50, possibly more, burgers in London and beyond - posting reviews and pictures on the way. My partner (Mrs Burger Monkey) has kindly agreed to help me on this journey and I hope you join me too by commenting, debating and suggesting.
In my next post I will muse on how I will go about this epic task. It's a tough job. But someone has to do it.
Reader Comments (1)
Very much looking forward to reading more about this... Where first?