Texas lawmaker challenges hamburger history
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A burger battle is brewing between a Texas state legislator and the owners of Louis’ Lunch, a restaurant established in 1895, where it has been claimed that the hamburger was invented. However, with the new session of the Texas legislature now under way, Republican State Rep. Betty Brown has proposed a resolution declaring Athens, Texas, is the original home of the hamburger. Brown, an Athens resident, says that a long ago resident of the town, Fletcher Davis, had a luncheonette in the late 1880s and sold the first burgers there. A magazine article also suggests that Davis not only created the hamburger, but sold it from a booth at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. A spokeswoman in Brown’s office said she is proposing the resolution on behalf of the Athens Chamber of Commerce.
Jeebus, for a moment there, I’d been worried that maybe the Legislature was going to throw us a curve ball and actually do something useful. Thankfully, and true to form, a Republican legislator has demonstrated once again that the Texas Legislature is only really effective when it’s not in session.
One could be forgiven for thinking that the Legislature would be spending our tax dollars on actual, honest-to-God useful and important policy issues. It’s not as if Austin is lacking for issues, after all. There’s health care for children, immigration policy, the Trans-Texas Corridor, and well, probably one or two other things. Somehow, proclaiming Texas the home of the hamburger doesn’t seem to be on the list.
“It’s a well-known and established fact that New Haven is the home of the hamburger. In fact, New Haven’s claim to the hamburger is even supported and documented in the Library of Congress,” [New Haven Mayor John] DeStefano said.
DeStefano notes that New Haven has been a cradle of creativity, as the birthplace of the cotton gin, the first rubber tires, the corkscrew, the Frisbee, lollipops, Erector Sets and pizza.
“We are even the birthplace of George Bush, who wants people to think he’s from Texas. So yes, the hamburger is as much a New Haven original as President Bush,” DeStefano said. “Get over it, Texas.”
Hey, you can have Our Glorious and Benevolent Leader © . As for the hamburger…well, who outside of Athens, TX and New Haven, CT really gives a damn?
Memo to Rep. Brown: if you’re not going to use your time in office to do something useful and productive, if you’re going to waste taxpayer money on this sort of meaningless, pointless crap, how about just going home and scarfing down a few cheeseburgers? It’s not as if you’re doing anything of any value in Austin. Stop wasting your time and our money….
