title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure improved on his rookie season in 1992–93 with the first of two consecutive 60-goal seasons. In the third game of the season, he scored a career-high four goals against the Winnipeg Jets. His three goals and one assist in the second period set a pair of Canucks' records for most goals and points in a period, in addition to the team mark for most goals overall in a game (for which he is tied with several players). Furthermore, Bure scored two of his goals on the penalty kill to set a fourth team record for most short-handed goals in one contest. He appeared in his first NHL All-Star Game in 1993, being named to the Clarence Campbell Conference Team as the lone Canucks' representative, and scored two goals. Shortly after the All-Star break, Bure established a new franchise record for goals in a season during a 5–1 win over the Quebec Nordiques, surpassing Tony Tanti's 45-goal mark. The next month, on March 1, he reached the 50-goal mark for the first time in his career, scoring against Grant Fuhr of the Buffalo Sabres in a neutral-site game in Hamilton, Ontario. He also surpassed Patrik Sundström's franchise record of 91 points. Bure finished the season with 110 points in 83 games, and became the first Canuck named to the NHL first All-Star team. His 110 points stood as the team record until it was broken by Henrik Sedin's 112 points in 2009–10.


title: Pavel Bure

text: A groin injury early in the 1993-94 season limited Bure's production for the first half of the season. Even so, he improved in the second half, and led the league in goal-scoring by repeating his 60-goal feat of the previous season. In doing so, he became the eighth player in NHL history to record back-to-back 60-goal seasons. He concluded the season with a streak of 49 goals and 78 points in his final 51 games, and earned player of the month honours in March 1994 after scoring 19 goals and 30 points in 16 games. His March scoring burst was just one point shy of Stan Smyl's 31-point March in 1983 for the most productive month by a Canucks player. Bure's 154 NHL goals at that point in his career put him behind only Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the most in any NHL player's first three seasons. He recorded 49 goals in the club's final 51 games, and contributed to 46.45% of his team's goals in the final 47 games of the season to carry the Canucks into the 1994 postseason.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Entering the 1994 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the seventh seed, the Canucks went on a run to the Stanley Cup Finals. In the seventh game of the opening-round series against the Calgary Flames, Bure scored one of the most significant and well-known goals in Canucks' history. After receiving a breakaway pass from defenceman Jeff Brown, he deked and scored on Flames' goalie Mike Vernon in the second overtime to win the series. In game two of the second round against the Dallas Stars, Bure knocked enforcer Shane Churla to the ice with an elbow to the jaw. He also scored two goals in the game to help Vancouver to a 3–0 win. Although Bure was not initially penalized for the play, he was later fined $500 by the league. He recorded six goals and eight points in five games against the Dallas Stars, and against the Toronto Maple Leafs the following round scored four goals and six points in five games.


title: Pavel Bure

text: After defeating Dallas in five games, the Canucks eliminated the Toronto Maple Leafs in the Campbell Conference Finals to meet the New York Rangers in the Finals, where the Canucks lost in seven games. Bure finished with a team-high 16 goals and 31 points in 24 games, second in playoff scoring only to Conn Smythe Trophy winner Brian Leetch. His points total also remained the highest by any Russian player until Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins recorded 36 in 2009.


title: Pavel Bure

text: In the next off-season, the Canucks announced they had re-signed Bure to a five-year, $24.5 million contract on June 16. The deal was reported to have been signed before game three of the Stanley Cup Finals against New York. It also included Bure's marketing rights and put his father, Vladimir, on the team payroll as a fitness and marketing consultant. The average annual salary of $4.9 million made Bure the league's third highest-paid player, behind Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. In fact, Bure and the Canucks had entered into contract negotiations at the beginning of the 1993–94 season, although two years remained in his original deal. Neither side could come to an initial agreement; one of the major factors was the Canucks' demands for the contract to be in Canadian dollars on account of the American exchange rate. Numerous accusations were made in the media during the Canucks' playoff run that Bure threatened not to play if a contract could not be agreed upon. A "Toronto Star" article, published before the first game of the Finals on May 31, 1994, claimed Bure had signed a five-year, $30 million contract that, if the Canucks had not agreed to, would have seen him pull out of game five of the Conference Finals against the Maple Leafs. The article was followed by two additional claims in the following two days in the Vancouver-based newspaper "The Province" and "Toronto Sun". The "Toronto Sun" held the contract was a five-year, $22.5 million deal, and that it was signed before either game six or seven of the opening round against the Flames after Bure's agent, Ron Salcer, told general manager Quinn that Bure would not play if the deal was not made. As the story continued well into the next season, Pat Quinn appeared in a segment on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)'s "Hockey Night in Canada" on March 27, 1995, publicly denying the claims.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Due to the 1994–95 NHL lockout, Bure spent single-game stints with Spartak Moscow of the Russian Super League and EV Landshut of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL). He joined a team of Russian NHL players organized by Slava Fetisov that returned to Russia to play a five-game charity tour against local clubs. On the team, Bure reunited with former Central Red Army linemates Mogilny and Fedorov. When the NHL Players Association (NHLPA) and owners came to an agreement on January 12, 1995, NHL play was set to resume. However, there were unresolved contract issues, as Salcer claimed the Canucks promised they would pay Bure's full salary, despite the lockout, which cancelled nearly half of the 1994–95 season. Bure held out for four days as a result (the amount claimed to be owing was $1.7 million), before the two sides reached an agreement. The Canucks would put the disputed amount in escrow and would continue discussions. He soon reported to Vancouver and went on to tally 43 points in 44 games of the shortened season. In the 1995 playoffs, Bure set franchise records for most goals and points in a series with seven and 12 respectively in a seven-game series victory against the St. Louis Blues (Mikael Samuelsson tied Bure's goal-scoring record in 2010 against the Los Angeles Kings). The Canucks, however, failed to defend their Clarence Campbell Conference championship title, being swept by the Chicago Blackhawks in the second round. The Canucks' elimination in 1995 marked the last time Bure appeared in the post-season with the club. He finished with a career playoff total of 66 points with the Canucks, including 34 goals, which remained the highest club total until Linden tied the mark in 2007.


title: Pavel Bure

text: At the start of the 1995–96 season, Bure changed his jersey number from 10 to 96. The switch commemorated September 6, 1991, the day on which he first landed in North America from Moscow—9th month, 6th day. He had originally asked to wear the number when he first joined the Canucks, but was not permitted to do so by head coach Pat Quinn, who did not approve of high jersey numbers. After the Canucks traded with the Buffalo Sabres for Alexander Mogilny, reuniting the two Russian players, the jersey number was deemed acceptable because Mogilny had used number 89 since defecting to North America in 1989.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Early in the season, Bure sustained the first of several serious knee injuries during his career. On November 9, 1995, in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Bure was grabbed around the head by defenceman Steve Smith while approaching the end boards. Falling to the ice, he caught his skate against the boards, tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee. Requiring arthroscopic surgery, in which tendon was removed from his hamstring to repair the ACL, he was sidelined for the remainder of the season.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure returned to the Canucks' lineup with his knee fully recovered in the 1996–97 season. In the season opener against the Flames on October 5, 1996, Bure was pushed into the boards head-first. He continued to play after the hit, but experienced headaches in the following weeks. As Bure's play dropped early in the season, the media speculated that he was playing injured. After he went eight games without a goal, head coach Tom Renney claimed Bure was not playing with a head injury, but instead had injured his shoulder in a game against the New York Rangers on November 23. Nevertheless, he continued to play. With under a month left in the season, he received another hit, during a game against the Avalanche on March 3, 1997. Bure left the game and did not return for the remainder of the season. Afterwards, he admitted he was playing with a neck injury, having sustained whiplash from the first game against Calgary, but did not want to take himself out of the lineup after missing 62 games the previous season. With Bure's reduced playing capacity, he managed 55 points in 63 games, well below his usual pace, and the Canucks missed the playoffs for the first time since he joined the team. In a 2012 interview, Bure admitted having sustained a head injury on the initial hit against Calgary and that "he should not have played through it".


title: Pavel Bure

text: In the off-season, the Canucks made another significant move, signing Rangers' captain Mark Messier during free agency on July 26, 1997. Despite finally having a high-profile centre to play with, media reports soon appeared claiming that Bure was asking to be traded. The Canucks opened the season with two games against the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in Tokyo – an event organized by the league to market hockey for the upcoming 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. After two injury-plagued seasons with the number 96 on his jersey, Bure switched back to his familiar number 10, explaining: "I'm not superstitious, but the last two seasons have been bad memories." Although the Canucks missed the playoffs for the second straight year, he returned to his previous form in 1997–98, scoring 51 goals for his first 50-goal season since 1993–94, and third overall. Bure later recalled that with the Canucks out of playoff contention with a handful of games left, head coach Mike Keenan told him he could play as much as he wanted to reach the milestone. Scoring 50 goals was also implicit in a contract bonus for Bure. With an additional 39 assists, his 90 points ranked him third in the NHL, behind Peter Forsberg and Jaromír Jágr.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Following the 1997–98 season, Bure told newly appointed general manager Brian Burke that he would not play for the Canucks again, despite still having a year left in his contract worth $8 million. He then went public with the declaration, stating he intended to leave the club for "personal reasons". Bure did not report to the club the following season. Instead, he returned to his hometown Moscow to practise with his former Central Red Army club. During this time, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko offered Bure a tax-free $4 million salary to play in Belarus, which he turned down.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure held out well into the 1998–99 season until he was traded on January 17, 1999, to the Florida Panthers, with Bret Hedican, Brad Ference, and Vancouver's third-round choice in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft (Robert Fried) for Ed Jovanovski, Dave Gagner, Mike Brown, Kevin Weekes, and Florida's first-round choice in the 2000 draft (Nathan Smith). Talks between Burke and Bryan Murray, general manager of the Panthers, had begun in late-December. After the trade was completed, Bure explained that he felt alienated from Canucks' management after arriving in North America having defected from Russia. He claimed he had been in Los Angeles for two weeks before any Canucks' representative came to see him, as well as several bitter contract negotiations—particularly those of 1994. He also claimed that someone within the Canucks' management planted the constant allegations that he threatened not to play during the 1994 playoff run. Bure's agent at the time, Ron Salcer, also believed the story.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Meeting the Panthers in New York for a game against the Islanders, Bure debuted with his new club on January 20, 1999. He played on an all-Russian line with Viktor Kozlov and Oleg Kvasha and scored two goals. In his first six games with the club, Bure scored eight goals and three assists for eleven points. Less than a month into his Panthers debut, he reinjured his knee, keeping him out for three weeks. Despite the injury, the Panthers signed him to a five-year, $47.5 million contract (with an option for a sixth year at $10.5 million), the most lucrative in team history. Another injury ended Bure's season after just 11 games with Florida, though he scored 13 goals and three assists in that time.


title: Pavel Bure

text: In 1999–2000, his first full season as a Panther, Bure led the league in goal-scoring to capture his first of two consecutive Rocket Richard Trophies with a 58-goal season. It marked the second time Bure led the league in goal-scoring, but his first Rocket Richard Trophy as the award had been introduced the previous season. Combined with 36 assists, his 94 points came within two of Art Ross Trophy winner Jaromír Jágr as the league's leading point-scorer. His 58 goals and 94 points both set franchise records. He helped Florida to a fifth-place finish in the Eastern Conference to earn their first post-season berth in three seasons, though they were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champions, the New Jersey Devils. Bure finished third for the Hart Memorial Trophy winner behind Chris Pronger and Jágr. He was named to the NHL second All-Star team for the first time.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure was set to make his much-anticipated return to Vancouver to play the Canucks on November 5, 1999, but was kept out of the lineup due to a broken finger. A prior groin injury had also forced him out of a Panther's home game against the Canucks earlier in the season. During the season, he was named to the 2000 NHL All-Star Game in Toronto, where he recorded an assist and the eleventh hat trick in the history of the All-Star Game. Of Bure's three goals, two were assisted by his brother Valeri, who played on the same line with him, along with his Panthers linemate, Viktor Kozlov. Helping lead the World team to a 9–4 victory over North America, Bure was named the All-Star Game MVP.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure repeated as league scoring champion in 2000–01 with 59 goals, reaching the 50-goal plateau for the fifth and final time in his career, as well as bettering his franchise single-season, goal-scoring record. However, the Panthers missed the playoffs, finishing 12th place in the East. Bure set a league record that season by scoring 29.5% of his team's total goals over the course of the season. He was named to the NHL second All-Star team, behind Jágr in the right wing position for the second consecutive year.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Before the 2001–02 season, the Panthers acquired Valeri Bure from the Calgary Flames in a trade, putting the brothers on the same team for the first time. However, Bure suffered a setback in the pre-season re-injuring his groin. Bure recalled having "good relations" with Panthers' management, who often consulted with him on team matters, including the acquisition of his brother. At the trading deadline, Bure was traded to the New York Rangers. During his 56 games for the Panthers that season, he led the team in scoring for the third consecutive season with 49 points.


title: Pavel Bure

text: The New York Rangers acquired Bure on March 18, 2002, along with Florida's second-round pick in the 2002 draft (Lee Falardeau) for Igor Ulanov, Filip Novak, as well as the Rangers' first and second-round choices in the 2002 draft (Petr Tatíček and Rob Globke, respectively) and a fourth-round choice in the 2003 draft. The Rangers had shown interest in Bure when he requested a trade from the Canucks in 1997. After losing their initial bid for Bure, Wayne Gretzky, who retired the same season Bure was traded to Florida, announced prior to the 1999–2000 season he would have extended his career had the Rangers been able to pull off the trade. Bure made his Rangers debut against the Vancouver Canucks the day after his trade on March 19, scoring a goal against his former team. He scored 12 goals and 20 points in 12 games after being traded, bettering his pace with Florida that season. Between the two teams, he finished the season with 34 goals and 69 points.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure suffered another knee injury in the 2002–03 pre-season; combined with a case of strep throat, he missed the first three games of the regular season. After returning to play, he had 14 goals and 21 points in his first 27 games, including two goals and an assist in his first game back, before a knee-on-knee collision in December forced him back out. After undergoing surgery 10 days later, it was revealed that there was no damage to the ACL as previously feared, but instead a tear to the meniscus in his left knee, which was repaired. Bure returned that season to appear in 39 games, managing 19 goals and 30 points.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Even after two operations, Bure did not play in 2003–04 due to the lingering effects of the knee injury. He failed a pre-season physical and was declared medically unable to play. Left with his fully insured $10 million salary (80 percent of which would be reimbursed to the team), the Rangers left him unprotected in the NHL's Waiver Draft, where he was unclaimed.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure remained inactive for another season due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout. After the NHL resumed play for the 2005–06 season, he announced his retirement from professional hockey at a press conference in Moscow on November 1, 2005, citing complications with his chronic knee injuries. In an interview Bure explained that he did not want to extend his playing career without being able to play at an elite level.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Because Bure had been inactive since the 2002–03 season, he was eligible for selection into the Hockey Hall of Fame (which requires players to wait three years after their last game) immediately following his retirement. After being passed for induction in his first six years of eligibility, Bure was voted in on June 27, 2012, alongside Joe Sakic, Adam Oates and Mats Sundin. He became the fifth Soviet or Russian player (after Vladislav Tretiak, Viacheslav Fetisov, Valeri Kharlamov and Igor Larionov) and the first player to spend the majority of his career with the Canucks to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.


title: Pavel Bure

text: His non-selection in previous years was widely debated in the media. Bure was often compared with Cam Neely, a player who also waited six years for induction; he recorded similar goals-per-game numbers in a career that was also shortened to 700-plus games. It had been often rumoured that Pat Quinn, Bure's former head coach and general manager in Vancouver, who became co-chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame's selection committee, opposed Bure's induction. However, in a conference call following his selection, Quinn was among the most prominent figures he thanked. Quinn criticized the Canucks organization for not yet retiring Bure's jersey.


title: Pavel Bure

text: In his retirement, he remained publicly steadfast in his dissatisfaction with the way he was treated by the Canucks organization during his playing career. While Bure admitted to "a lot of disagreements with the Canucks management," he maintained that he "never had any problems with the Canucks fans". The Canucks retired Bure's 10 jersey on November 2, 2013. The day before the Canucks announced they would rename the team's Most Exciting Player Award to the Pavel Bure Most Exciting Player Award in his honour. Bure renounced his US citizenship in 2016.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Prior to joining the NHL in 1991, Bure competed for the Soviet Union in several junior, international tournaments. The first was the 1988 Quebec Esso Cup, an under-17 tournament (now known as the World U-17 Hockey Challenge) held in Quebec City, where he earned a gold medal. That same year, he competed in his first of two consecutive European Junior Championships, winning a bronze medal.


title: Pavel Bure

text: The following year, Bure debuted at the world under-20 level as a 17-year-old at the 1989 World Junior Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. The top line of CSKA Moscow teammates Bure, Alexander Mogilny and Sergei Fedorov led the Soviet Union to a gold medal. Bure's eight goals tied him for the tournament lead with Jeremy Roenick of the United States; he led the Soviet team with 14 points. He was named to the Tournament All-Star team, and earned Best Forward honours. He again participated in the 1989 European Junior Championship, helping the Soviet Union win the gold medal.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure competed in his second World Juniors in 1990, winning a silver medal in Helsinki, Finland, and scoring seven goals in seven games. Later that year, he made his senior debut with the Soviet national team as a 19-year-old at the 1990 World Championships in Switzerland. He scored two goals and four assists in ten games to help the Soviets to a gold medal finish. The Soviet team also won silver in the European Championship, which was decided from games played among the European teams at the tournament. Several months later, in July, Bure took part in his third international tournament of the year at the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle. Bure scored four goals and an assist in five games, and the Soviets won the gold medal.


title: Pavel Bure

text: In 1991, Bure appeared in his third and final World Junior Championships. Bure finished the tournament as the leading scorer with 12 goals in 7 games and the Soviets won the silver medal. He finished his three-year World Junior career with a tournament-record 27 goals, to go with 39 points, in 21 games. Bure later competed in the 1991 World Championships, his second international appearance of the year. He improved on his previous year's total with 11 points in 11 games, tied for the team lead with Valeri Kamensky, and helped the Soviets to a bronze medal finish. Bure was named to the tournament's second All-Star team. The 1991 team marked the last World Championships for the USSR, as the country was dissolved later that year.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure was set to represent the Soviet Union at the 1991 Canada Cup, however after turning down a three-year contract with his Russian club, CSKA Moscow, he was left off the final roster.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure played his first international tournament for Russia in preliminary games for the inaugural 1996 World Cup (the successor tournament to the Canada Cup). Bure had recently recovered from reconstructive surgery to his right knee, and had begun practicing with the Russian national team where he was reunited on a line with Fedorov and Mogilny, the first and only time the three of them would play together at the senior level; the line was considered "perhaps the best forward line on earth" at the time. However Bure bruised a kidney in one of the games and was forced to miss the main tournament.


title: Pavel Bure

text: As with the 1991 Canada Cup, controversy ensued when Bure refused to sign a petition organized by national team veteran Viacheslav Fetisov. With the Russian Ice Hockey Federation dealing with internal corruption, the petition called for the ouster of a few select Russian ice hockey officials. In response, Bure explained, "I do not sign petitions. I believe I should work – play hockey. Petitions to the federation or to Olympic committees do not interest me."


title: Pavel Bure

text: Two years later, Bure made his Olympic debut with Russia at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano. He helped his team to advance to the gold medal game after a five-goal game in Russia's 7–4 semifinal win against Finland. The Russians lost the gold medal game to the Czech Republic, ending with silver. Bure finished with a tournament-high nine goals to be named the top forward, and though he recorded no assists, placed third in point-scoring with nine points in six games.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure's next international tournament was the 2000 World Championships, held in Saint Petersburg. The Russians had a disappointing tournament and finished eleventh. In six games, Bure managed four goals and an assist. Two years later, Bure made his second Olympic appearance at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, playing with a fractured hand. Bure finished his final international tournament as a player with two goals and an assist in six games while Russia won the bronze medal.


title: Pavel Bure

text: On the announcement of his retirement in 2005, Bure was named Russia's Olympic general manager, succeeding Viacheslav Fetisov. He promised to put an end to the Russian Hockey Federation's history of internal conflict and player boycotts, saying, "You won't see such a mess with the national team that you've seen here before," and that "You won't see grouchy players here anymore. Only those who really want to play for Russia will be called into the team." As general manager, Bure chose the team for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. The Russians failed to win a medal, losing to the Czech Republic in the bronze medal match. Leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, former Soviet national goaltender Vladislav Tretiak was named Bure's successor as Olympic general manager.


title: Pavel Bure

text: In December 2011, Bure was announced as one of the 2012 inductees into the International Ice Hockey Federation Hall of Fame. He was named alongside American Phil Housley, Finn Raimo Helminen and Czechoslovak Milan Nový in the annual class. The players were inducted in a ceremony in May 2012.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure's playing style reflected the speed, skill and puck possession that was prominent in Soviet Union hockey programs. The most prevalent aspects of his game were his skating speed, agility, and acceleration, which earned him his nickname the "Russian Rocket". He was able to use his quickness to separate himself from defenders, to retrieve pucks before the opposition could in all zones of the ice, and to skate the length of the ice on many occasions. In a 1993 poll of NHL coaches conducted by hockey writer Bob McKenzie, Bure was named the league's best skater with eight of twenty-one votes, twice as many votes as any other player. One coach noted: "Bure has the best combination of speed, agility and balance ... He can also use change of speed better than anybody in the league right now."


title: Pavel Bure

text: During Bure's rehabilitation period, following his first major knee injury in 1995, Canucks' conditioning coach Peter Twist noticed that his skating style was distinct in comparison to typical North American players. He explained: "Most players skate on their inside edge and push off at a 45-degree angle, but Bure starts on his outer edge and rolls over to his inside edge and pushes back straighter on his stride ... he gets more power and force in his stride to get up to top speed quicker." his skating was also complemented by his ability to deke out defenders and goaltenders at top speeds, making him capable of routinely starting end-to-end rushes. However, several knee injuries, and the resulting reconstructive surgeries, compromised the speed that defined Bure's game, ultimately leading to his retirement.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Early in Bure's career, he was noted for playing a strong two-way game. Having joined Pat Quinn's defensive-minded Canucks in 1991, Bure's transition to the NHL was cited as being easier than that of his countryman, Igor Larionov, due to his quick adjustment to the team's defensive demands. Regarding Bure's first NHL game against the Winnipeg Jets, reporter Mike Beamish explained that "hockey fans marvelled at his offensive thrusts, but hockey people were taken by a singular display of jet-powered defensive diligence. On one play, after the Canucks were caught deep in the Winnipeg zone, the Russian winger raced back and almost single-handedly foiled a two-on-one Jets' rush, making up a half-rink disadvantage." Bure was used on the team's penalty kill for his entire tenure with the Canucks, and was proficient at generating shorthanded chances, pressuring the opposition with his quickness and positioning in the defensive zone. During the 1992 Stanley Cup playoffs, commentator and ex-NHL coach Harry Neale commented, "I like the effort he gives it when he doesn't have the puck. We all know what he can do when he thinks he can score, but he's killing penalties, he's checking, doing a lot of things." Bure tied for second-place on Bob McKenzie's 1993 coaches poll for the NHL's best penalty killer. He was also voted the league's second-best stickhandler that season and garnered recognition as one of the smartest players in the NHL.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Sports journalists Damien Cox and Stephen Brunt wrote about Bure during the 1994 Stanley Cup playoffs that he was a "two-way dynamo," accounting for "several bodychecks he handed out on the night" and for his defensive abilities as he stayed on the ice in the last minutes of a one-goal playoff match against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They spoke highly of his creativity as well, recognizing him as "someone who sees in his game a world of possibilities that just never occur to others," praising his "sheer elegance and imagination" and characterizing his hockey sense as "ho-hum brilliance from the most explosive player in the sport". Brunt called him "a nonpareil, a van Gogh, a Picasso, a Charlie Parker". During the 1993-94 season, Bure demonstrated his strong playmaking abilities, helping linemate and friend Gino Odjick score a career-high 16 goals in a single season, more than twice the number of goals Odjick would score in any other year separated from Bure, and doubling his career goal totals up to that point in his career. According to teammate Cliff Ronning in 1994, "we play a much sounder game defensively when Pavel's flying, as he was in the first period". Former Canuck teammate Jyrki Lumme spoke of Bure as a player and teammate, "That guy does something spectacular every time ... it's frustrating to go against him in practice because he's all over the place. He makes everybody on our team better."


title: Pavel Bure

text: During his time with the Canucks, Bure won the team's Most Exciting Player Award, as voted by the fans, a record five times (tied with Tony Tanti), from 1992 to 1995, and once more in 1998. Trevor Linden, who had played with Bure for seven seasons, said following Bure's retirement, "I don't know if I've ever seen or played with a player that's brought people out of their seats like that." During the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals, Rangers coach Mike Keenan, who later coached Bure for one-and-a-half seasons in Vancouver, called him "perhaps the most electrifying forward in the league". The Canucks renamed the award the Pavel Bure Most Exciting Player Award in his honour in 2013.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure has been described as a pure goal scorer and is statistically among the top players in NHL history in that regard. In addition to having reached the 50-goal mark in his career five times, and the 60-goal mark twice, his .623 goals per game average is third among the top 100 goal scorers in NHL history, behind Mike Bossy and Mario Lemieux. Michael Farber of the "Montreal Gazette" described Bure as "the most dangerous scorer in the National Hockey League with the continued absence of Mario Lemieux because Bure can beat a defence with his speed, his strength, his mind. Bure isn't a scorer as much as he is a permanent late-night television guest; he is to highlight packages what Terri Garr is to Letterman."


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure comes from an athletic family; his father Vladimir, who is of Swiss descent (his side of the family originated from Furna, Switzerland), was an Olympic swimmer who competed for the Soviet Union in the 1968, 1972, and 1976 Olympic Games, where he won four medals. Bure retained his father as his personal trainer well into his playing career, before severing ties with him in 1997. Bure's paternal grandfather, Valeri Bure, played goalkeeper for the national water polo team. Both Pavel and his younger brother Valeri became estranged from their father and his second wife, Julia, along with their half-sister Katya, by 1998. Neither brother has explained a reason for the split.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Named after their grandfather, Bure's younger brother, Valeri, was also a hockey player, spending 10 years in the NHL. The two siblings played with each other briefly as members of the Florida Panthers, after Valeri was traded there in 2001, and played together at the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics.


title: Pavel Bure

text: The Bure family made precious watches for the Russian tsars from 1815 until 1917, and Bure was named after his great-grandfather, a watchmaker to Tsar Alexander III. As craftspersons to the imperial family, the Bures were granted noble status. After Bure sustained his first serious knee injury in 1995, he pursued the watchmaking business during his rehabilitation period in an attempt to revive the family business. Fifty replicas of the same watches his ancestors made for the Russian imperial family were made and sold at US$30,000 each. Bure presented three of the gold replicas to Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Five days after arriving in North America from Moscow with his father and brother on September 6, 1991, (his mother Tatiana arrived two months later), Bure married an American fashion model, later revealed to be Jayme Bohn, in a civil ceremony. The marriage was allegedly set up by Bure's agents as a preventative measure against deportation in the event he and the Canucks could not come to terms with a contract. Bure derived no immigration benefit from the marriage, which was dissolved the following year. Bohn became a costume designer in the film and television industry.


title: Pavel Bure

text: After being linked to girlfriend Dahn Bryan, a model and actress, early in his NHL career, Bure shared a relationship with tennis star and fellow Russian Anna Kournikova. The two met in 1999 when she was still linked to Bure's former Russian teammate Sergei Fedorov. Bure and Kournikova were reported to have been engaged in 2000 after reporter Andrew Greven took a photo of them together in a Florida restaurant where Bure supposedly asked Kournikova to marry him. As the story made headlines in Russia, where they were both heavily followed in the media as celebrities, Bure and Kournikova both denied any engagement. Kournikova, 10 years younger than Bure, was 18 years old at the time. The following year, Kournikova and Fedorov were married in Moscow, though they soon divorced.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure married 23-year-old model Alina Khasanova on October 10, 2009, in Moscow, with 300 guests present. "Pravda" has reported, however, that the couple, who had known each other for four years, had officially married on October 10, 2008, in Miami. Together they have three children: Pavel Jr., Palina and Anastasia. Pavel Jr. was born on April 23, 2013; Palina was born on July 20, 2015. Their third child, a daughter named Anastasia, was born on 28 December 2018.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Bure is known to have frequently played ice hockey with Russian president Vladimir Putin, but has denied having any political ambitions himself in an interview with a Swedish newspaper in 2019.


title: Pavel Bure

text: In 2002, Bure sued the Russian newspaper "the eXile" for publishing an article stating he broke up with Kournikova because she had two vaginas. Although the newspapers' editorial staff claimed the story was a mere joke, the court ruled in favour of Bure in the amount of 500,000 rubles (US$17,770), and ordered a retraction to be printed. Two years later, on December 27, 2004, the Russian cosmetics chain Arbat Prestige published a story in their free promotional paper that Bure had bragged about Kournikova losing her virginity to him. Shortly thereafter, on January 31, 2005, Bure sued Arbat Prestige for 300 million rubles (US$10.65 million) in a court in Moscow. He also demanded the company print a retraction and apology in a future paper. The court ruled in favour of Bure in November 2005. However, the amount was reduced from 300 million to approximately 320,000 rubles.


title: Pavel Bure

text: On October 31, 2006, nearly a year after his retirement, Bure filed another suit after being kicked off a British Airways flight by the pilot, having been mistaken for a rowdy soccer fan. Despite an apology from the airline company in June 2007, Bure took the issue to court, suing British Airways for 20 million rubles. In late-August 2007, a Russian court ruled in favour of Bure in the amount of 67,000 rubles.


title: Pavel Bure

text: During Bure's playing career, much speculation surrounded Russian NHL players and their potential ties to the Russian mafia both as victims and associates. As Soviet players began defecting to the NHL, many cases of extortion began surfacing. The Russian mafia was targeting the players' families still living in Russia. Former teammate Alexander Mogilny was a victim of such an extortion attempt in 1994, while Bure was reported to have made payments amounting to several thousand dollars to Russian extortionists in 1993. Three years later, in 1996, American sports network ESPN aired reports alleging Bure was a potential associate of the Russian mafia because of his relationship with friend and business partner Anzor Kikalishvili, known to both Russian and American police as a suspected criminal and possible Russian mob boss. Bure was revealed to hold a position as vice president in the sports company Twenty First Century Association, owned by Kikalishvili, and reportedly believed by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to be a mafia front worth at least US$100 million in illicit funds. While Bure did not deny his business and personal relationships with Kikalishvili, he refuted reports Kikalishvili was involved in any criminal activity.


title: Pavel Bure

text: Speculation resurfaced in 1999, as Bure was included in an investigation aired by the CBC investigative news program "The Fifth Estate" that made several supposed associations between Soviet NHL players and the Russian mafia. An allegation arose that Bure's former CSKA teammate Viacheslav Fetisov used a company, of which he was president, to launder money for Vyacheslav Ivankov, considered the "Russian godfather" in North America. Bure's relationship with Kikalishvili continued to be questioned. Bure denied Kikalishvili's involvement in any criminal activity, dismissing the allegations as "rumours".


title: Rat Terrier

text: The Rat Terrier is an American dog breed with a background as a farm dog and hunting companion. They share much ancestry with the small hunting dogs known as feists. Common throughout family farms in the 1920s and 1930s, they are now recognized by the United and American Kennel Clubs and are considered a rare breed. Rat Terrier are an intelligent and active breed that can be kept both for pest control and as a family pet.


title: Rat Terrier

text: The Rat Terrier ranges from about and stands at the shoulder. The miniature size and under as defined by the UKChas become more popular as a house pet and companion dog, but the miniature is still a hunting dog. The standard says "small to medium" and the miniature is small enough to go in and under those places where vermin like to hide. A larger strain, often in excess of , has been developed. Called the Decker or Decker Giant, it was named after breeder Milton Decker who created a larger hunting companion and are recognized by the National Rat Terrier Association (NRTA, see "Breed recognition" below). UKC and AKC do not recognize the Decker strain as another breed; they are merely considered a standard variety. The NRTA recognizes a Toy variety weighing or less. The NRTA continues to classify the Teddy Roosevelt Terrier as the Type B Rat Terrier. In the 1970s, a hairless mutation appeared in a single Rat Terrier and was propagated into a strain of the Rat Terrier. After a period of development this line resulted in the American Hairless Terrier, recognized as a separate breed by several registries.


title: Rat Terrier

text: The Rat Terrier comes in a variety of coat colors. The classic coloring is black tan point with piebald spotting (known as black tricolor), but chocolate, tan (varying in shade from pale gold to dark mahogany), blue, isabella (pearl), lemon, and apricot are all fairly common. They may be tricolor or bicolor, always with some amount of white present. Sable may overlay any of these colors. Creeping tan (often "Calico"), is also acceptable. Ticking is usually visible in the white parts of the coat, or in the underlying skin. Brindle, currently disallowed by the main breed standards, is considered by some to be a traditional Rat Terrier pattern, and there is a growing movement to have this pattern accepted into the breed. However, merle is widely considered to be the result of recent outcrosses and, because of associated health problems, is rejected by most Rat Terrier breeders.


title: Rat Terrier

text: Ear carriage is erect, but can also be tipped, or button, all of which contribute to an intelligent, alert expression. The tail has been traditionally docked to about , but the bobtail gene is very common in Rat Terriers and can result in a variety of tail lengths. Today, some breeders prefer a natural, undocked tail, which is accepted in the breed standards.


title: Rat Terrier

text: Rat Terriers tend to be both intelligent and stubborn, knowing how to get what they want when they want it. They are also considered good family pets because of their energy and compatibility with kids. They are playful and require much exercise.


title: Rat Terrier

text: The social sensitivity of Rat Terriers makes them very trainable and easier to live with for the average pet owner, but it also means that extensive socialization from an early age is critical. Proper socialization of a Rat Terrier puppy includes exposing the animal to a wide variety of people and places, particularly during the first three months of life. Like most active and intelligent breeds, Rat Terriers tend to be happier when they receive a great deal of mental stimulation and exercise. Rat terriers are usually loyal to their owners and are very respectful if they receive the proper amount of training at a young age.


title: Rat Terrier

text: Due to regular outcrossings throughout the Rat Terrier's history, overall it is a very hardy breed. However, with its growth in popularity in recent years some issues are becoming more common. The Canine Health Information Center (CHIC) recommends that Rat Terriers be tested for patellar luxation, cardiac abnormalities, pancreatic issues, hip dysplasia, and Legg–Calvé–Perthes syndrome. The average lifespan of a well-bred Rat Terrier is 16–19 years.


title: Rat Terrier

text: The earliest known record of a rat-catching dog is that of "Hatch", whose remains were recovered from the Mary Rose, the flagship of Henry VIII, sunk in 1545 and re-raised in 1982. Hatch is thought to have been a mongrel, and was brought on board to control the rat population.


title: Rat Terrier

text: The breed name comes from the occupation of its earliest ancestors brought to the US by working-class British migrants as the dogs were used in rat-baiting. However they were, for the most part, bred for speed. Their speed is used for controlling vermin and hunting small game such as squirrels and hares. After the 1890s, as the breed type became popular in the United States, they were bred with Beagles, Italian Greyhounds, and Manchester Terriers. Many of the foundation Rat Terriers were indistinguishable from small mixed-breed hunting dogs known as "feists". The smaller varieties diverged from the Rat Terrier line very early on, with UKC registration for the Toy Fox Terrier beginning in 1936.


title: Rat Terrier

text: Rat Terriers were cherished as loyal hunting companions and efficient killers of vermin on 20th-century American farms: as a result, they were one of the most popular dog types from the 1920s to the 1940s. However the widespread use of chemical pesticides and the growth of commercial farming led to a sharp decline in the breed from the 1950s onwards. Breed loyalists maintained the bloodline, leading to the modern Rat Terrier.


title: Rat Terrier

text: The genetic diversity of the Rat Terrier has contributed to the overall health, keen intelligence, and soundness of the breed. Most modern breeds were developed from a few founding dogs and then propagated from a closed gene pool. In contrast, the Rat Terrier has benefited from a long history of refinement with regular outcrosses to bring in useful qualities and genetic variability.


title: Rat Terrier

text: In the current times, the Rat Terrier is becoming popular not only as a family pet but as a working dog in several fields.


title: Rat Terrier

text: Their affectionate and calm temperament along with small size has made them popular as service dogs in hospice, treatment for depression, in Assisted Living, and other human-care jobs.


title: Rat Terrier

text: Police departments have started using them as contraband search dogs as their intelligence level shortens training to as little as three weeks which is much shorter than for traditional police service breeds. Also, their small size allows search of cars, homes, and prison cells without causing the major damage a large German Shepherd or other traditional police service breed would do during a car search and lessening the chances of major financial settlements if there is nothing found during a search.


title: Rat Terrier

text: One source claims that a single terrier killed 2,501 rats in a seven-hour period in a rat-infested barn (an average of one rat every ten seconds).


title: Rat Terrier

text: Rat Terrier organizations exhibit the typical disputes over the course of action to be taken for the promotion and preservation of the breed. As usual among working breeds, points of departure are which dog type best represents the breed and whether the dog's working qualities will be sacrificed to selection for conformation show competition.


title: Rat Terrier

text: The Rat Terrier Club of America is the official breed parent club for the American Kennel Club. Rat Terriers were accepted into the AKC's terrier group June 2012. Rat terriers have been competing in the United Kennel Club events for over 15 years. UKC is a family-friendly group that promotes many different venues for dogs to compete. The National Rat Terrier Association is the largest independent registry and has maintained lineage records for decades. Feeling the working terrier nature of the breed will suffer, it is the most prominent of those clubs and associations opposed to Kennel Club closed-registry breeding rules.


title: Rat Terrier

text: The Decker Hunting Terrier Registry was created specifically for the Decker Giant. This registry's mission is to keep all the qualities that set the Decker aside from the standard Rat Terrier, while retaining and improving upon the hunting ability.


title: Rat Terrier

text: The UKC officially recognized the breed on January 1, 1999. The AKC recognized the Rat Terrier as a breed on July 1, 2010, however, it allowed them to compete in companion events beginning January 1, 2006 in sanctioned AKC Companion events (Obedience, Agility, Rally). The first Rat Terrier to earn a title under AKC Sanctioning was in Agility on January 14, 2006 in Van Nuys, California by Harpur's Giddy Upp "Gigi" and D. Davidson Harpur. AKC accepted the Rat Terrier into the Terrier Group in June 2012. The first AKC Champion Rat Terrier was "Annie" GCH GRCH King Pen RnB's Queen Ann bred, owned by Sherry & Dud Lee Hendrix of Modesto, California.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The hamburger first appeared in the 19th or early 20th century. The modern hamburger was a product of the culinary needs of a society rapidly changing due to industrialization and the emergence of the working class and the middle class with the resulting demand for mass-produced, affordable food that could be consumed outside of the home.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Considerable evidence suggests that either the United States or Germany (the city of Hamburg) was the first country where two slices of bread and a ground beef steak were combined into a "hamburger sandwich" and sold. There is some controversy over the origin of the hamburger because its two basic ingredients, bread and beef, had been prepared and consumed separately for many years in different countries before their combination. Shortly after its creation, the hamburger quickly included all of its currently typically characteristic trimmings, including onions, lettuce, and sliced pickles.


title: History of the hamburger

text: After various controversies in the 20th century, including a nutritional controversy in the late 1990s, the burger is now readily identified with the United States, and a particular style of cuisine, namely fast food. Along with fried chicken and apple pie, the hamburger has become a culinary icon in the United States.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The hamburger's international popularity demonstrates the larger globalization of food that also includes the rise in global popularity of other national dishes, including the Italian pizza, Chinese fried rice and Japanese sushi. The hamburger has spread from continent to continent perhaps because it matches familiar elements in different culinary cultures. This global culinary culture has been produced, in part, by the concept of selling processed food, first launched in the 1920s by the White Castle restaurant chain and its founder Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram and then refined by McDonald's in the 1940s This global expansion provides economic points of comparison like the Big Mac Index, by which one can compare the purchasing power of different countries where the Big Mac hamburger is sold.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Before the disputed invention of the hamburger in the United States, similar foods already existed in the culinary tradition of Europe. The Apicius cookbook, a collection of ancient Roman recipes that may date to the early 4th century, details a preparation of beef called "isicia omentata"; served as a baked patty in which beef is mixed with pine kernels, black and green peppercorns, and white wine, "isicia omentata" may be the earliest precursor to the hamburger.


title: History of the hamburger

text: It is not known when the first restaurant recipe for steak tartare appeared. While not providing a clear name, the first description of steak tartare was given by Jules Verne in 1875 in his novel "Michael Strogoff". There are certain similarities between steak tartare and the German dishes Labskaus and Mett. Other similar raw, chopped meats appeared in the 20th century. One of the oldest references to a Hamburgh ["sic"] Sausage appeared in 1763 in Hannah Glasse's "Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy". Hamburgh Sausage is made with minced meat and a variety of spices, including nutmeg, cloves, black pepper, garlic, and salt, and is typically served with toast. Other dishes are also made with minced meat, such as meatloaf, the Serbian pljeskavica, the Arab kofta, and meatballs.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The word "sandwich" was not recorded until the 18th century. Many cultures claim invention of the sandwich, but it was given its name around the year 1765 in honor of the English aristocrat John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who preferred to eat sandwiches so he could play cards without soiling his fingers. In 1840 Elizabeth Leslie Cook included a sandwich recipe in her cookbook and it appeared in the local cuisine of the United States.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Minced meat was a delicacy in medieval cuisine, red meat usually being restricted to the higher classes. Very little mincing was done by medieval butchers or recorded in the cookbooks of the time, perhaps because it was not part of the sausage-making process that preserves meat.


title: History of the hamburger

text: During the first half of the 19th century, most European emigrants to the New World embarked from Hamburg, and New York City was their most common destination. Restaurants in New York offered "Hamburg-style American fillet", or even "beefsteak à la Hambourgeoise". Early American preparations of minced beef were therefore made to fit the tastes of European immigrants, evoking memories of the port of Hamburg and the world they left behind.


title: History of the hamburger

text: In the late 19th century, the Hamburg steak became popular on the menus of many restaurants in the port of New York. This might consist of a fried patty of chopped beef, eggs, onions, and seasoning, or it might be lightly salted and often smoked, and served raw in a dish along with onions and bread crumbs. The oldest document that refers to the Hamburg steak is a Delmonico's Restaurant menu from 1873 which offered customers an 11-cent plate of Hamburg steak that had been developed by American chef Charles Ranhofer (1836–1899). This price was high for the time, twice the price of a simple fillet of beef steak. However, by the end of the century the Hamburg steak was gaining popularity because of its ease of preparation decreasing cost. This is evident from its detailed description in some of the most popular cookbooks of the day. Documents show that this preparation style was used by 1887 in some U.S. restaurants and was also used for feeding patients in hospitals; the Hamburg steak was served raw or lightly cooked and was accompanied by a raw egg.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The menus of many American restaurants during the 19th century included a Hamburg beefsteak that was often sold for breakfast. A variant of Hamburg steak is the "Salisbury steak", which is usually served with a gravy similar in texture to brown sauce. Invented by Dr. James Salisbury (1823–1905), the term "Salisbury steak" has been used in the United States since 1897. Nowadays, in the city of Hamburg as well as in parts of northern Germany, this type dish is called Frikadelle, Frikandelle, or Bulette, which is similar to the meatball. The term "hamburger steak" was replaced by "hamburger" by 1930, which has in turn been somewhat displaced by the simpler term, "burger". The latter term is now commonly used as a suffix to create new words for different variants of the hamburger, including cheeseburger, porkburger, baconburger and mooseburger. There are other foods with names derived from German cities that are shortened in different ways in American English. An example is the frankfurter, often abbreviated as "frank".


title: History of the hamburger

text: Many recipes and dishes traveled along with transatlantic immigrants to their destinations in the New World. Some authors question whether the Hamburg America Line was part of this, arguing that the hamburger was created to meet needs that arose amongst immigrants already in the New World. Others, however, support the thesis that the Hamburg America Line brought the first Hamburger steaks from Europe to the Americas. The hamburger as it is known today has multiple invention claims ranging between 1885 and 1904, but it is well established by the early 20th century. During the following 100 years, the hamburger spread throughout the world as a result of the emerging concept of fast food and a new business model: the franchise.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The industrial use of mechanical meat shredding was the technical advance that helped popularize the Hamburg steak. The first meat grinder was invented in the early 19th century by the German engineer Karl Drais. The machine made it possible for minced meat to be sold at market in large quantities at reasonable prices. By 1845, numerous patents existed for improved meat grinders in the United States. These machines could all shred meat to sizes before unimaginable. Before this, minced meat was prepared by hand at home using specialized chisels, intensive manual labor that severely limited the amount that could be produced. It is very likely that the invention of the meat grinder contributed directly to the popularization of Hamburg steak, while the steak gradually became distant from its German roots in the minds of many Americans. Minced meat also came to be used in other popular American foods, including hot dogs and meatloaf.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Another development facilitating the invention and popularization of the proto-hamburger was the increased production of beef through livestock intensification. By the late 19th century, an increasing amount of land was being devoted to cattle and a growing number of people being employed as cowboys, resulting in the United States becoming one of the world's largest producers and consumers of beef. The 1880s were declared "The Golden Age of Beef", during which the abundance of rural beef production made vital its transportation by rail from agricultural to urban areas. This gave rise to various methods of meat preservation for making possible the consumption of fresh meat in urban and industrialized areas, among the refrigerator cars and different methods of packaging meat (such as corned beef), which were promoted by industrialists like Gustavus Swift (1839–1903). Around this time, the city of Chicago, along with other cities on the East Coast, became a focal point for the large-scale processing of beef. Beef was already inexpensive at that time, and it was available to the working class. This put the Hamburg steak within reach of the vast majority of the population, giving rise to what some authors jokingly call the "American beef dream". In this era, the number of steakhouses that specialized in serving steaks increased markedly; some restaurants even served steak along with seafood, in a dish known as Surf and turf.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The high production and consumption of beef cattle in the United States made the meat industry increasingly powerful by the end of the 19th century. Corruption problems soon arose in the meat industry, problems that endangered both quality and hygiene. At the beginning of the 20th century, Upton Sinclair published "The Jungle", a novel about conspiracies and corruption in the American meat industry, intended as a veiled criticism of the industry itself. The book raised popular awareness about the safety of meat processing and helped lead to the creation of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which was sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration. "The Jungle" was a milestone in the subsequent history of the hamburger, as it led the American public to force restaurant chains to prove the safety of their cooked meat. In 1933, Arthur Kallett published a similar book, entitled "100 million guinea pigs; Dangers in Everyday foods, drugs, and cosmetics", which warned consumers specifically about the content preservatives in hamburgers.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The exact origin of the hamburger may never be known with any certainty. Most historians believe that it was invented by a cook who placed a Hamburg steak between two slices of bread in a small town in Texas, and others credit the founder of White Castle for developing the "Hamburger Sandwich." Records from that time are scarce, however.


title: History of the hamburger

text: All claims for invention occur between 1885 and 1904, making it probable that the hamburger was created sometime in these two decades. Despite varieties, there are common elements in all of the narratives, most notably that the hamburger was born as a food associated with major events such as amusement parks, fairs, conferences, and festivals. All the hypotheses also share the presence of street vendors.


title: History of the hamburger

text: One of the first "birth of the burger" stories belongs to Canton, Ohio, natives Frank and Charles Menches who were food vendors at the 1885 Erie County Fair outside of Buffalo, New York, also known as the Hamburg Fair. Legend has it that during the course of the Fair, the Menches ran out of their signature menu item of pork sausage sandwiches. Their local supplier, Hamburg butcher Andrew Klein, was reluctant to butcher more hogs during a period of unseasonable late summer heat and suggested to substitute the use of ground beef. The brothers fired some up, but both found it dry and bland. They added coffee, brown sugar and other ingredients to create a unique taste. The original sandwiches were sold with just ketchup and sliced onions. With new found success with their beef sandwich, they christened it the “hamburger” after the Erie County Fair's home town of Hamburg. "National Birth of the Burger Day" is celebrated on September 18 to honor the invention of the burger in 1885 at the Hamburg Fair. In the 1920s, carnival historian John C. Kunzog interviewed Frank Menches about his experience at the Erie County Fair. His detailed hamburger story was published in this book, “Tanbark & Tinsel” published in 1970.


title: History of the hamburger

text: One of the possible fathers of the hamburger is Charlie Nagreen (1871–1951) of Seymour, Wisconsin, who at the age of 15 sold Hamburg steaks from a street stall at the annual Outagamie County Fair. Nagreen said he began by selling Hamburg steaks, but these did not have much success because people wanted to freely move around the festival without the need to eat them at his stand. In response to this, in 1885 Nagreen decided to flatten the hamburger steak and insert it between two slices of bread, so that the public could move freely from booth to booth while eating his sandwich, an innovation that was well received by his customers. This became known as the "Hamburger Charlie", and Nagreen's creation was sold at the festival until his death in 1951. To this day, his accomplishment is celebrated annually with a "Burger Fest" in his honor in his hometown of Seymour.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Another alleged inventor of the hamburger is the cook Fletcher Davis (better known as "Old Dave"), who claimed to have had the idea of putting ground beef between two pieces of Texas Toast when one of his customers was in too much of a hurry to sit down for a meal. The customer walked away with his Hamburger Steak and seemed so content that Old Dave offered his new carryout meal as a staple menu item at the end of 1880 in Athens, Texas. Fletcher had a stall with his wife at the St. Louis World's Fair of 1904. Texan journalist Frank X. Tolbert mentions a salesman named Fletcher Davis who served hamburgers in a café at 115 Tyler Street in Athens during the late 1880s. The locals claim that Davis was selling beef sandwiches during that time, without having a clear name for his invention. During the 1980s, the Dairy Queen ice cream chain filmed a documentary about the birthplace of the hamburger featuring Davis' story. The story of "Old Dave's Hamburger Sandwich" is also found mentioned in Ronald L. McDonald's book "The Complete Hamburger".


title: History of the hamburger

text: In the same year that Charlie Nagreen claimed to have developed his "Hamburger Charlie", the brothers and street cooks Frank and Charles Menches of Akron, Ohio, claimed to have sold a ground beef sandwich at the Erie County Fair. They assert that the name of the hamburger was derived from the town Hamburg, New York, in Erie County, the first place in which it had been sold. This statement has been very poorly documented or substantiated, and in the case of an oral tradition, it is not without its contradictions. Its famous description of the secret ingredients used in the recipes, such as coffee or brown sugar, is primitive.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Another version of the creation of the hamburger is that of German cook Otto Kuase, who created a very popular sailors' sandwich made of a fillet of beef patty fried in butter, served with a fried egg, between two toasted buns in 1891, at a post in Hamburg, Germany. The sandwich was called the "Deutsches Beefsteak", German for "German beefsteak". Many of the sailors traveling on ships between Hamburg and New York requested a similar "Hamburg style" sandwich at American steakhouses.


title: History of the hamburger

text: There are many additional claims as to the origin of the hamburger. Some enthusiasts claim the hamburger could have been created in São Gonçalo, a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, in the 18th century by a Chef named Sauerbrown "Little" Victor, but this claim has no supporting evidence to back the opinion. A local newspaper claims that Louis Lassen, a Danish immigrant who arrived in America in 1880, sold butter and eggs as a street vendor. In 1974, in an interview with "The New York Times", he recounted how he created a hamburger steak sandwich with small strips of beef for a restaurant known as Louis' Lunch. Lassen's family claims 1900 as the year of his invention. Revealed in a public confrontation between the grandson of Louis, Kenneth Davis Lassen Fletch, and his uncle, documentation signed under notary in 1900 demonstrates the development of the hamburger, as it stresses the difference between a "hamburger steak" and a "hamburger sandwich". Louis' Lunch flame broils the hamburgers in the original vertical cast iron gas stoves manufactured by the Bridge and Beach, Co., St. Louis, Missouri, in 1898. The stoves use hinged steel wire gridirons to hold the hamburgers in place while they cook simultaneously on both sides. The gridirons were made by Luigi Pieragostini and patented in 1938.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Hamburg steak, once served between two slices of bread, began to be prepared with a variety of different ingredients that were included either in the sandwich itself or as a side dish accompanying it on a plate. One of these accompaniments, which is still common with today's burger, is ketchup, a type of tomato sauce with a blend of flavors between sweet and sour that was first produced commercially in 1869 by entrepreneur and chef Henry John Heinz in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania. His company was originally called the "Anchor Pickle and Vinegar Works", but in 1888 it was renamed F. & J. Heinz. The use of ketchup by American consumers grew quickly after this date, and it was not long before hamburgers were almost universally accompanied by ketchup by the end of the nineteenth and into the early 20th century. Mustard is a significantly older condiment, as it is thought that the ancient Romans used a dressing made with non-fermented grapes and grape seeds known as "mustum ardens". Another ingredient incorporated into the burger, mayonnaise, appears to have been present in 18th century France, after the naval victory of Louis-François-Armand du Plessis de Richelieu in the port of Mahón in Menorca around 1756.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Among the vegetables that come with the hamburger, the first described in the literature on its history is the onion, usually finely sliced in rings. Thus, the hamburger came to continue the long American tradition of sandwiches featuring some kind of plant product, whether that be lettuce (as in the case of the BLT sandwich), sauerkraut (as on the reuben), coleslaw, or pickles. It is possible that after the creation of the hamburger by uniting the steak with the bread, vegetables were included to give the finished product a more "natural" appearance and taste. All of these condiments were incorporated into the classical image of the hamburger during its golden age, the 1940s. In some cases, the hamburger is prepared differently and distinctly to add regional flavor, as in the case of Tex-Mex style burgers, which are served with a side of chili con carne.


title: History of the hamburger

text: French fries are an invention of the Low Countries, and Belgian historian Jo Gerard mentions that they originated around 1680 in both Belgium and the Spanish Netherlands, specifically in the area of "the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège". The people of this region used to prepare meals with small amounts of fried fish, but when the river froze over and fishing became impossible, they would cut up potatoes and fry them in animal oil. French fries were introduced as a snack in American cafés during the early 19th century, but they did not become popular until large fast food companies such as McDonald's and Burger King incorporated them into their menus during the mid-20th century. The improvements in potato freezing technology made by J.R. Simplot of Idaho City in 1953, made the large scale production of French fries possible. Before the potatoes were frozen, however, they had still lost some of their flavor during frying, but new processes such as a further improved Simplot invention avoided this inconvenience by 1967, largely thanks to the use of a mixture of cow tallow and soybean oil. This allowed Simplot and McDonald's founder Ray Kroc to collaborate, resulting in ready-peeled potatoes from Simplot's farms being delivered directly to McDonald's kitchens, where they were fried and served to customers. Initially, however, there were safety concerns raised over some fries and the kitchens in which they were prepared, leading some companies, such as White Castle, to remove them from their menus during the 1950s.


title: History of the hamburger

text: At the end of the 19th century, a new generation of cola emerged, a beverage that would soon join beer as the most traditional drinks served alongside the hamburger. The first recipe for Coca-Cola was invented in 1885 in Columbus, Georgia, by grocer John Pemberton. Originally called coca wine (the trademark was "Pemberton's French Wine Coca"), it may have been inspired by the formidable success of Vin Mariani, a European coca wine. In the late 19th century, it was sold as a bottled soft drink in most of the United States. In the early 20th century, another beverage, Pepsi, was created by pharmacist Caleb Bradham and quickly came to rival the sales of Coca-Cola. Strategic alliances between large burger restaurant chains and these two soft drink companies greatly increased the beverages' availability to the general public.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The dawn of the 20th century witnessed the need to provide food for people living in highly productive urban centers with high population densities. Food also had to be economically affordable for the working class in order for them to maintain their labor and industrial production. The burger was born in a time when people needed to eat both "fast" and "cheap". Technological advances in the field of food preservation, as well as improvements in agricultural production and transportation, made it possible for hamburgers to be a practical choice of food for urban dwellers since their very creation. The socio-economic environment of the United States at the time of the burger's rise to popularity coincided with the end of World War I and the beginning of the Great Depression of 1929. This environment was particularly favorable for fostering inexpensive food, which was one reason why five-cent hamburgers were so popular. After its invention during the first decade of the 20th century, the hamburger came to be marketed on a large scale, after "visionaries" realized that it would benefit greatly from a mass production process.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The first automobile production line was created by Karl Benz in Germany in 1888. The widespread appearance of telephones occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, along with other modern means of communication, including radio. For the average American who had not eaten in a restaurant in his or her entire life, the fast food chains that appeared in the cities offered an alternative form of restaurant in which eating was very much a public activity. The concept of a "greasy spoon" was thus born with these restaurants, in which hygiene suffered in exchange for more inexpensive food. On the other hand, there was a growing interconnected world in which trips by car, bus, and rail became increasingly available. All these means of transport were improving at the time, and soon it was necessary to feed a growing population that was "in permanent transit", frequently moving through different cities on business. George Pullman invented the sleeping car and the dining car in response to the needs of these people in the 1870s. Similarly, the English immigrant Frederick Henry Harvey was the first to use "dynamic mass movement" in restoring the Fred Harvey Company, which catered to the patrons of a chain of hotels located near railway stations, as well as offering catering, services, and high quality products on the trains themselves.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Contemporary American society also witnessed the creation of new fast foods that originated from the traditional cuisine of various ethnic groups from around the world. For example, German immigrant Charles Feltman invented the hot dog in 1867 in his stall in Coney Island, New York by pairing a frankfurter with a bread bun. Imitators such as Harry Magley and Charles Stevens soon began selling hot dogs at New York Polo Grounds baseball games. Similarly, Italian immigrants sold ice cream from vending carts in the streets or pasta at their restaurants. Chinese immigrants initially opened restaurants to cater to their fellow Chinese-Americans, but they gradually became accepted by the American clientele, sometimes resulting in truly Chinese-American cuisine such as chop suey. In this diverse world of ethnic foods, the hamburger was able to rise to mainstream popularity and become a national food of the United States.


title: History of the hamburger

text: On November 16, 1916, chef and entrepreneur Walter "Walt" Anderson opened a hamburger stand in Wichita, Kansas, that used hygienic cooking methods, including grills and spatulas, and impressed his Wichita customers so much that many would become regular patrons. At this time, the hamburger was still not widely known by the American public. Anderson added onion rings to the burgers while they grilled, giving them a distinctive flavor. As demand increased, customers often bought his hamburgers by the dozen, giving rise to the company's subsequently popular slogan: "buy 'em by the sack". Despite some growth, Anderson had opened only four stands in the busiest areas of the city. In 1926, Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram collaborated with Anderson to open the first White Castle restaurant in Wichita. The restaurant was founded on the idea of cooking a hamburger quickly, giving it the honor of being the first fast food restaurant.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Ingram soon realized that the word "burger" evoked connotations of circus performances at livestock markets and greasy pieces of meat eaten in the poorest districts of the city in the collective mind of the American public. He tried to change those connotations from White Castle's earliest days. At the same time, he became known to some as the Henry Ford of the hamburger, while inventing a restaurant concept he called the "White Castle System", which helped the hamburger achieve fame. Between 1923 and 1931, the "White Castle System" established almost a hundred restaurants in cities throughout the Midwestern United States. In order to raise awareness among White Castle employees, a newsletter entitled "The hot hamburger" was circulated throughout the company, which challenged the employees to improve the sale of the burgers with a simple idea: to be able to prepare burgers rapidly so anyone could purchase and eat them anytime and anywhere. Instead of waiting for half an hour to be served at a traditional restaurant, the White Castle System provided rapid service and a menu centered around the hamburger. At the time, the hamburger was typically served with coffee. Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle" had already caused public outrage over the safety of processed meat, so by the 1920s, the general public had come to expect a clean and hygienic hamburger. In addition to offering clean and safe food, White Castle offered regularity and standardization, ensuring that each patty was served in the same manner in each restaurant. At the time, this was an entirely novel idea that would revolutionize the sale of food itself with a style that would come to be known as fast food. During its early years, White Castle emphasized providing quality coffee, and collaborated with universities to publish studies on the nutritional quality of their hamburgers.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The success of the White Castle chain was rooted largely in the power of propaganda, something that was both an original innovation and necessary to change the public's negative perception of the hamburger. In 1931, it became the first restaurant to advertise in newspapers, using its old "buy 'em by the sack" slogan. White Castle also pioneered the concept of take-out service, and the restaurant is further known for being the first to market square burgers, called "sliders", which were sold for five cents into the 1940s. White Castle was founded in March 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, by Billy Ingram and his business partner, the cook Walter Anderson, and they opened a second restaurant in Kansas City in 1924. In 1932, White Castle created its first subsidiary: Paperlynen Company, which provided the cartons and wrapping paper that the food was served in, as well as the hats worn by the kitchen staff. It acquired porcelain companies in a similar fashion, placing them in charge of building small White Castle restaurants using white porcelain facades.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Walter Anderson contributed a number of novel ideas to White Castle during its early years, including the creation of a special spatula and a special bread for the burgers. In 1949, an employee named Earl Howell calculated the amount of time that it took to break hamburgers apart in a presentable fashion, eventually leading him to create the perforated burger. By 1951, White Castle had incorporated five perforations into its burgers. Before Anderson, hamburgers were cooked on a grill for an indefinite period of time and minced meat balls were "crushed" into conventional slices of bread, like a sandwich. The meat was frozen and hamburgers came to be cooked from frozen, instead of using fresh meat. White Castle revolutionized the burger-making process by regularizing the finished products and using hygienic preparation techniques that were in clear view of the customers.


title: History of the hamburger

text: White Castle had a very large progression of sales, and its success was such, that by 1926, it had already generated competitors and imitators in the emerging hamburger business. One of these imitators also had a highly similar name, White Tower Hamburgers of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, founded by the father and son tandem of John E. and Thomas E. Saxe. The creation of White Tower led to numerous legal battles between it and White Castle during the 1930s. By 1930, White Castle already had 116 restaurants spread over a distance of , all of which were located within the United States. [1] The company eventually became a large restaurant chain, however, there has never been a restaurant outside of the United States. The American shortage of beef during World War II had little effect on sales across White Castle, due to the effect of vertical integration along with the appearance of fast food chains that operated on a franchise model that emphasized horizontal integration.


title: History of the hamburger

text: In 1937, Patrick McDonald and his two sons Richard and Maurice inaugurated the simple restaurant "Airdrome" on Huntington Drive (Route 66) near the airport in the American city of Monrovia, California. The success of its sales eventually led to the May 15, 1940, opening of a restaurant named McDonald's along U.S. Route 66 in San Bernardino, California. After analyzing their sales, the brothers discovered that, to their surprise, 80% of their revenue was coming from selling hamburgers. The menu initially featured 25 different dishes, the majority of which were barbecued. Through their new restaurant, the McDonald brothers introduced the notion of fast food to parts of the Western United States by 1948. From the beginning, McDonald's focused on making hot dogs and hamburgers as efficiently and quickly as possible. During the 1940s, simple and formative concepts took root at McDonald's, including the preparation and service of burgers in just one minute and the ability for customers to eat in their own cars in a "drive-in" style. All the while, the restaurant was trying to further develop a hamburger that was inexpensive enough to be within the economic reach of most Americans. By the 1950s, the concept of drive-in style service had become firmly established and hamburgers and cars had become closely connected in the minds of many Americans. It was now not only possible for a customer to purchase a hamburger without getting out of a car, and a customer also no longer needed to wait to be served. The McDonald brothers built upon the achievements of their original San Bernardino restaurant when in 1953 they began franchising their now famous chain restaurants, starting in Phoenix, Arizona, and Downey, California (the latter of which is still in operation). Later, Ray Kroc opened one in the northwest Chicago suburb of Des Plaines, Illinois on April 15, 1955, which has now been converted into the McDonald's Museum. It is noteworthy that the original McDonald's mascot was a hamburger faced cook called "Speedee" that would serve as the iconographic identity of the company until being replaced by the clown Ronald McDonald in 1963.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The McDonald brothers intensively studied the existing kitchen protocol of their restaurants in an effort to improve them. They looked at different options that could increase the speed of cooking hamburgers, designing and patenting special grills that had a higher output, made their cutlery and other kitchen utensils disposable, and introduced dishwashers that reduced the costs of water, soap, and labor. The brothers also created a detailed system for operating each kitchen throughout the franchise in a similar and largely standardized manner, as well as recruiting adolescents as employees in the kitchens.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The company began to expand at a much faster rate when 52-year-old ice cream machinery salesman Ray Kroc took over as its chief executive. Kroc was the initiator of both McDonald's expansion across the United States and the definitive standardization of its burgers. He was not alone, however, as some of his co-workers were also very productive and innovative. McDonald's executive and food scientist Herb Peterson invented the McMuffin in 1972 and also the now famous greeting, "May I have your order, please?". In another key development, Jim Delligatti of the Pittsburgh franchise invented the Big Mac in 1967. The McDonald's successful expansion was mainly due to its use of the franchise system, an innovation borrowed from a sewing machine manufacturer, the Singer Corporation. Singer had developed it during the late 19th century, and it was so successful that it was soon adopted by its competitors. Nowadays, McDonald's even has its own university for training its staff: Hamburger University, located in Oak Brook, Illinois. Graduates receive a degree entitled "bachelor of hamburgerology with a minor in French fries". As McDonald's expanded into other countries, it encountered more opposition and general difficulties, as was the case in 1996 when it opened a restaurant in New Delhi amid outcry from Indian leaders. In 1995, the country with the most McDonald's restaurants (aside from the United States) was Japan, followed by Canada and Germany, while the company itself had restaurants in more than 100 countries. Throughout its history, the company has become a symbol of globalization and Western culture, sometimes resulting in it being the subject of anger and protests in various parts of the world.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Many different variants of the hamburger have been created over the years, some of which have become very popular. Much of this diversity has been the product of other restaurant chains that have tried to reproduce the success of McDonald's and White Castle, while others served to influence McDonald's. An example of a restaurant that influenced McDonald's and its imitators is Big Boy, which was first opened in 1936 by Bob Wian in Glendale, California, and became known in that locale as Bob's Big Boy. It was at this restaurant that a major hamburger variant, the double deck cheeseburger, with two beef patties, was first made. Wian's creation was distinctively served by Big Boy restaurants with the bun sliced twice, the center slice—known as the club section—separating the two patties. The chain also popularized the drive-in restaurant format, taken and simplified by McDonald's type fast food operators. By the 1960s, Big Boy had expanded throughout the United States and Canada. Despite the benefits it provided to Wian, the chain was sold along with the rights to their signature Big Boy hamburger to the Marriott Corporation in 1967. This same year McDonald's franchisee Jim Delligatti, created an imitation of the Big Boy — the Big Mac. An example of the many McDonald's and White Castle imitators is Kewpee Hamburgers, a fast-food chain founded in 1923 in Flint, Michigan, by Samuel V. Blair as "Kewpee Hotel Hamburgs."


title: History of the hamburger

text: As with the invention of the hamburger, the exact origins of the cheeseburger are unknown. Several chefs claim to have been the first to add a slice of cheese to a hamburger. Lionel Sternberger of Rite Spot in Pasadena, California, takes credit for the cheeseburger, claiming that he invented it between 1924 and 1926. A description from a 1928 menu from the O'Dell Restaurant in Los Angeles reveals that it was serving burgers with slices of cheese at the time. Luis Ballast, owner of the Humpty Dumpty drive-in restaurant in Denver, Colorado, made an attempt to create a cheeseburger with a registered trademark known as a "yellowburger" in 1935. J.C. Reynolds, the operator of a bar in Southern California from 1932 to 1984, popularized a pimento burger. Processed cheese, the type of cheese most used in cheeseburgers, was invented in 1911 by Walter Gerber of Thun, Switzerland, although the first U.S. patent awarded for it was given to James L. Kraft in 1916. Kraft Foods went on to create the first commercial version of sliced processed cheese, which was first introduced to the market in 1950.After World War II, a number of hamburger restaurants known as InstaBurger King (later Burger King) began emerging, the first of which was opened on December 4, 1954, in a suburb of Miami, Florida. It was established by James McLamore and David Edgerton, both of whom were students at the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. McLamore had visited the original McDonald's in San Bernardino, California, when it was still owned by the McDonald brothers, and saw the potential that existed for the mass production of hamburgers. He was so inspired by this visit that he decided to create a similar burger chain himself. By 1959, Burger King already had five restaurants in metropolitan Miami, and its early success prompted McLamore and Edgerton to expand throughout the United States by using a franchise system that allowed them to grow the business at a relatively low cost. They formed Burger King Corporation as a parent company to the franchises they were selling throughout the United States. The Burger King Corporation was acquired by the Pillsbury Company in 1967, and during the 1970s, it began to expand outside the United States, principally in South America and Europe. Burger King's core product has long been the Whopper, which was created in 1957 by founder James McLamore and initially sold for 37 cents.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Wendy's was founded by Dave Thomas and John T. Schuessler on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio. By the late 1970s, it had become the third largest hamburger company in the United States. Wendy's has consistently tried to differentiate itself from other hamburger restaurants by its claim that it makes its burgers using fresh, not frozen, beef. Wendy's sparked a controversy and entered into American pop culture in the 1980s with its "Where's the beef?" advertising slogan and an accompanying campaign stressing the primacy of the beef patty over the hamburger's other ingredients.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The hamburger was very popular among Americans during the postwar period following World War I, even in popular culture. An example of this was the prominent appearance of hamburgers in E. C. Segar's "Thimble Theatre" comic strip, which prominently featured a cartoon character named Popeye the Sailor who ate spinach to sustain his superhuman strength. Popeye's first appearance was as a supporting character on January 17, 1929, alongside many other characters. One of these characters was J. Wellington Wimpy (often shortened to just "Wimpy"), a lover of hamburgers who was both polite and gluttonous. His signature phrase, "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today", became popular and widely known. During the height of his popularity in the 1930s, Wimpy introduced the hamburger to the youth of the time as a healthy food. It also resulted in the creation of a chain of fast food restaurants called Wimpy's in his honor, which sold hamburgers for ten cents. In a similar fashion, the fictional character Jughead Jones, who first appeared in Archie Comics in 1941, was passionate about food generally, and hamburgers specifically.


title: History of the hamburger

text: Fictional characters related to the hamburger, such as the Ronald McDonald clown character designed by Willard Scott who first appeared on television in 1963, soon became a recognizable part of American culture. The burger also made appearances in underground comix such as Zap Comix#2 during the late 1960s, in which cartoonist Robert Crumb designed a character called "Hamburger Hi-Jinx". By the end of the decade, pop art was including the hamburger as an artistic element, appearing in the works of Andy Warhol ("Dual Hamburger"), Claes Oldenburg ("Floor Burger"), Mel Ramos ("Vinaburger", 1965), and more recently, David LaChapelle ("Death by Hamburger", 2002).


title: History of the hamburger

text: An example of the popularity and identification that the burger enjoyed among the American public was the name of the Battle of Hamburger Hill, which occurred in May 1969 during the Vietnam War. Its name was inspired by the number of American and Vietnamese casualties, which made the scene resembles a "butcher". The hamburger was also the inspiration of Star Wars creator George Lucas's design for the Millennium Falcon ship. Hamburgers also appear in computer games, as in the case of BurgerTime, an arcade-style game created in 1982 by Data East Corporation. The hamburger also appears prominently on American television shows such as "American Eats" and "Man v. Food".


title: History of the hamburger

text: By the 1960s, American society had become highly motorized, largely due to the 1956 Federal Highway Act passed by President Dwight Eisenhower and inspired by the German Autobahn, as well as the impressive growth rates of American automobile manufacturers at the time. Due to the extensive use of cars at the time, hamburgers were often served at drive-ins, often by waiters known as carhops. Drive-in restaurants first appeared in the United States in the early 1930s, and gradually become a common sight across the country. The ability to serve hamburgers to customers in their cars was seen as a business opportunity by countless fast-food chains, especially McDonald's. The popularity of the hamburger grew rapidly among the American population during this period, and statistics indicate that the average American was eating three burgers per week.


title: History of the hamburger

text: During the Cold War, the hamburger became a national symbol of the United States. As private outdoor social events, often held in backyards and featuring a barbecue, became more widespread during the mid-1950s, the hamburger gained a new culinary and social relevance in the country. By the late 1960s, hamburgers began to grow in size as various burger chains competed with each other, resulting in Burger King launching the Whopper and McDonald's launching the Quarter Pounder. As the race between the major chains grew more intense, the prices of their burgers increased, and the days when a hamburger could be bought for just a few cents were numbered.


title: History of the hamburger

text: In the 1970s, major hamburger chains began to use considerable resources in marketing their products. They began to compete directly with each other through their advertising, much of which was comparative and often featured direct allusions and comparisons. The event came to be jokingly referred to as the "burger wars" by many Americans. By the end of the 1980s, the era of slogans in large chain restaurants had begun.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The modern hamburger was developed in the United States, but by the end of World War II, around the middle of the 20th century, it began to spread to other countries as fast food became globalized. The main cause of this gradual globalization was the successes of the large restaurant chains. Their desires to expand their businesses and increase their profits resulted in them creating franchises around the world. McDonald's was among the first of the burger chains to take the global establishment of its brand seriously, but it was not the only one. Wimpy began operating in the United Kingdom in 1954, 20 years before McDonald's began operation in the country, and by 1970 it had expanded to over a thousand restaurants in 23 countries. On August 21, 1971, in Zaandam, near Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Ahold opened its first European franchise. In the 1970s, McDonald's began to expand into Europe and Australia. In Asia, Japan saw the establishment of its own fast food chain in 1972: , an abbreviation of "Mountain, Ocean, Sun", which eventually became a direct competitor to McDonald's. All of its products, however, were variations on the burger adapted to the Asian world, including the teriyaki burger, takumi burger, and riceburger. In Hong Kong, Aji Ichiban competed with large chains before it spread quickly throughout Asia. One of the first hamburger vending machines debuted in Amsterdam in 1941 under the brand "FEBO", its name derived from its original place of creation, the Ferdinand Bolstraat.


title: History of the hamburger

text: At the same time the hamburger was growing in popularity around the world, it took on a variety of local features in different locations. Such examples of this include ground meat made from local animals, such as kangaroos in Australia, or Tex-Mex-style dishes like chilli con carne.


title: History of the hamburger

text: The expansion and standardization of the hamburger has led to the creation of a price index that can be used as an economic reference between different countries known as the Big Mac Index. It measures the worth (in US$) of a burger in different parts of the world, allowing for the comparison of the purchasing power parity of 120 national economies in which McDonald's does business. American sociologist George Ritzer coined the related concept of "McDonaldization" in his 1995 book "McDonaldization of Society." Another byproduct of the globalization of fast food was the creation of international competitive eating contests that involve contestants from many different countries. One of the best known is the Krystal Square Off, run by the fast-food chain Krystal and sponsored by the International Federation of Competitive Eating (IFOC), which has been held annually since 2004.


title: History of the hamburger

text: In the 20th century, the hamburger has appeared as the central topic in some books on the literature of culinary topics. An example of this is "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal", published by investigative journalist Eric Schlosser in 2001, that examines the local and global influence of the American fast food industry. An example of a modern variation of the hamburger is the so-called "gourmet burger", which is made by haute cuisine chefs with patties that include luxury ingredients. One of the first such burgers was cooked in New York City by chef Daniel Boulud in June 2001, and subsequently sold for US$29 with loin, ribs Bres, canned black truffles, and a mirepoix of vegetables. The Manhattan restaurant "Old Homestead", one of the oldest steakhouses in the country, offers a $44 hamburger with beef-bred Japanese wagyū. An haute cuisine burger created by Richard Blais, a student of Ferran Adrià, was introduced in 2004 at a restaurant in Atlanta, where it is served with a crystal chain and a silk ribbon. In response to the haute cuisine take on the hamburger, others have created more humble versions. Alberto Chicote of Madrid makes homemade hamburgers in his kitchen, using Iberian pork along with homemade ketchup and mustard. In 1993, Max Schondor created a hamburger made of soy. In a 2005 episode of SpongeBob SquarePants, the adventurous title character visits Mr. Krabs's popular Krabby Patty burgers, where hamburgers figure prominently in the story.