Ironic fact: When I was about four, I acquired the nickname “Burger Machine.”
Don’t ask me where the term of endearment came from, as I have eaten exactly two hamburgers in my life. [I know, I know. You're welcome to raise your eyebrows and scoff.] All I know is my dad is the culprit, and my sister occasionally still calls me “Burgs.”
yeah, not your average burger.
I certainly did have occasional fast food growing up [Burger King was the locale of choice], but I was a picky child, and I always stuck with chicken fingers. At summer barbecues, I was known to eat nothing but a hamburger bun – somehow the bland bread seemed safe to my childhood tastebuds, whereas burgers, hot dogs, and god forbid: vegetables, were far too foreign to taste.
I ate my first burger when I was 21. I had graduated from college, and I was visiting friends out on Long Island. We spent the day at Jone’s Beach [I'm sure I suffered some type of sunburn], and then we made the drive to the famous All-American Burger. As I took my first bite, my friends’ eyes were glued in my direction, anxiously awaiting a reaction. I remember proclaiming, “It’s good?” It didn’t change my life.
The next, and last, burger was homemade by good friends in Prague, who purchased a tiny grill from Tesco, the British supermarket that invaded the Czech Republic and represented the only place one might be able to find a jar of peanut butter. These friends hosted a few summer barbecues, and in an attempt to share in the seasonal spirit, I took a hamburger at the first. Once again, I don’t recall it being memorable – not to fault my friends’ cooking talent, it simply wasn’t my style.
curried chickpea burger with wilted swiss chard, evoo, and dijon on eli’s bread.
Unsurprisingly, I don’t really eat veggie burgers – not because there is anything wrong with them, but because I never ate burgers before going mostly vegetarian. Why would I be searching for a replacement for something I never enjoyed in the first place?
So, it seemed rather odd that this week, one of the recipes I chose for my “big batches of home-cooked food that I can eat all week” was, in fact, a burger. I whipped these together late Sunday evening, and though they don’t resemble true burgers in the slightest, they were a wise choice.
I can’t deny deliciousness, and these flavorful patties certainly are delicious. [Modifications to the recipe: I left out the carrots and sunflower seeds because I had none, and I doubled the pumpkin seeds.] They taste like curry, chickpeas, and general yumminess, which is just my kind of food.
I wonder: in line with my mantra of always eating the real thing, will I ever go for a true burger in my future? Real, grass-fed, organic beef on a real, grain-filled bun? Should the craving strike, it could certainly happen. I suppose you never know.
Do you remember your first burger? Any odd nicknames from your childhood?
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I believe the correct nickname was in fact “Yeshy Burger Munchie Burger” Good post Burgs.
Funny – my mom made me homemade bean burgers as a child, before they were mainstream, and I thought they were the dumbest, most embarrassing thing I had ever heard of. Fast forward to today, and I’m asking to borrow her burger press. Yes. They exist.
A nickname story…I was 7 and my sister was 9. She was trying to be mean to me, but we, of course, didn’t know any bad words. The result: buggerface! My mom sometimes calls me that nowadays as a joke
i’ve never been a nickname type. not sure why. anyone who calls me sofie is left unanswered, and only a select few call me sof. hmmm.
and about the burgers, i was force fed sunshine burgers at the age of eight before anyone even knew what they were. i packed them for lunch in high school (only 1/2, of course) and was even weirder still. these days, i love me some black bean burgers from veganomicon. i abused that recipe a few years back and am now detoxing. i’ve always been a chicken-over-burgers girl myself and have maybe had ten or so in my entire life. i made turkey burgers last year, though – that was fun and tasty. but i actually enjoy the lesser-processed veggie burgers (either sunshine or dr. praeger) more so than any meaty burger, but only every once in awhile.
PS will you hit me if i call you burgs? :P
As a child, i was a HUGE fast food lover! We got a McDonalds every single Monday, courtesy of my Nana, and in fact sometimes we were known to eat up to three fast food meals a week! (terrible, i know…whatever happened!!). I did go through stages of burgers, but every now and again i got bored and switched to chicken nuggets! I do love a nice burger, but veggie burgers are even more delicious!! xx
watchout, we all just might start calling u Burgs now lol <3 thats cute tho!
chickpeas are one of my fav beans, ive made chickpea burgers before but ur look like something id like much better!
first burger was probably something weird my parents concocted and mushed up for me to eat. but A&W or McDonalds would be the first i remember.. i think the cheeseburger was my first memory of them.
haha, the only burger i’ve had has been veggie ones ( *raised eyebrows galore* ! ). my favorite kind are Sunshine burgers :D soO delicious. but that chickpea burger looks great! well, if it’s made out of chickpeas i guess you can’t really go wrong.
<3
Burger machine goes back to when you had trouble pronouncing your l’s which came out as y’s at that stage of speaking. So you said your name as yesyie thenwe kiddingly expanded it to yesyie burger monkey burger shortened over time to the burger machine and then to burgs as time went on. A loving nickname.
Loved the post
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