Alternate theme song: “Ai Like Hamburger” by The Idolm@ster

Ah, the hamburger. Whether you call it a Steamed Ham, a Royale with Cheese, or a Quarter Pounder, this beefy spheroid is one of America’s proudest exports. But did you know that a little more than a hundred years ago, the hamburger was regarded with intense suspicion, suggested to “fortify even Satan himself”? Join Nicole and Julia as they take a peek inside the bun to figure out just what it is that makes the hamburger so quintessentially American, and how meat-eating reinforces our notions of masculine identity. We also try to parse the insane "Hardee’s Girls" ads of the mid-2000s/2010s (you know the ones).

Our theme song is “Red Onions” by Louie Zong, off of his album Vegetable Soul: https://louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/vegetable-soul

We’re on Twitter at @girlslunch and on Instagram @girlslunchpod. Nicole is on Twitter @nicoleh262 and her website is nicolehylton.com. Julia is smarter than all of us and not on social media. Have an episode suggestion or question? You can email us at girlslunchpodcast@gmail.com and we will add it to our chaotic list of future episode subjects.

Links to sources:

• The Hamburger: A History, by Josh Ozersky

• The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory (25th Anniversary Edition), by Carol J. Adams

• Burger, by Carol J. Adams

• Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey Through the Heart of America’s Fast-Food Kingdom, by Adam Chandler

• “Who invented the hamburger? Biting into the messy history of America’s iconic sandwich,” by Erik Ofgang, The Washington Post

• “Hamburger” entry in Encyclopedia Britannica

• Unwrapped, Season 1 Episode 4, “Hamburgers Unwrapped”

• “What Is Baby Corn? Children of the Corn: Baby Corn, Demystified” by Niki Achitoff-Gray