Lucky cheeseburger-lovers in more than 15 cities are in for a treat. That's right, Shake Shack wants to bring you free food on National Cheeseburger Day Sept. 18. While cheeseburgers are synonymous with summer, backyard barbecues, and curing hangovers, Americans only started eating cheeseburgers in the 1920s, according to National Day Calendar. The website lists a number of theories about the invention of the cheeseburger, including one where a man had a eureka moment when he dropped a slice of cheese on a burger at his father's restaurant in Pasadena, Calif., in 1926.
Whatever the true original origin of America's favorite food, the one thing there's no questions about is how much people love, love, love the cheeseburger. But, that wasn't always the case. In 1938, the New York Times published an article calling cheeseburgers a passing fad, and, dubbed this new fangled food an oddity created by whimsical California eateries. Though the Times began to warm to the cheeseburger over the next 10 years, the paper still was not entirely sold on this classic American sandwich that combined dairy, meat, and vegetables in between slices of bread.
“At first, the combination of beef with cheese and tomatoes, which sometimes are used, may seem bizarre,” the Times wrote in 1947. “If you reflect a bit, you’ll understand the combination is sound gastronomically.”
Um, yeah! You can get most of your basic food groups is one delicious sandwich, which is the definition of gastronomically sound. To celebrate, Shake Shack is delivering cheeseburgers to devotees around the country, for free on Sept. 18, which is National Cheeseburger Day.
How To Get Your Free Shake Shack Cheeseburger
Despite being maligned by the Times, the cheeseburger proved all the haters wrong, and it's clear this beloved beef and cheese combo is here to stay. The cheeseburger is so amazing that DoorDash and Shake Shack are throwing a cheeseburger delivery party for people in more than a dozen cities across the country as part of #ShackWeek. Here's how it works.
Just place an order with DoorDash for $12 or more, and you'll get free delivery and a free Shake Shack cheeseburger on Monday, Sept. 18. between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. local time in the following cities: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Bridgewater, N.J., Brooklyn, Chicago, Dallas, Washington D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Long Island, Manhattan, Phoenix, Paramus, N.J., Queens, and Scottsdale, Ariz.
"Join in on the #ShackWeek celebrations by avoiding the crowds and enjoying your delicious, juicy burgers and shakes from the comfort of your home," Peter Quinn wrote on the DoorDash blog. "For burgers on Monday all you have to do is use promo code SHACK at checkout."
Getting a free cheeseburger delivered right to your hot little hands seems like a pretty great way to turn a manic Monday into a day of deliciousness versus a day of dread. Instead of eating chips at your desk, or grabbing something on the go, you can eat a real lunch while you mull over this fun fact: Plain old hamburgers have been around since the 11th century, but it took someone until the 1900s come up with the seemingly obvious idea of topping a burger with cheese, according to the website Cheeseburger.net.
In fact, the idea of the cheeseburger was so genius that a number of burger chefs have claimed to have come up with it, according to National Day Calendar. "A cheeseburger appeared on a 1928 menu at O’Dell’s, a Los Angeles restaurant, which listed a cheeseburger, smothered with chili, for 25 cents. Kaelin’s Restaurant in Louisville, K.y claims to have invented invented the cheeseburger in 1934. In Denver, Colo., in 1935 a trademark for the name “cheeseburger” was awarded to Louis Ballast of the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In. And, according to its archives, Steak n’ Shake Founder Gus Belt applied for a trademark on the word “cheeseburger” in the 1930s.
Wherever it came from, one things is clear — the cheeseburger is one of the most loved and adored sandwiches in the world, and it's not going anywhere.
