What is the All-American food?

I love pizza.

I could eat it every day. If there weren’t health concerns, I would consider it.

But then again, I’d miss things like burgers. And burritos. And chicken wings. And cheesesteaks.

A conversation recently between myself, my wife and some friends yielded an interesting question: With pizza places seemingly on every corner, are burgers or hot dogs still considered the All-American fare?

Based on fast food numbers, burgers are still king.

For 2014, McDonald’s was the top-selling fast food joint. It wasn’t even close.

Second was Starbucks, followed by Subway, Burger King and Wendy’s.

The first pizza place on the list is Pizza Hut at No. 9. Domino’s followed at 12 and Little Caesar’s at 16.

But that doesn’t take into consideration all the little Italian places you see in every strip mall on every main drag in town, many of which are sit-down places rather than by-the-slice fast food.

Of course, there are plenty of non-fast food burger places, too. Some of Brevard’s most popular burger stops are Bianco’s Big League Eatery in Rockledge, Cabana Shores in Palm Shores and the Burger Inn and the Burger Place in Melbourne.

With so many options out there, I decided to set out on a mission to find out what people consider the All-American food by creating an online poll. Before I tell you the winner, I’ll break down the kinds of food that were in the poll, as well as a brief history. Granted, some of these histories are spotty at best (I got them from Wikipedia and several other internet sources), so if you’ve heard a different story, you may be right.

Here are the contenders:

Hamburgers

The way a hamburger patty is prepared can be traced back to recipes in fourth century Rome. The more modern burger patty can be traced to the Hamburg beefsteak from Germany, which was prepared in a similar manor to what we know as a burger patty. Several U.S. cities, including Hamburg, New York, Athens, Texas, and New Haven, Connecticut, among others, claim to be the place that took the patty and placed it between two pieces of bread, creating the hamburger. As for the hamburger bun, it supposedly was “discovered” in 1916 by a fry cook named Walter Anderson, who co-founded White Castle in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas. Louis’ Lunch in New Haven may be the oldest hamburger restaurant in the United States, serving its first burger in 1895. Burgers are still served there today the way they were 120 years ago.

Hot Dogs

The hot dog, also known to many as a frankfurter, can be traced back to a pork sausage-type recipe made in Frankfurt, Germany, in the 13th century. Hot dogs have another moniker — the wiener. This refers to Vienna, Austria, whose German name is “Wien,” home to a sausage made of a mixture of beef and pork. In the United States, lore says that German immigrant Charles Feltman began serving the German-style sausages on rolls on Coney Island in 1870. A Bavarian immigrant also claims to have been the first to serve sausages on buns in St. Louis in 1880, because people didn’t want to hold hot sausages in their bare hands, and giving customers gloves with his food was too expensive. If you’re wondering where the term “hot dog” came from, some speculation says German sausages in the early 1800s were regularly made with dog meat. I hope that’s not true, and if it is, I’m glad I didn’t live in early 19th-century Germany.

Pizza

The term “pizza” was first recorded in the 10th century in Central Italy. Modern pizza is said to have been invented in Naples, Italy, in the 18th or 19th century. Pizza arrived in the United States in the late 1800s as Italian immigrants settled in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and St. Louis. Although there are many theories about the first pizzeria in this country, the first is believed to be Lomdardi’s in New York City. It was started as a grocery story owned by Gennaro Lombardi in 1905. Lombardi’s closed its doors in 1984, but was reopened in 1994 just down the street by Lombardi’s grandson.

Tacos/burritos

The history of the taco isn’t exactly known, but indigenous people in the Mexican Valley made what resembled a tortilla filled with small fish before the arrival of Europeans in Mexico. The burrito has a similar history, although a little more is known about them. Central American people and Pueblos in the Southwestern Unitedf States used tortillas to wrap around foods such as tomatoes, chilies, avocados and more. However, modern day tacos and burritos here are generally called Tex-Mex food, because the United States has interwoven some of its own creations into them. While our version generally looks like traditional food from Central America, it doesn’t exactly stay true to how it was originally made.

Chicken/Chicken wings

For the purpose of this story, we’ll stick with what most American now call Buffalo Wings. The most widely told history of Buffalo wings is traced to the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York. There are a couple of stories of how they came to be, but ultimately, the owner’s wife deep fried the wings, which were generally discarded, and tossed them in cayenne hot sauce, and voila, chicken wings were born. A second story says a man named John Young (not the astronaut) served wings in his Buffalo-based restaurant in the mid-1960s in something called “mambo sauce.” His wings, however, were breaded.

Cheesesteaks

The most widely-shared story of the cheesesteak origin is that Pat and Harry Olivieri created it in Philadelphia in the early 1930s. The brothers owned a hot dog cart, but one day Pat chopped up some beef with onions and was eating it near the cart. A cab driver asked if he could buy one, and he loved it. A new American tradition was born as Pat’s King of Steaks emerged. Through the years, the argument between what cheese to top it with has stirred the most controversy. Pat’s uses Cheez Whiz, while its biggest competitor, Geno’s, uses provolone. Just as an FYI: Campo’s in Philly also makes a ridiculously good cheesesteak. Try one if you’re ever at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia for a Phillies game.

Salads

It’s a bunch of vegetables mixed together. I’m sure the origin would be pretty tough to trace. However, let’s look at the word. This is taken straight from “Wikipedia:” The word “salad” comes from the French salade of the same meaning, from the Latin salata (salty), from sal (salt). In English, the word first appears as “salad” or “sallet” in the 14th century. If you’re wondering, the first salad bar is believed to have been created in the early 1950s, although, as with so many things, that’s disputed as well.

Sub sandwiches

Is it a sub? How about a hoagie? Maybe a grinder? Or a hero? Call it what you will, but this type of sandwich traces its roots to Italian-American communities in the Northeast in the 19th century. Portland, Maine, claims to be the birthplace of the Italian sub. New Jersey also stakes a claim. Regardless of who invented the sub, just look at it. It’s easy to see why it became called a sub. Some theorize this name became popular during the World War II era, but before the United States entered the conflict.

Fish/seafood

People have been eating seafood pretty much since the dawn of time. It’s mentioned in the Bible, so I’ll say it’s one of the oldest-eaten foods on Earth. Maybe we can throw salad in there as well.

Barbecue/Ribs/Pulled Pork/Steak

Whichever of these meat you choose, cooking things on a grill makes them better. Bonus points when it’s cooked on a charcoal or wood-burning grill, and not propane. Here is one of the most fascinating things I learned along this culinary journey: barbecue may have been started right here in Florida. Again, this is from our friends at Wikipedia, but some etymologists believe the word barbecue derives from barabicu found in the language of the Taino people of the Caribbean and the Timucua of Florida. Some Timucuan tribes were located right here in Brevard County. After Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, Spaniards apparently found native Haitians roasting meat over a grill consisting of a wooden framework resting on sticks above a fire. The flames and smoke rose and enveloped the meat, giving it a delicious flavor.

Waffles/bagels/pancakes

I’ve heard since I was a kid that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. All of these are great choices. Waffles trace their origins to the 9th or 10th century, but the word waffle first appeared in the English language in 1725. Bagels may have been invented by Polish people in the 1600s and pancakes trace roots to the Greeks in the 5th century.

Eggs

Eggs have been consumed for nearly 10,000 years and maybe more. But it wasn’t until the late 1800s and early 1900s that they became a staple of breakfast. Prior to that, they were eaten at any time, but got classified as a breakfast food, and somehow it stuck over the next century. I found two explanations that I like. Are either true? Who knows, but they sound reasonable. 1. Because chickens usually lay eggs overnight. Farmers could go out to the henhouse first thing in the morning and come back with a highly nutritious food source that can be prepared quickly to get the day going. 2. The yolk of the egg symbolized the sun in old European folklore, and so was ritually eaten in celebration of the sun rising so that they could be full of warmth and new beginnings like their sun. From there it just became traditional to eat in the morning.

Write-ins

I won’t go into the history of these foods, but write-in candidates for the All-American food were: Bacon, sugar, meatloaf, chicken nuggets and apple pie.

The results

So without further ado, you the voter said this is the All-American food: The hamburger. It should come as no surprise. The hamburger is associated with more holidays than most other foods, and it’s usually paired with its buddy, the hot dog, which came in second.

Ernie Bianco, owner of Bianco’s Big League Eatery, agrees with the poll’s findings. His establishment has been voted FLORIDA TODAY’s Best in Brevard for its burgers five years in a row, so he knows about a good burger.

“It is the No. 1 food for people for everywhere,” he said. “You see it at barbecues and cookouts. ... So many people eat them at fast food chains. ... I agree 100 percent. It’s definitely the All-American food.”

Hamburgers got 44 percent of the vote. Hot dogs pulled in 15 percent, while the barbecue category had 14 percent. Chicken wings (10 percent) and pizza (8 percent) rounded out the top 5.

If you look at the history behind all the foods above, one could argue chicken wings or cheesesteaks may be true American creations, but when it comes to the All-American food, hamburgers are still king.

As for hot dogs, let me share one fun fact: The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (who knew there was such a thing?) (hot-dog.org) recently released a statistic that said from Memorial Day to Labor Day, Americans eat 818 hot dogs per second. That’s based on an average of 7 billion hot dogs consumed during peak season. That’s a lot of wieners!

There you have it. Enjoy your barbecues and have a happy and safe Fourth of July.

Final poll results

Burgers: 43.64 percent

Hot dogs: 15.45

BBQ/Ribs/Pulled Pork/Steak: 14.55

Chicken/chicken wings: 10.00

Pizza: 8.18

Cheesesteaks: 3.64

Subs: 1.82

Salad: .91

Tacos/burritos: .91

Waffles/bagels/pancakes: .91

Eggs: 0.00

Fish/seafood: 0.00

Write-ins: Bacon, sugar, meatloaf, chicken nuggets and apple pie