# Eating Hamburgers Upside Down? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 12, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246 "2014-05-12T05:16:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/41 "2014-05-13T00:36:22Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > I do this about halfway through eating a burger. I have a mild underbite like many people do, but somehow the way I eat thicker sandwiches like burgers, the bottom bread always seems to disappear faster than the top. So I turn it upside down to even it out. Same here. I think the issue is that I don’t hold a burger perfectly perpendicular to my face while eating it, so that means I take bigger bites out of the bottom bun. In fact, I sometimes flip my burger twice or more in the course of eating it, whenever the top bun starts to really outpace the bottom bun. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/42 "2014-05-13T03:16:17Z")
I almost always eat my burger upside down. It’s the most natural hand motion. Of course, I also like ketchup on my hot dogs… ---
**Author:** ![Kenm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bc79bd/32.png) [@Kenm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kenm)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/43 "2014-05-13T03:24:42Z")
> [@araminty](#): > > My husband, the usually-reasonable **MaxTheVool** , gave me shit this week for constructing our burgers “upside down” in that the meat sat atop the lettuce/pickle/tomato/onion. His reasoning was, the veggies are sometimes called “toppings” thus should be on top. Shoulda told him to stand on his head. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/44 "2014-05-13T03:28:22Z")
You orient the burger so you don’t have to deform your face too much or make like Sigourney’s alien. If the lower half is the one sticking out (and it’s often the case), invert it. Easier to bite into. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/45 "2014-05-13T04:25:21Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > This thread inspired me to have a bacon cheeseburger for lunch. Upside down. Wouldn’t that be a burgercheese and bacon? Best trick I ever learned - bottom bun - thin layer of mayo - meat - toppings - top of bun. The thin layer of mayo helps to prevent the mushy bun syndrome. As for the lettuce and tomato - they go on top of the patty so that there is less ‘drippings’ caught in them - they should be sopped up by the bun (or left to drip on the fries/chips/beans). Eat them upside right, downside left - just enjoy - it’s just food. ---
**Author:** ![Waymore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Waymore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waymore)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/46 "2014-05-13T05:11:47Z")
Made me think of this hoax. [http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/af\_database/permalink/the\_left-handed\_whopper/](http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/af_database/permalink/the_left-handed_whopper/) ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/47 "2014-05-13T10:56:04Z")
And how many people remove the tomato, lettuce and pickles, making a little side-salad . . . and then eat around the burger’s circumference first? Surely I can’t be the only one (or maybe I am). ---
**Author:** ![Lukeinva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lukeinva/32/17872_2.png) [@Lukeinva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lukeinva)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/48 "2014-05-13T11:07:51Z")
> [@The\_Evil\_Prince\_Zorte](#): > > Sometimes if a burger is especially messy or the thin, bottom half of the bun is becoming soggy, I will flip it upside down so the contents can be supported by the thicker, stronger top half of the bun. Awesome tip! Thanks for sharing. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/49 "2014-05-14T00:27:54Z")
GOOD GOD, you people!!! _sputters_ Don’t you know the top of a hamburger bun is the crown? And the bottom is the heel? (Smapti excluded on this one) And I’d sooner eat a burger with a KNIFE and FORK like an animal than eat it upside down. I mean, really. ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/50 "2014-05-14T03:13:54Z")
This question was settled in [2009](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=504333). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/51 "2014-05-14T03:42:52Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever flipped over a hand held food item. And with some of the burgers I’ve eaten, I’m pretty sure they’d fall apart if I tried. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246/52 "2014-05-14T13:06:26Z")
There is only one sensible way to eat a hamburger; my way: **Preparation:** it’s imperative that you order your burger to be constructed normally (i.e. superior to inferior: top bun, vegetative material, condiments, cheese, patty, bottom bun). However, you must insist that the pickle chip be placed at the exact top center of the patty. **Service:** Although the burger was prepared in normal top to bottom fashion, you must demand that it be served to you upside down. **Handling:** With the burger upside down on your plate, you just need to approach it from side to side with your hands in a relaxed supinated position, with no awkward ulnar deviation. With burger well gripped (fingers on bottom and thumbs on top), you simply flex at the elbows and swing the burger to your mouth, bite, extend to plate, take a sip of whatever you’re drinking and repeat the process until completion. You may engage in idle chit-chat with your table mates, between bites and sips, but it’s not necessary, nor recommended. Note that the burger remains upside down during non-action mode on your plate and right-side up during action-mode at your mouth. This allows equal distribution of the patty juices to flow toward both the top and bottom bun, which has obvious benefits. **Bite Pattern:** You must depart from the typical pattern of eating your burger from front to back. You don’t want your sexual orgasms to be in the middle of foreplay, do you? No! Well, the same philosophy applies to eating burgers. You want to keep the best till last and the best is the succulent middle of the patty, along with that perfectly placed pickle chip. You accomplish this by eating around the periphery of the burger, spinning it in a clockwise direction (unless you’re left-handed, then you shouldn’t even be eating hamburgers). This bite pattern also greatly reduces the very embarrassing possibility of having your patty and much of its ancillary materials, squirt out from between the top and bottom buns, onto your lap (easy to do when your finger grip on the bun is a tad posterior to a high domed burger patty). Please order and eat your hamburgers this way from now on. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-hamburgers-upside-down/688246.md?page=2)