My man eats them upside-down and I think it’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.
The construction of your average cheeseburger is, from the bottom up: bottom half of a bun, meat, cheese, lettuce and whatever else, then the top half of the bun. The top half is easily identified because it sometimes has sesame seeds on it, and, well, it’s also the side that’s facing up when the waitress brings it to you.
I normally take the burger from the plate in such a way that my thumbs are under the burger, and my fingers securing the top. I bring it to my mouth, cheese and top-bun side up, bite, then return it to the plate. Technique illustrated here.
My boyfriend picks up the burger with his fingers under the burger, and his thumbs securing the top. He then executes a 180-degree flip of the burger and takes a bite out of it with the cheese-extras-top bun side down.
I tell him he’s eating his burgers upside-down. He says I’m crazy and his is the way that makes the most sense.
I’ve always done it your way. It never occurred to me to do it any other way. But I guess I can see the logic of his way in that most of the flavor/condiments/etc. is in the top of the burger, so holding it upside down allows those parts to come in contact with your tongue.
Either way is fine. All the food gets in the mouth, right? Of course, I often eat my burgers with a knife and fork, so keep that in mind when considering my opinion.
When I make home made burgers I always eat them upside down. The bottom of the bun tends to disintegrate if I do it the other way, and the top is thicker.
You all are sick, sick people. Antigen’s method of eating a cheeseburger is the only God-fearing, Jesus-loving, flag-waving, hometown American way. Any other way shows a love of terrorists and a hatred of freedom.
Seriously, I don’t even know why I associate with you all.
I eat them with the top of the bun on top, like the OP and normal people everywhere.
I consider it acceptable to turn the burger upside-down and eat one or more bites that way, though, under circumstances where this will prevent the burger from dripping on my plate.
Eating it upside down helps avoid a David Hasselhoff-style burger malfunction. The top part of the bun is thicker and better able to absorb juices from the meat patty and tomato slices without falling apart. Gravity will pull those liquids toward the center of the Earth whether you have the bun upside right or upside down. It only makes sense to put the thicker piece of bread in their path.
If it’s a fast-food burger it will invariably appear to have been made by dropping the constituent parts from a great height. In this case the box needs to be turned upside down in order to extract the burger with a minimal of mess-to-hand transference. Once in hand though it can be righted and an attempt made to rectify the mess.
Under no circumstances should a burger (if made correctly - in order of nearest to furthest from main source of gravity - flat bun, burger, cheese, stuff, domed bun) be eaten in the upside-down configuration. Doing so dramatically increases the risk of a localized black hole being created.
I eat them with attention and care, such that I need not bother worrying about in what manner others consume theirs. Sometimes I eat them upside down, sometimes I don’t. It depends on how the toppings are distributed.
Would you pick up a book or a stapler or a box of Kleenex like this? Pick up a ten pound barbell both ways and report back to us which is better.
A telephone handset is placed on the phone with the microphone and speaker facing down precisely when you pick it up in the most natural way, they end up up.
Based on these considerations I think it’s a given that God intended cheeseburgers to be eaten round side down.
I love the Straight Dope. I first noticed these two methods of eating cheeseburgers when I was 7 or 8 years old, and it used to really annoy me (and still does really) when I’d see someone eating it the way your boyfriend does. I just can’t imagine how it feels natural. Ditto when people stick their tongue out when they open their mouth to take a bite out of a burger.
Leaving this thread open implies there is room for argument here! We know damn well that only loonies would eat their burgers upside down. Are people using their keyboards upside down? Their monitors? Are they sitting upside down! Upside down is wrong!
I sometimes eat my burgers upside-down because the bun on the lower half will shrink faster than the one on top, so I would rather have more bun to work with there. I think it has to do with having an overbite, maybe.
