VivoPerLei

Like most people I prefer to eat my hamburger in hand, but if it gets mushy and falls apart there really isn't much else you can do

lhrsfo

Quite. But Wimpy Bars had two added extras:
- cutlery; and
- dirt everywhere.

SIA747Megatop

The top bun is extremely important to me. All these new fat gourmet burgers are heavy and it seems that the bottom bun hasn't been updated to support the increased load, deteriorating into a slushy mess within minutes. The sheer incompetence of the bottom bun has resulted in me resting the burger upside down on the plate as the [former] top bun has far superior structural integrity.

Either that or I'm just an incompetent burger eater.

stut

Maybe you're not fast enough?

I agree, though, particularly as someone who likes his burgers pink in the middle. The trend for brioche buns really doesn't help this matter. A nice, solid sourdough is needed. Don't they teach burger chefs physics these days?

Dadaluma83

The above poster is right on with the structural integrity. For me personally if I am eating a thick burger I will not remove any bun because that just seems strange, but I will eat it upside down as it is true, the top bun is stronger structural wise.

As for removing the bun I don't think that is a British thing, a few months back I ate a burger at 5 guys in covent garden London and I saw people eating the burger with their hands, and buns intact just like I see in the US. Didn't notice anything strange.

I know most europeans eat their pizza with a knife and fork though, which I know probably makes me stand out as an American when I eat my pizza by hand, but folding the crust in one hand which gives me away as a New York style pizza eater.

emma69

My British parents might eat a hamburger with their hands if they went to McDonalds, but would never eat a burger with their hands off a plate when there was a knife and fork available. I will judge the situation and the burger (very rare that I would order one, and it would be a veggie burger if I did) - decentish restaurant, knife and fork, pub I might use my hands if I could do so without mess.

My mother had a grilled ahi tuna 'sandwich' (in a hamburger style bun) at a restaurant in Canada last month, and removed the top bun because 'the portion sizes are enormous' and she didn't need the extra food (why eat boring bread when there were nicer things on the plate). I don't know what portions are like in Thailand now, but if they were large I can see many Brits (where portions are typically a lot smaller than in the US) doing the same.

VivoPerLei

Agree completely that sourdough is a superb choice for a hamburger. I will confess that Jack in the Box's Sourdough Jack is one of my favorite US burgers

lhrsfo

Absolutely right, but with American portions, most Brits would simply cut it in half, as well as remove the unwanted carbs.

lhrsfo

Pizzas, of course, originated in Naples and, although I haven't been there for a few years, when I last visited, I don't recall anyone eating a pizza with their hands.

KoKoBuddy

The George Costanza method?

VivoPerLei

I'm in Naples frequently. I don't think I've ever even seen them slice a whole pizza. It's always fork and knife unless one wants to rip it with hands

stut

I'd personally find it quite odd if I were served a pizza in a restaurant that had been pre-sliced. A takeaway, sure thing, but not a restaurant.

VivoPerLei

Isn't that the norm in the US? I know it definitely isn't in Europe

stut

The only pizza I can remember eating in the US was in Chicago, but that was a very different style...

darthbimmer

I also discard the top bun as a tactic to reduce carbohydrate consumption when following a low-carb diet. I occasionally do it outside that diet plan, too, as a means of portion control. People sometimes ask, "Why do you throw away the bread but then eat the fries?" The answer is making choices within constraints. I don't want the calories and carbs of everything on my plate (constraint), and I prefer the taste of a small serving of fries to the extra bun (choice).

That all said, I rarely order a hamburger outside the US and Canada.

In US restaurants virtually all pizza is sliced in the kitchen before being delivered to the table. A lot of customers probably wouldn't know what to do with an unsliced pizza presented to them, except perhaps to send it back to the kitchen with an angry word to the staff about them "forgetting" to cut it.