Fontina Cheese Burger with Bacon, Guacamole & Tomato! Are you humming God Bless America right now? Well I am...

Why does America love burgers? Why are burgers considered so very American? What does our love of the burger say about us?

I could easily adopt the burger attitude of the moment and rail against the burger. I could make one of those trendy "heart attack on a bun" jokes. But I'm not gonna.

Because I love a good burger: Big, messy and inspired by America! You see, burgers are an American Institution whose power lies in their iconoclasm and decidedly simple virtues. I believe that the humble hamburger says something about being an American.

It's hard to have grown up in this country and not have strong feelings about our burgers. They're ingrained in our culture. They've come to symbolize so much more than a casual meal. There will always be a part of me that remains a 7-year-old boy peeking under the bun to make sure my mom didn't slip anything sneaky onto my hamburger. That's the kind of power America's burgers have.

I am a sucker for regionalism. It’s nearly dead in this country, so it’s often hard to distinguish one city from the next. Chain stores. Chain restaurants. Same stuff. Same food.

I am old enough to remember when there was more diversity of choice when it came to dining out; certain restaurants in certain towns where you could get the best this or the best that. In fact sometimes these were the only places to get those particular or regional this & thats!

It used to be if you really wanted to understand a place and the people who lived there; you sat down and ate with them– maybe not at the same table, but at least sharing the same food. Food that was completely unique to that place and those people. Because food like that gets passed down through generations. It comes from a time when people tended to stay put. This is how regional cuisine developed, through heritage, tradition and pride.

It’s a different world today for all sorts of complicated reasons. It’s much harder to define a place through its food traditions, because so many of those traditions have become homogenized.

It’s that time of year when we all get a little Irish. I in fact have a wee bit of the Irish on me today. But I warn ya; I’ve a mouth on me. In fact I could eat the lamb o' Jayjus through the rungs of a chair! So it’s a proper fry up for me today. Which is a traditional Irish breakfast just in case you’re a gombeen. Wise up ya gack ye!

The Irish breakfast is a staple of the Irish household and most every eatin’ house on that Noble Island. Now I don’t care if you are a DNS jackheen or a culchie, why should the Irish have all the meaty fun? After all, they imported St. Patrick’s Day to this country so we may as well grab the delph and cutty knife and dig right in.

Now unless you are a thick tool, you know that a traditional Irish breakfast revolves around meat, so my version starts with bangers and rashers. Which may be familiar to you as sausage and bacon. However, the Irish versions are a bit different than their cousins across the pond. Bangers are larger than American breakfast sausage and have a heavier flavor. Rashers resemble ham and taste like a cross between ham and bacon.

But this is where I diverge from tradition. Because my Irish breakfast comes with baked eggs and is served in a ramekin, everything baked all together. Eggs baked in a ramekin are an ideal vehicle for so many ingredients. Why not take an Irish slant with assertive cheddar and plenty of that Irish meat I mentioned? It’s served up nice and neat and fully complete. It's sure to get ya gummin’ for more!