Though I'm not a massive fan of the layout and color choices because I think it's sometimes hard to read, this has tons of kid appeal from the title to the writing and illustrations. Great index too!

I really enjoyed reading this book that reveals how many staples in the USA/Canadian diet were invented. It is written in a way that kept me interested as an adult reading it because I found that I learnt so many cools facts about different popular foods. Whilst it is also written in a way that kids will enjoy.
This book wouldn't appeal as much to kids outside of North America though it is very focused on specific brands that anyone else in the world most likely won't be able to relate to.
Thanks to Netgalley.com and Running Press Kids for my complimentary eARC copy.

I received a digital arc from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. What a clever book on little known facts about the everyday foods we consume. My son asks questions about everything, so these little tidbits of information of the foods we consume is great. I also like the collection of simple recipes included in each chapter, can’t wait to try out a few!
This is a fun book for anyone curious about modern food and history.

Who doesn't love food? I was hungry while reading the book. I loved the fun facts and information about all the different foods. My favorite part was the chew on that section.

There's No Ham in Hamburgers: Facts and Folklore About Our Favorite Foods by Kim Zachman is a children's non fiction book that will be just as interesting to adults. From hot dogs and hamburgers to ice cream and pizza, this fascinating book is full of fun facts and stories of the origins of some of America's most popular foods. Why is there no ham in hamburgers? How did we make ice cream before we could make ice? How did hot dogs get their name? From the origins of pizza (which got a big boost from Clarence Birdseye, of all people) to the Cornell professor who invented chicken fingers, There's No Ham in Hamburgers has all the ingredients for an entertaining and educational middle-grade read. Packed with informative sidebars, recipes, and experiments, along with fabulously funny illustrations by Peter Donnelly, this book is a reading recipe that kids will sink their teeth into!

There's No Ham in Hamburgers was a very interesting and engaging read. Some of the stories I have heard before, mostly because there are two television series that I have watched that cover the facts and fiction of food. However, there were some stories that I do not remember having heard before. I found the illustrations to be well done, and that they added some additional fun and visual interest to the read. I thought the information was well organized and I liked that there is nutritional information, additional small facts, and recipes pertaining to each food discussed at the end of each section. I was very happy to see all of the resources used in writing the book listed, by chapter no less, so those that want to do further explorations on a specific topic can do so.

This book is a great introduction to how and when some of the USA’s favourite food staples came to be. From
Peanut butter to hot dogs, the book explores 10 foods that Americans love and how they came to be. The book offers facts and history, nutritional information, recipes and did you knows. I really enjoyed learning a few new things about food in this book, it’s not really aimed at an international audience as very much focuses on the USA history, it does touch on a few ways the food has been imported to the USA but very much about the USA food staples. Nevertheless I still enjoyed it. I was a bit unsure what age range the book was aimed at, it’s very heavy on information, but has a simple formula that repeats and is easy to dip in and out of different chapters. I enjoyed the recipe side, but would have liked a few more illustrations. In all a great insight into how food came to be so popular and some interesting facts.

I received an advance copy of, There's no Ham in Hamburgers, by Kim Zachman. This book is cute and very informative. Why is a hamburger called a hamburger when there is no ham in it. I really liked this book, it was very informative.

This is a lovely, fun little book. My kids really enjoyed reading about all the cool food stuffs and learning more about them. It was an easy read, and enjoyable too.

There’s No Ham in Hamburger

This is a cute, clever book chock full of interesting in tidbits and factoids about some of America’s most beloved foods.
I think kids would love this book, but it needs way more illustrations. Maybe it was just because I read the ARC, but the drawings were very few and far between. I would have really appreciated seeing photos of early versions of some of our well known products - vintage Kellogg’s ads would have been a welcome addition to the section that talks about what a marketing and advertising genius Will Kellogg was and the advertising wars between Kellogg and CW Post.
I think the recipes and projects (like finding the iron in cereal) are clever and a great addition to the book.

Interesting concept and information, but not packaged in a kid friendly format. For a children’s book (or even adult nonfiction!), it is very text-heavy and monochromatic. The illustrations feel almost unfinished with their sparse color. Even if the publisher plans to replace the art with more finished pieces, the quantity and placement doesn’t stand up to a young reader’s attention span.. Overall, the appearance of this book makes it feel dated even before publication.

This juvenile nonfiction book is perfect for upper elementary and tween readers. The pages have a good mix of text and light-hearted, pencil illustrations. AND it answers questions that kids are likely to wonder about: why is it called a hamburger if there's no ham in it? who invented the french fry? when did we first make ice (which led to ice cream)? and so on. A must-add to your juvenile nonfiction collection.

I'm a sucker for popular culture, especially regarding food. So a brief overview of hamburgers, french fries, pizza, ice cream, chicken fingers, peanut butter, cereal, cookies, and chocolate! Yes, please. And you don't even need an antacid tablet!

Breaking down popular, kid oriented food into these major categories allows room for a wealth of tangential information about things like ketchup, Mr. Potato Head, and Birdseye Frozen Foods! I even learned that the the phrase "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream" came from a song recorded by Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians and written by Howard Johnson! I enjoyed the format of this book, and especially liked the vague 1950s feel to the font and framing of the illustrations. Even the colors were a nice mix of the 2020 ubiquitous light teal with a more 1960s lime green, complete with the sparkly starbursts. I do want to take a look at the illustrations in the print book; the E ARC ones came out a bit wonky.

While I was familiar with most of the information in the book, due to apparently all too frequent deep dives into tomes likes Sussman's Just Heat It 'n' Eat It!: Convenience Foods of the '40s-'60s (2006), Wyman's Spam (1999) and Better Than Homemade, Kimmerle's Candy: The Sweet History (2003), Gitlin's The Great American Cereal Book (2011) as well as everything Jane and Michael Stern ever wrote (especially Road Food (2006) and Square Meals (1984), younger readers will not be. This is an absolute powerhouse of an overview. I'm amazed at how complete the coverage is, and the amount of information that was still new to me. This shed light on why chicken nuggets always seemed like something new: they weren't widely available until I was in high school, at which point the last thing I was interested in was eating processed, deep friend chicken.

Clearly, I have a huge interest in food history, and since middle grade readers have eaten up books like Power Kids Press What's In Your Fast Food series, this is a definite purchase for elementary and middle school libraries. I would even buy it for a high school library, since it has such a wealth of information and is well-indexed, with an extensive bibliography.

This book was something I really would have enjoyed as a kid! I have always been really curious about food so this was right up ally. I really enjoyed finding out little things about some of my favorite food. The accompanying illustrations were great at well. I almost felt like this could be a great addition to the drunk history series. That is honestly the highest praise I can give a book like this.
Thanks to Netgalley for the early review copy.

A very fun and interesting book full of cool informations and a few recipes. Good for kids to learn about the foods they love. I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review

What a fun book! Young readers will gobble up lots of surprising facts and kid-pleasing humor, while accidentally learning about history, vocabulary, language, nutrition, and science. Some recipes are included to encourage taking what they've learned into the kitchen. My favorite recipe is "Endothermic Reaction In Action" Ice Cream, which doesn't require a mechanical ice cream maker. Kids will only need safe stuff that's found in most kitchens or easily bought on your next shopping trip.

Kids love wacky trivia. I still do too, and I have "Ripley's Believe It Or Not" to thank for that. But the current generation need fresher reading material, and this book cleverly fills that need. For example: did you know that before hot dog buns were invented, hot dog vendors gave hungry folk gloves to protect their hands from the heat? But the customers kept running away with them, so they were forced to invent the hot dog bun.  And just wait till you hear what President Roosevelt said to Queen Elizabeth when she asked him how to eat a hot dog. I won't tell you his hilarious (and kid-friendly) answer, you'll need to read the book to find out. Oh, and at the end of that chapter, you'll learn how easy it is to make your own mustard.

I'm giving this book four burgers and a side of fries UP!

This has so much interesting information in one book! This would be great for a classroom, for children to read during a quiet time or a teacher can use a lot of the information when teaching about food groups, business, or just needs a quick anecdote to tell the class. The book talks about pizza, potatoes, hamburgers in a all different ways. It even has ingredients and a recipe for each topic spoken about.

This book was received as an ARC from Perseus Books, Running Press - Running Press Kids in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I could not get enough of this book and how it was written. I was waiting for a book like this because I get questions like these all the time from our readers and now I can have a book to do for a future cooking demo family style and demonstrate some of my favorite fast foods such as hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, pizza and much more. I also like that they put in basic recipes such as for pizza and French Fries and use funny images to demonstrate what not to do when cutting and slicing. I can't wait to share this book and pass it along to our young curious minds here at the library.

We will consider adding this title to our JTX Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

First of all, what a great title! It is eye=catching and it also sets the reader up for the content of this book. The layout is attractive and makes it very easy to become intrigued with the content. I'd easily give this book as a present to someone with kids and I can imagine the type of discussions it might spark around the dinner table. Adults will also find this interesting so it's a win all around. Five stars because in this niche category it's pretty much perfection.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

Fun book with a few recipes. Would be great for older kids too!

Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free, it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

Really enjoyed learning the little known facts about our favorite foods. My favorite section was the story about the invention of cereal. I think kids will enjoy reading this book and telling their parents about their new knowledge on the foods they love. History lessons told through food, great idea.