Food - Drink
What Makes Michigan's Beloved Olive Burger Unique?
By RYAN CASHMAN
Surprisingly, burgers can be traced back as far as the Romans, but today’s version of the burger is decidedly American. Whether topped with cheese, pickles, mayo, or ketchup or served steamed, grilled, or baked, burgers are endlessly customizable, and in Michigan, they're topped with this unexpected, briny ingredient.
Michigan’s olive burgers are made with a simple beef patty, swiss cheese, chopped green olives, and mayonnaise. While there’s nothing outwardly fanciful about these burgers and their briny toppings, they balance a simple combination of savory flavors, with the cheese balancing the olives while the mayo provides a hint of creaminess.
The olive burger was created in 1923 in Flint, Michigan when a burger joint now called Halo Burgers started serving burgers with green olives. You can still get olive burgers at their birthplace or one of the seven Halo Burgers locations in the city, or at restaurants like Weston’s Kewpee Shoppe in Lansing or The Filling Station in Grand Rapids.
