A festival in Corinth this weekend is celebrating the slugburger.
Steven Knight, General Manager of Supertalk Mississippi in Corinth said the burger was born out of a need to make burgers cheaper during the depression.
“What it is, is meat byproducts,” said Knight. “It’s what is left over from the ground beef and pork that the butcher shop would use.”
A fully dressed slugburger comes with mustard, lettuce and pickles.
The festival includes a pageant, voice competition, live music, and the crowning event, a slugburger major league eating contest.
“We have some big name eaters coming to town,” said Knight.
Joey Chestnut, an American competitive eater who is ranked first in the world, is set to make an appearance at the festival for the third year.
Chestnut has previously won the slugburger competition by eating 41 slugburgers during the 10-minute competition.
The term of the burger itself came about when restaurant owners found that they could sell the burgers for five cents. During the twenties, slang for a nickle was a slug.
“Most any restaurant in Corinth is going to have a slugburger on the menu,” said Knight. “We’ve even had some local pizza places feature a slugburger pizza. About the only thing that I haven’t seen in a slugburger is a dessert, but I wouldn’t put it past someone to come up with it.”
