This is Planet Money from NPR.

Hello and welcome to Planet Money, I'm Sally Helm.

There is something uniquely American about the string of low-cost burger-centric fast-food chains.

Burger King, Wendy's, five guys, and of course, McDonald's.

But there is one that even if you haven't visited, you have tasted its influence.

And that is the humble White Castle. Because, as we will learn in this delightful episode from our friends over at 99% invisible,

White Castle is really the Proto Burger Chain.

And this episode gets at something that we refer to sometimes when we talk about the rise of

globalism. This idea that no matter where you go in the world, you can get the same product

of the same quality and more or less have the same experience.

As you'll hear, it is both a feature of our modern economy and slightly eerie.

We love the 99% invisible podcast and we are thrilled to be bringing you this episode.

Roman Mars is going to take it from here. But before we begin a couple of

quick notes. First, this episode mentions Ray Crock. The estate of Ray Crock's

widow Joan is a funder of NPR. And second, we recommend not listening on an empty stomach. Here's the episode.

This is 99% invisible. I'm Roman Mars. As anyone who has ever been to a White Castle restaurant knows, the food is, how do I put this?

It's never going to be considered classic five-star food, but you know what you're getting when you go there.

Jeremy Brooks has been a die-hard Whitecastle fan ever since going regularly as a kid

with his dad. It's either something you're going to love or you cannot stand.

For starters, the patties are square, but it's kind of their thing,

with five holes in each patty, and they're small too.

Two and a half inch sliders just big enough to fit in the

...