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What do a meat cleaver, a tomato pie, and a pie plate have in common? They all helped change the course of American culture. At least that's New Haven's take on things, because it was right here in the Elm City where these three "items" whimsically played a role in American history.

It started in 1900 when Louis Lassen's meat cleaver took a few swift chops. Lassen cut up the raw trimmings from some steaks, placed it between two pieces of bread, and the All-American hamburger was born. It was that easy. His eatery, Louis' Lunch, has become a legendary New Haven landmark.

Not long after the hamburger became a household word, pizza (or more correctly, a pizza) made its debut in New Haven. It's widely held that Italian immigrant Frank Pepe was the first in the world to go commercial with pizza when he opened his shop in the Wooster Square section of town in the 1930s. His 12-inch "tomato pies" were baked in brick ovens still used at Pepe's Pizzeria today. Salvatore (Sally) Consiglio opened shop eight years after Pepe and baked pizza in similar fashion a few doors down. Long lines-really long on weekends-are standard fare at both Sally's and Pepe's.

In a very different sense, another popular food made in New Haven is probably as important a contribution to American culture-the Frisbee. The Frisbee Pie Company, bakers of Mrs. Frisbee's Pies, was actually located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In a nutshell, the story goes that in the 1920s Yale students took to flinging the empty pie tins-each one stamped with the Frisbee name-across the New Haven Green. The sport caught on amongst the college set, where its popularity still resides. Mrs. Frisbee's pies are long gone, but their legacy remains. Today's "tins" are plastic, but in New Haven lies their endearing origin.