Daniel Neman: The most important food writer you've never heard of

May 3, 1947, was a Saturday. On that day, Jet Pilot, ridden by Eric Guerin, won the Kentucky Derby. In Japan, a new constitution went into effect, making Emperor Hirohito merely a symbolic figurehead.

And Jane Nickerson, in the New York Times, wrote about a new addition to the popular hamburger: cheese.

“At first, the combination of beef with cheese and tomatoes, which sometimes are used, may seem bizarre. If you reflect a bit, you’ll understand the combination is sound gastronomically,” she wrote.