According to an interview I recently read, the seeds for Jimmy Buffett's much-beloved "Cheeseburger in Paradise" formed several years before he penned the song.

He and several of his friends had been at sea in the Carribean for several weeks aboard his first boat, the Euphoria. They hit a storm between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico, and as a result their boat was damaged and most of their food spoiled. For a week before they managed to reach land, they'd had virtually nothing to eat but the fish they'd caught.

All the men were starting to seriously crave some red meat when they finally got to Roadtown, a seaside village on the island of Tortola. And there, shining like beacon for their hunger, was a brand-new bar and grill at the end of the dock.

They went inside; to their surprise, the menu offered American fare such as cheeseburgers, french fries, and pina coladas. They gorged themselves on overdone burgers; Buffett reported that they ate about three burgers apiece.

As they were leaving, Buffett glanced into the kitchen and saw the packages for the ground meat they'd just consumed. Though the labels were in French, Buffet realized they hadn't been eating beef -- it was horsemeat.

He then asked to see the owner. Buffett pulled him aside and told him that he had a good idea for the restaurant -- but if he expected to get repeat business from tourists, he absolutely had to ditch the horsemeat and use real beef.

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