The History of Hamburgers
Hamburgers are wildly popular in America and around the world, as evidenced by McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy's, and other burger chains gracing the street next to pretty much every historical monument across the planet (except Antarctica, at least for now). Although they're a classic American meal, do we actually know where hamburgers came from? How they came to us? Do we ever take the time to tell hamburgers how much they mean to us? Of course we don't, that would be insane. But we can take a moment to dive into the origin of hamburgers and better understand America's favorite meat sandwich.
Why Is It Called a Hamburger?
There are many myths about hamburger etymology, but the truth revolves around the city of Hamburg, Germany. In the 19th century, the city was famous for the quality of its beef and for a chopped beef patty mixed with spices, known as a Hamburg steak1. The Hamburg steak, considered a delicacy, wasn't paired with bread or buns. This ground beef patty gained popularity in America throughout the century as German immigrants brought their recipes with them.
In the U.S., the increased availability of beef lowered the price, and Hamburg steaks were a favorite of the working class. They were sold from carts outside factories, but eating them without a plate proved tricky – until an entrepreneur began selling his Hamburg steaks between slices of bread.
Why is it called a hamburger if it's not ham?
"Hamburger" is the German way to refer to a gentleman from Hamburg and has nothing at all to do with pig meat. The ground beef with spices mixture that has become the beloved hamburger was originally associated with the city of Hamburg, as Hamburg steaks.
Who Invented the Burger?
There are many places claiming to be where hamburgers were invented2, because that would be a wonderful selling point for any restaurant, but there doesn't seem to be any consensus on where the first Hamburg steak was placed between an acceptably bunlike piece of bread.
There are claimants to the ground beef throne in Wisconsin, Texas, Kentucky, Ohio, Connecticut, Oklahoma, New York, and more, but the first point that most people agree on is the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. The Fair introduced a wide variety of American favorites, including the waffle cone, iced tea, peanut butter, and cotton candy. This doesn't mean these items were invented right before the Fair, or that people didn't know about them before, but it's the first place in time we can definitively say, "The hamburger was present here."
Credit for the origin of hamburgers3 sometimes includes other times, places, and inventors, such as Louis Lassen in New Haven, Conn., in 1900, who served a ground beef patty between pieces of toast, and Oscar Wilby in 1891 in Bowden, Okla., another proprietor of flame-grilled beef patties.
Where were hamburgers invented?
Judging by the name, we can trace the lineage back as far as Hamburg steaks, but beyond that we're making guesses, rather than charbroiled facts. Some have traced the hamburger as far back as Mongols tenderizing raw beef by placing it underneath their saddles as they rode, but that seems a bit of a stretch. Grinding up the beef does change the experience, though, and hamburgers are a different beast than a steak sandwich – which brings us to the rise of the original medieval-themed burger joint, White Castle.
Why Are Hamburgers so Popular in America?
Shortly after the debut of hamburgers at the St. Louis World's Fair, Upton Sinclair's popular novel The Jungle contributed to the American public becoming wary of the meat processing industry. This led to widespread suspicion of mass-produced ground beef, which could have scuppered the hamburger then and there, but the founders of White Castle, Walter Anderson and Billy Ingram, found a way to avoid these negative perceptions. White Castle advertised that it ground its beef on the premises and was meticulous about presenting a clean aesthetic to the public, who were reassured that none of the horrors from The Jungle were going to intrude on their enjoyment of a hamburger.
After White Castle took off, McDonald's, In-N-Out Burger, and Burger King followed, spreading across the globe after World War II. Now, the American hamburger, or cheeseburger, can be found in almost every corner of the globe. This collaboration of German immigrants and American entrepreneurs has become a staple of fast food meals, American-style restaurants, and home cooking for the last 70 years. It doesn't contain ham, it's only vaguely from Hamburg, and it has become definitively American.
You can find a plethora of delicious variations as every chef puts their own spin on the hamburger; scientists are even working on ways to make our craving for ground beef patties more sustainable, from "fake meat" substitutes to lab-grown beef. Whether you sit down to enjoy a dollar-menu delicacy from your local drive-thru or a handcrafted burger piled high with locally sourced ingredients, you're partaking in a delicious American tradition that only gets better with age.
Resources
- Do You Actually Know Where Hamburgers Originated? Parade. Accessed July 2021.
- Where Hamburgers Began—and How They Became an Iconic American Food. History. Accessed July 2021.
- A History of the Burger: From Ancient Rome to the Drive-Thru. Food & Wine. Accessed July 2021.
