Hamburger

A hamburger, also called a burger, is a sandwich-like dish built around a cooked patty of ground meat—most often beef—that is panfried or grilled and placed inside a sliced bun, sesame seed bun, or bread roll. Common additions include lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis, all tucked into the bun alongside the patty. Condiments like ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, or a special sauce—frequently a version of Thousand Island dressing—are used to top the filling. When cheese is added to the patty, the result is a cheeseburger, and in that context “hamburger” usually means a burger without cheese. Some definitions classify a hamburger as a type of sandwich.

People often make hamburgers at home, and they are strongly linked to fast-food restaurants, though they also appear on menus at other eateries, including upscale establishments. Numerous international and regional variations exist. Major global fast-food chains, such as McDonald’s with its Big Mac and Burger King with its Whopper, have made burgers central to their menus, and these items have become iconic symbols of American culture. Hamburgers are a fast-food staple and are typically accompanied by french fries.

The word “hamburger” comes from Hamburg, Germany, but exactly how the food and the city are connected remains disputed. Through a process called linguistic rebracketing, “burger” emerged as an independent term used for many sandwiches similar to a hamburger but made with different meats—like buffalo, venison, kangaroo, chicken, turkey, elk, lamb, or fish such as salmon—or even meatless versions like the veggie burger. The word “burger” can also refer to a meat patty by itself. Because “hamburger” usually implies beef, the type of meat or substitute is often specified for clarity, as in beef burger, turkey burger, bison burger, or portobello burger.

Versions of this meal have existed for more than a hundred years, but its exact origins are uncertain. A 1758 edition of Hannah Glasse’s *The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy* included a recipe for “Hamburgh sausage” that suggested serving it roasted with toasted bread underneath. In Hamburg, a similar snack called “Rundstück warm” (meaning “bread roll warm”) was popular by 1869 or earlier and was reportedly eaten by emigrants heading to America, though it may have contained roasted beefsteak rather than Frikadelle. Another theory holds that Hamburg steak served between two slices of bread was eaten by Jewish passengers on Hamburg America Line ships (which started in 1847) traveling from Hamburg to New York, and that the shipping company’s name became attached to the dish. Which story is correct remains unknown.

The earliest known reference to “Hamburg steak” appears in *The Boston Journal* from 1884. On July 5, 1896, the *Chicago Daily Tribune* specifically mentioned a “hamburger sandwich” in an article about a “Sandwich Car,” describing it as a popular five-cent item made from small patties cooked on a gasoline range while the customer waited.

“Hamburger steak sandwiches” were advertised in U.S. newspapers from New York to Hawaii as early as the 1890s, but no single inventor has been identified. Various people have been credited, including Charlie Nagreen, Frank and Charles Menches, Oscar Weber Bilby, Fletcher Davis, and Louis Lassen. White Castle traces the hamburger’s origin to Otto Krause in Hamburg, Germany. Some point to Hannah Glasse’s 1758 “Hamburgh sausages” on toasted bread as an early source. The hamburger gained national attention in the U.S. at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, where the *New York Tribune* called it “the innovation of a food vendor on the pike.” No conclusive evidence has settled the debate. An ABC News article noted that little written history exists, the burger’s spread happened quickly at the fair through small, transient vendors, and it is entirely possible that multiple people came up with the idea independently in different parts of the country.

Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, founded in 1895, has long claimed to be the “birthplace of the hamburger sandwich.” Around 1900, Danish immigrant Louis Lassen reportedly ran out of steaks when a customer wanted a quick hot meal, so he used ground beef trimmings to form a patty, grilled it, and placed it between two slices of toast. Some critics, like *New York Magazine* food editor Joshua Ozersky, argue this was not a true hamburger because the bread was toasted. *New York Magazine* wrote in 1977 that the dish supposedly had no name until some rowdy sailors from Hamburg later called the meat on a bun after themselves. This origin story has been promoted by Connecticut Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and the Library of Congress, despite earlier references to hamburgers elsewhere.

Another early claim comes from Charlie Nagreen, who in 1885 sold a meatball between two slices of bread at the Seymour Fair (now sometimes called the Outagamie County Fair) in Seymour, Wisconsin. The Seymour Community Historical Society credits Nagreen, also known as “Hamburger Charlie,” with the invention. At age 15, he reportedly sold pork sandwiches at the 1885 fair so customers could eat while walking.