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Who Invented The Burger?
Americans eat nearly 50 billion burgers a year, It would be a long enough line to go around the world 32 times, according to MSN. That’s nearly 800,000 miles of burgers consumed by Americans every single year — a long enough line to go to the moon, come back, then go to the moon again. McDonald’s alone sells 75 burgers every second. The invention of the classic sandwich featuring a grilled piece of ground beef patty between a sliced bread roll or bun remains controversial until this day, as there are several claims about its official origin and inventor.
So where did this famous fast food classic originated from?
It seems that the invention of the burger is a never ending dispute. Connecticut Congresswoman, Rosa DeLauro claims the hamburger was invented in 1900 by Louis Lassen, a Danish immigrant, owner of Louis' Lunch in New Haven.
An article from ABC News mentioned: "One problem is that there is little written history. Another issue is that the spread of the burger happened largely at the World's Fair, from tiny vendors that came and went in an instant. And it is entirely possible that more than one person came up with the idea at the same time in different parts of the country."
Another claim was made by Louis Lassen, owner of Louis’ Lunch, a small wagon in New Haven, Connecticut. Said to be served the first time in 1900, the dish had no name yet and was created on the spot out of a necessity to replace steaks with leftover beef trimmings turned into ground beef. It was however placed in between two pieces of toasted bread, which technically doesn’t make it a burger, since it normally requires to be placed in between slices of a bun.
An older claim from 1885 comes from Charlie Nagreen, who at the age of 15 sold a meatball between two slices of bread at the Seymour Fair, now also known as the Outagamie County Fair. The Seymour Community Historical Society of Seymour, Wisconsin, credits Nagreen aka “Hamburger Charlie”, with the invention. He reportedly named the hamburger after the Hamburg steak with which local German immigrants were familiar.
According to the White Castle, the Midwestern fast food restaurant chain, the burger was invented by a German Cook named Otto Kuasw. In 1891, at a post in Hamburg, Germany, Otto created a popular sandwich made of a fillet of beef patty fried in butter and topped with a fried egg that sailors were raving about. The sandwich was called the “Deutsches Beefsteak”, meaning German Beefsteak. The sailors loved it so much that when they traveled to New York they were requesting a similar Hamburg style sandwich at American steakhouses.
Another Hamburg theory comes from brothers Frank and Charles Menches who sold their first ground beef sandwich at the Erie County Fair of Hamburg, New York in 1885. During the fair, they ran out of pork sausage for specialty sandwiches and substituted it with beef. The meat was said to be from Stein’s market. The story notes that the name “Hamburger” came from Hamburg, New York, not Hamburg, Germany, which also eliminates the possibility of ‘Ham’ having anything to do with the original name.
The last claimant is known as Fletcher Davis from Athens, Texas, who is said to have invented the hamburger. The claim comes from oral histories that in the 1880s, he opened a lunch counter in Athens and served a ‘burger’ of fried ground beef patties with mustard and bermuda onion between two slices of bread, with pickle on the side. Athens resident, Clint Murchison said his grandfather dated the hamburger to the 1880s with ‘Old Dave’ aka Fletcher Davis. A photo of ‘Old Dave’s Hamburger Stand’ from 1904 was sent to Historian Frank Tolbert as evidence of the claim.
Now which story is most credible to you? Do you think the ‘Hamburger’ got its name from Hamburg, Germany or Hamburg, New York? Is it possible that all these claimants invented their own version of the burger without knowing someone else did the same?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section, and don’t forget to hit the like button and subscribe for more food videos. ouZLuZue68I |