The hamburger is one of the most popular dishes in the world, but have you ever wondered why it's called a hamburger instead of a beef burger? The answer lies in its fascinating history, which dates back to the Middle Ages. According to Food Lovers Companion, the name hamburger comes from the port city of Hamburg, Germany. In the 19th century, sailors from this city are believed to have encountered a dish called veal tartare while trading with Russia's Baltic provinces. This dish was made from shredded raw meat, which was a specialty of the Tatars (or Tatars), a nomadic people who invaded Central Asia and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages.
The Tatars softened their meat by placing it between the saddle and the horse while they rode. When they introduced this food to Germany, it was mixed with local spices and fried or grilled and known as Hamburg steak. German emigrants to the United States brought this dish with them, and it appeared on New York restaurant menus in the 1880s.
Burgers
quickly became a sensation, and at the 1904 World's Fair sandwiches at stores in St.Louis were served with battered burgers called battered burgers. There have been many claims about who invented the hamburger, but one story suggests that twelve years later, in 1885, brothers Frank and Charles Menches had little pork and decided to use beef in their sandwich. In 1900, Louis Lassen of Louis's Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, served what could be considered the modern hamburger with ground beef between two slices of bread. This dish quickly became popular around the world, particularly in the West Midlands and the northeast of England, Scotland and Ireland.
Japan has local hamburger restaurant chains such as MOS Burger, First Kitchen and Freshness Burger. After some setbacks with the publication of Upton Sinclair's novel The Jungle, the world's first hamburger chain, White Castle, opened in 1921 and helped make hamburgers popular in the United States. Fast forward to 1873 when Delmonico's steakhouse restaurant in New York City introduced “Hamburg steak” on its menu for a hefty price over a ten-cent period. All this to say that hamburgers have come a long way since their humble beginnings.
The popularity of this dish skyrocketed in the United States after World War II when hamburgers became the main dish on the menu of self-service restaurants thanks to an increasing number of cars. Today, hamburgers are enjoyed all over the world as a delicious and convenient meal. The next time you bite into a juicy burger, remember its fascinating history!.
