{"id":1282,"date":"2018-01-24T17:55:56","date_gmt":"2018-01-24T17:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zacsburgers.com\/?p=1282"},"modified":"2022-03-09T19:35:52","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T00:35:52","slug":"history-hamburger-gotta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacsburgers.com\/history-hamburger-gotta\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of the Hamburger: Why We Gotta Have It"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today the hamburger is probably the most popular sandwich in the United States<\/a>. You can find it on most menus across the country and it is a go to meal for lunch, dinner and even late night snacks, but do you know the rich history of the hamburger and why we got have it?<\/p>\n

Myth or Fact?<\/h2>\n

Unfortunately, there is no clear inventor of the hamburger. Depending on who you talk to, there are several contenders and different myths connected to America\u2019s favorite sandwich. And the stories date back to ancient Egypt where they are said to have eaten ground meat and to Genghis Khan and his \u201cGolden Horde\u201d who ate raw meat patties of lamb or mutton when out on military campaigns. Then when Genghis Khan\u2019s grandson Khubilai Khan invaded Moscow in 1238, the Russians adopted it into their cuisine calling it \u201cSteak Tartare\u201d. And from there it eventually came over to Europe.<\/p>\n

Others prefer to start the story of the origins of the hamburger in Hamburg<\/a>, Germany where they had a strong cattle industry and their own version of the steak called the \u201cHamburg Steak\u201d.<\/p>\n

When Germans began immigrating to the United States in the 18th and 19th Centuries.., food stands and restaurants began offering a steak cooked in the Hamburg style. The dish was simply shredded beef with regional spices and would be eaten cooked and raw. But how did it turn into a sandwich?<\/p>\n

One particular myth states that the hamburger came to America at this time when European emigrants came here on ships run by the Hamburger Lines. On these ships the passengers were apparently served meat patties cooked on a grill and served on two pieces of bread.<\/p>\n

Another story that has been passed down is that it was at the Delmonico\u2019s Restaurant in New York in 1800s that the hamburger first showed up on an American menu. Another contender for the inventor of the hamburger is Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin who at the age of 15 sold hamburgers from his food stand at the Outagamie County Fair. The story says that he first started trying to sell meatballs, but people weren\u2019t buying them and he thought it might be because it was difficult to eat while walking around so he flattened the meatballs and served them between bread. Seymour, Wisconsin claims to be the \u201cHome of the Hamburger\u201d and they hold a burger festival every year.<\/p>\n

Another big contender is Frank and Charles Menches from Akron, Ohio. Their family claims that the two brothers invented the hamburger while traveling in a 100-man concession circuit to different evens in the Midwest in the 1880s. The story goes that while they were working the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York, they ran out of pork and so ground up beef and mixed it with spices and served it as a sandwich. They didn\u2019t know what to call the sandwich so took inspiration from the town they were in and called it the hamburger.<\/p>\n