History Of The Hamburger

I photographed this poster in the famous CNN Tower in Toronto, Canada. Doesn't it make your mouth water? Even if it does look impossible to pick up!!   So what's the history of the good old American backyard BBQ staple, the hamburger??  There was pages of information resulting from consulting Google; I suggest you might go read some for yourself. Here are some bits:

WIKIPEDIA: Considerable evidence suggests that either the United States or Germany (the city of Hamburg) was the first country where two slices of bread and a ground beef patty were combined into a "hamburger sandwich" and sold, it really boils down to who was able to prove it and not hearsay. There is some controversy over the origin of the hamburger because its two basic ingredients, bread and beef, had been prepared and consumed separately for many years in different countries before their combination. Shortly after its creation, the hamburger quickly included all of its currently typically characteristic trimmings, including onions, lettuce, and sliced pickles.

1885  --  "National Birth of the Burger Day" is celebrated on September 18 to honor the invention of the burger in 1885 at the Hamburg Fair.

Who invented the beef hamburger?

First, the Library of Congress agrees it was Louis Lassen who invented the burger when he put scraps of ground between slices of bread for fast, easy eating.

The ancestor of the modern hamburger arrived at American shores in the 19th Century when German immigrants brought with them a dish called Hamburg style beef, which, in turn, had been brought to Hamburg from Russia some time around the 14th Century. It was in America that this raw, chopped piece of beef would evolve over time to become the succulent patty sandwiched in a bun that we call a hamburger.

Now, it has been established that the development of the hamburger took place in America around the turn of the last century, but there is great dispute over what happened after the German patty arrived in America.

And I leave you to study it out for yourself.......... after you wipe your fingers and chin from eating that hamburger!!