DailyDirt: Hamburgers Are American (Not German)

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

If there's a food that people think is American, it's the hamburger. The original hamburger probably came from German immigrants in the late 1800s, and the first mass-produced modern hamburgers started selling in the 1920s. Some estimates say that hamburgers account for nearly 60% of all sandwiches eaten in the US (and about 7.5% of all our potatoes go towards making French fries). If you like a good burger, check out some of these links. If you'd like to read more awesome and interesting stuff, check out this unrelated (but not entirely random!) Techdirt post via StumbleUpon.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: burger, eating, food, hamburgers, sandwiches


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Lawrence D’Oliveiro, 14 Mar 2014 @ 5:45pm

    Hamburger, Berliner, Wiener ...

    ... what do these food names have in common?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    madasahatter (profile), 14 Mar 2014 @ 6:52pm

    Local Legend

    I have heard the hamburger was invented in Hamburg, New York, near Buffalo.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Phil, 14 Mar 2014 @ 9:57pm

    I hate the bit.ty links. Call me old fashioned but I want to know what a link is before I click it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Mike Masnick (profile), 14 Mar 2014 @ 10:03pm

      Re:

      I hate the bit.ty links. Call me old fashioned but I want to know what a link is before I click it.


      The [url] links at the end of each item show you the full URL.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      elemecca (profile), 17 Mar 2014 @ 2:12am

      Re:

      Also worth knowing: if you append a + to a bit.ly link you get its stats page, which includes the target URL.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    MacCruiskeen, 15 Mar 2014 @ 6:47am

    Germans ate chopped meat, but it was definitely Americans who had the idea of a patty made into a sandwich. Several claims of credit exist. It was probably popularized at the 1904 World's Fair. A lot of then-new food ideas--like the burger and the ice cream cone--were first displayed to wide audiences there.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Mar 2014 @ 7:00am

    Not nailed down..... America claims it

    Hamburgers Are American (Not German)
    If there's a food that people think is American, it's the hamburger. The original hamburger probably


    PROBABLY ?

    Stopped reading right there. You can't claim "not German" and "are American" when you have a very loose "probably" as the measure of accuracy.

    I am sure with a 99% probability that you don't know the TIME when hamburgers originated. So dismiss the fact of it's name, the fact of first seeing it in America from German immigrants.






    America has a history of claiming "they invented it" when they didn't.

    Americans invented St Patrick’s Day (oh that's the latest one- google it)

    Americans invented apple pie
    .......... blah lightbulb ..... blah ....electricity.... on and on.... etc.... etc...






    America did create Fast Food & Morbid Obesity.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 15 Mar 2014 @ 7:57am

      Re: Not nailed down..... America claims it

      Should add.


      Sandwich

      It was named after John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, an 18th-century English aristocrat. It is said that he ordered his valet to bring him meat tucked between two pieces of bread.
      The Oxford English Dictionary gives its appearance as 1762.




      But only in America did people first put meat between bread, in 1900. Am not even going to get into sausage without sheep intestines. People have put meat in sheep intestines since the 13th century.



      Another American "claim" doesn't add up.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        JEDIDIAH, 15 Mar 2014 @ 9:28am

        Re: Re: Not nailed down..... America claims it

        No. You're simply building a false strawman by conflating a particular kind of sandwich with sandwiches in general.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous Coward, 15 Mar 2014 @ 11:02am

          aubergine didn't exist before America created the eggplant

          Learn the definition of "straw man" ffs. Then comprehend it.


          Seeing as the opposing argument is a "probable" against some facts. If anything... I am opposing the straw man argument with facts that make probability greater for the "no America didn't create the hamburger" argument.

          First (found) recorded use of the term "hamburger" does not equal the creation of the item known as a hamburger.
          Now that is a staw man argument. Can't prove America invented the item known as a hamburger, proves the the first found usage of the word hamburger as being in America.

          Using that* argument logic.... America also invented the eggplant.




          The origin of the word sandwich is not relevant ?
          Claims America invented the meat sandwich known as a hamburger, BECAUSE of the claim that it was the first time a meat "patty" was put in between bread as a sandwich. Think you will find that is relevant.

          The origin of the meat "patty" is also relevant as I alluded to with the origin of the word sausage.

          More relevance... Bread has been around for about 12,000 years that we know of, it was never married with beef to create a hamburger before a few years ago.

          Also... the word "bap" dates from the 16th century.
          AKA.. bun to Americans. But the Hamburger bun was invented in 1915 "according to Americans".


          The kicker of relevance... America's narcissistic Nationalism that created "the greatest country in the world" and also "invented all the things" that it didn't invent.






          Yep... seems legit that "America invented the food now known as the Hamburger".


          Take what "probable" you want. I know what is more plausible to me. It aint "German Immigrants invented it in America" then it was named "hamburger" and coincidentally was only invented (like lot's of other supposed American food inventions) when the rise of restaurants in America started.

          link to this | view in chronology ]

        • identicon
          Anonymous, 15 Mar 2014 @ 11:15am

          Re: Re: Re: Not nailed down..... America claims it

          Maybe next time he should build a TRUE strawman. Or are those found only in Oz?

          link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous, 15 Mar 2014 @ 11:20am

      Re: Not nailed down..... America claims it

      So King Henry VIII was American?

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Mar 2014 @ 7:26am

    Hamburger might be a European invention but pink slime was invented in the good ol' US of A baby!

    usa usa usa usa

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 15 Mar 2014 @ 7:39am

    Proto-Hamburgers were eaten in ancient Rome

    Just like early pizza. Romans were very busy people and wanted to get their food 'fast'. Oddly enough, Hamburgers and Pizza are very tied to American culture, and Americans are very much modern the Roman Empire.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.