The History of Hamburgers: The Buns That Traveled the World

A pop icon, a symbol of American fast food cuisine and the protagonist of countless variations, the hamburger is probably the most famous sandwich in the world. This great classic features a soft bun cut in half and stuffed with ground beef, perfect for eating with your hands. But where does this simple yet tasty dish, which we can now find in gourmet, vegetarian, vegan, or fish versions, come from? As with so many popular foods, the origins of the hamburger also boast a fascinating mix of documented history and legends (not to mention fake news), which are said to have started in the Mongolian steppes, passing through Russia, Germany, and finally arriving in the United States, where it took on the shape we all know: be careful, this is not a linear genealogy, but rather a rather tangled one, so much so that there is no universally shared version.

The Nomadic Origins of the Hamburger

The first traces of the hamburger's ancestor date back to the 13th century, during the Middle Ages, among the Tartars who crossed the Eurasian steppes on horseback: they were a warrior people of Turko-Mongolian origin, known for their rapid advancement and conquest of territories, and certainly did not have much time to devote to meals. And so, according to various sources, it was customary to hold the raw meat between the saddle and the animal's back, so that it would soften under the motions of the horse. When it was time to eat it, it was roughly beaten into small pieces, giving rise to what is commonly known as "steak tartare." The Mongol empire, first led by Genghis Khan and then, upon his death in 1227, divided between his sons, conquered the area of ​​present-day Ukraine, Russia and Belarus in 1241, so that steak tartare, through migrations and trade, spread further and further west in the following centuries, particularly to Germany, specifically to Hamburg: in fact, the German port city was home to a strong Russian community between the 16th and 17th centuries, which brought its customs and traditions here, including culinary ones.

Hamburg: the German Homeland

In Hamburg, therefore, the “Hamburg steak” circulated, a meatball of minced and pressed beef, then cooked, which became a very popular dish among dock workers and sailors between the 18th and 19th centuries. From the German city it inherited the name by which we still call this preparation with the Anglo-Saxon term hamburger, which practically means “Hamburg-style steak”. But not only that: there also appears a person who is linked to the invention of the first hamburger in the form of a sandwich. The gentleman in question is Otto Kuasw, a chef who had a restaurant in the port area and who decided to insert the meatball inside two slices of buttered bread, enriching the whole thing with a fried egg. A substantial and easy-to-eat meal: we are in 1891. In the meantime, however, many Germans had already emigrated to the United States, landing in New York, and brought with them the version without bread, so much so that we hear about meatballs with minced beef and onion as early as 1870.

America and The Most Famous Sandwich in The World

Let's start by saying that at least a dozen American states dispute the paternity of the hamburger: for each of them there are anecdotes that often take on legendary proportions, but which never cease to be told because they are so strongly connected to the identity. The most successful stories about how and when a patty of ground beef ends up in a bun are three, and they all stem from a brilliant intuition that suddenly flashes through the minds of the various protagonists.

The first concerns Charlie Nagreen, from Seymour, Wisconsin, who, at just 15 years old, in 1885, during a fair was unable to sell his meatballs because they were inconvenient for the customers: so he flattened them, stuffed them into bread and served them, winning everyone over. He was remembered as Hamburger Charlie and the town acquired the title of “Home of the Hamburger”, with its own famous festival. The second takes us to Athens, Texas: here is “uncle” Fletcher Davis, who began selling minced meat between two slices of bread in his restaurant a few years earlier, in 1880. The dish was presented at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, contributing to its national diffusion: it is said that the term "hamburger" to define it was used in a derogatory way, precisely to highlight the “barbaric” practice of Hamburg migrants of eating large quantities of minced beef, often raw.

Finally, there is Connecticut, with New Haven, home to Louis' Lunch, a still-existing establishment where, in 1900, the owner Louis Lassen, originally from Denmark, is said to have served the first hamburger sandwich, designed for a customer in a hurry.

The Boom With Fast Food and The Gourmet Revolution

Despite its romanticized origins, what is certain is that the patty, or flattened beef meatball, was already common in the second half of the 19th century and was often accompanied by bread. According to an article in the Washington Post, combining the two elements was a natural evolution, which became increasingly popular in the 20th century thanks to the advent of fast food restaurants, McDonald ‘s above all, which concentrated its business solely on beef burgers, standardizing production during the 1950s, joined by its eternal rival Burger King. Why is it so successful? It's cheap, filling, and large quantities can be made quickly. Pop Art artists chose it as the subject of their works and performances (see Andy Warhol), directors included it in cult scenes (like Tarantino in his Pulp Fiction), becoming part of mass culture.

It's no coincidence, then, that multi-Michelin-starred French chef Daniel Boulud caused a stir in 1999 when he created the DB Burger, the most expensive in the world— 29 dollars —by filling a homemade brioche bun with sirloin, red wine-braised short rib, and foie gras. It was an exception for the time, but it no longer seems revolutionary today (indeed, perhaps even too much), given the greater attention paid to the choice of raw materials and gourmet offerings that imply higher prices, with the hamburger increasingly moving away from the junk food sphere.