The Invention of the Hamburger

Vocabulary

• Michelin-starred
• Tartare
• Minced
• Sores
• Iconic

Article

From fast-food restaurants to fancy Michelin-starred places, hamburgers are very popular in Western diets. But where did they come from?

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a hamburger is defined as “ground beef” and also as “a sandwich made with a hamburger patty on a bun.” While these definitions describe the basic hamburger, people often enjoy adding extra ingredients like lettuce, cheese, sauces, and even other meats.

However, hamburgers did not always have so many toppings. It is believed that one of the earliest versions was similar to steak tartare, which is raw minced steak mixed with egg.

Some sources say that the first version of this dish can be traced back to the Roman Empire, while others think it originated with Mongolian horsemen. These riders supposedly placed beef under their saddles, allowing it to become tender enough to eat by the end of the day.

On the other hand, some people argue that these horsemen only put the meat under their saddles to treat their horses’ sores and that the meat would not be clean enough to eat.

A more recent version of the hamburger comes from Hamburg, Germany. In the 17th or 18th century, chefs in Hamburg cooked minced beef with onions and breadcrumbs. This dish became known as the “Hamburg steak,” and it travelled to the United States in the 19th century, where it eventually became known as the “hamburger.”

Although it is not clear who first decided to put this minced meat on bread, adding a bun helped make the hamburger a popular sandwich in the U.S. The first fast-food hamburger chain, called White Castle, opened in 1921 and still serves its iconic square hamburgers today.

Today, hamburgers can be found all over the world, thanks to popular American fast-food chains like McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s. In 2012, PBS reported that around 50 billion hamburgers are eaten in the United States each year.

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Speaking

• How often do you have hamburgers?
• What do you think of fast food burgers versus homemade?
• Do you enjoy traditional German cuisine?
• Are there any countries you’d like to visit for their dishes?
• What traditional foods from your country would you recommend to visitors?

Writing

• If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

Listening

• Describe what happened in this video. Have you ever had trouble ordering something?