It's the most ubiquitous dish on the planet, but its origins are murky
Plate up This might be it: this might be the most ubiquitous dish on the planet. Aliens could land and ask us, 'So what do you guys eat?' And you could reasonably say: burgers. We eat burgers. Everywhere from Chile to China, Germany to Japan, Morocco to Mozambique, we're eating beef patties between buns (thanks in no small part to an American chain restaurant). Not that that is the technical definition of a hamburger.
Those not so heavily influenced by Americans know a hamburger as just the patty, the minced beef that's mixed with spices and onions and grilled on a flat-top or flame grill. The rest of us, meanwhile, think of hamburgers as that patty stuffed between two buns, with fillings like cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato sauce, mustard, onions, and if you're in Australia even egg, pineapple or beetroot. This dish has spawned many spin-offs, of course, using everything from chicken to lentils in place of the beef.
First serve The clue is in the name, right? It's called a hamburger, so it must come from Hamburg, in Germany. And yes, that could be true. Though, the origin of the hamburger is murky, given people have been hacking up beef and forming it into shapes for many hundreds of years. So yes, there's evidence of ground-meat patties being sold in Hamburg from the mid-19th century, though some also say the name came from the Hamburg America Line, the shipping company that transported German migrants to the US around the same time. The idea of placing that 'Hamburg steak' between two buns took root in the US sometime between 1885 and 1904, though by whom remains a mystery.
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It's the most ubiquitous dish on the planet, but its origins are murky
The dish: Hamburger, Germany Plate up This might be it: this might be the most ubiquitous dish on the planet. Aliens could land and ask us, 'So what do you guys eat?' And you could reasonably say: burgers. We eat burgers. Everywhere from Chile to China, Germany to Japan, Morocco to Mozambique, we're eating beef patties between buns (thanks in no small part to an American chain restaurant). Not that that is the technical definition of a hamburger. Those not so heavily influenced by Americans know a hamburger as just the patty, the minced beef that's mixed with spices and onions and grilled on a flat-top or flame grill. The rest of us, meanwhile, think of hamburgers as that patty stuffed between two buns, with fillings like cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato sauce, mustard, onions, and if you're in Australia even egg, pineapple or beetroot. This dish has spawned many spin-offs, of course, using everything from chicken to lentils in place of the beef. First serve The clue is in the name, right? It's called a hamburger, so it must come from Hamburg, in Germany. And yes, that could be true. Though, the origin of the hamburger is murky, given people have been hacking up beef and forming it into shapes for many hundreds of years. So yes, there's evidence of ground-meat patties being sold in Hamburg from the mid-19th century, though some also say the name came from the Hamburg America Line, the shipping company that transported German migrants to the US around the same time. The idea of placing that 'Hamburg steak' between two buns took root in the US sometime between 1885 and 1904, though by whom remains a mystery.
The Age
a day ago
- The Age
It's the most ubiquitous dish on the planet, but its origins are murky
The dish: Hamburger, Germany Plate up This might be it: this might be the most ubiquitous dish on the planet. Aliens could land and ask us, 'So what do you guys eat?' And you could reasonably say: burgers. We eat burgers. Everywhere from Chile to China, Germany to Japan, Morocco to Mozambique, we're eating beef patties between buns (thanks in no small part to an American chain restaurant). Not that that is the technical definition of a hamburger. Those not so heavily influenced by Americans know a hamburger as just the patty, the minced beef that's mixed with spices and onions and grilled on a flat-top or flame grill. The rest of us, meanwhile, think of hamburgers as that patty stuffed between two buns, with fillings like cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato sauce, mustard, onions, and if you're in Australia even egg, pineapple or beetroot. This dish has spawned many spin-offs, of course, using everything from chicken to lentils in place of the beef. First serve The clue is in the name, right? It's called a hamburger, so it must come from Hamburg, in Germany. And yes, that could be true. Though, the origin of the hamburger is murky, given people have been hacking up beef and forming it into shapes for many hundreds of years. So yes, there's evidence of ground-meat patties being sold in Hamburg from the mid-19th century, though some also say the name came from the Hamburg America Line, the shipping company that transported German migrants to the US around the same time. The idea of placing that 'Hamburg steak' between two buns took root in the US sometime between 1885 and 1904, though by whom remains a mystery.
