Editing Hamburger (section)

==History==
{{main|History of the hamburger|History of the hamburger in the United States}}
[[File:Hamburg steak.jpg|thumb|[[Hamburg steak]] has been known as "[[Frikadelle]]" in Germany since the 17th century.]]
[[File:Oberhafenkantine (Hamburger Rundstück).jpg|thumb|The "Hamburger Rundstück" was popular already in 1869 and is believed to be a precursor to the modern Hamburger.]]
[[File:Cheeseburger at Louis' Lunch, New Haven.jpg|thumb|Cheeseburger (with onions and tomatoes) at Louis' Lunch, New Haven, Connecticut]]

Versions of the meal have been served for over a century, but its origins are still unclear.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VritIGJ5f48C|title=The Story behind the Dish: Classic American Foods: Classic American Foods|last=McWilliams|first=Mark|date=April 6, 2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9780313385100|language=en}}</ref> The 1758 edition of the book ''[[The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy]]'' by [[Hannah Glasse]] included a recipe called "Hamburgh sausage", suggesting that it should be served "roasted with toasted bread under it." A similar snack was also popular in Hamburg under the name of "[[Rundstück warm]]" ("bread roll warm") in 1869 or earlier,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb11005595?page=83|title=Neuester, vollständiger Führer durch Hamburg, Altona und Umgegend : Mit Berücksichtigung von Kiel, Helgoland, Lübeck und Travemünde. Mit vielen lithogr. Abbildungen u. d. neuesten Plane der Stadt|date=1869|website=Bavarian National Library Archives|publisher=J. F. Richter|location=Hamburg|trans-title=Newest, complete guide to Hamburg, Altona and surroundings. [...]|access-date=January 11, 2017}}</ref> and was supposedly eaten by emigrants on their way to America. However, this may have contained roasted beefsteak rather than [[Frikadelle]]. It has alternatively been suggested that Hamburg steak served between two pieces of bread and eaten by Jewish passengers travelling from Hamburg to New York on [[Hamburg America Line]] vessels (which began operations in 1847) became so well known that the shipping company gave its name to the dish.<ref>[[Arthur L. Herman]] in ''Viking Heart'' {{ISBN|978-1328595904}} p 175.</ref> It is not known which of these stories actually marks the invention of the hamburger and explains the name.

There is a reference to a "[[Hamburg steak]]" as early as 1884 in ''[[The Boston Journal]]''.<sup>[OED, under "steak"]</sup> On July 5, 1896, the ''Chicago Daily Tribune'' made a highly specific claim regarding a "hamburger sandwich" in an article about a "Sandwich Car": "A distinguished favorite, only five cents, is Hamburger steak sandwich, the meat for which is kept ready in small patties and 'cooked while you wait' on the gasoline range."<ref name="hamburger1896">{{cite news
| author       =<!--not stated-->
| title        = In a 'Sandwich Car'
| url          = https://chicagotribune.newspapers.com/clip/88784660/hamburger-sandwich-1896/
| work         = [[Chicago Tribune]]
| date         = 5 July 1896
| access-date  = 20 Dec 2022
}}
</ref>

=== Claims of invention ===
The hamburger's origin is unclear, though "hamburger steak sandwiches" have been advertised in U.S. newspapers from New York to Hawaii since at least the 1890s.<ref name="Washington Post" /> The invention of hamburgers is commonly attributed to various people, including Charlie Nagreen, Frank and Charles Menches, Oscar Weber Bilby, Fletcher Davis, or Louis Lassen.<ref name="Origins">Sam Gazdziak (August 1, 2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20130116040038/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-152420803.html "Giving the BURGER its due: the hamburger's origins are somewhat shrouded in mystery, but there is no doubt as to its impact on American dining habits and culture.(Editorial)."] The National Provisioner. BNP Media.</ref><ref name="Origin2">Nancy Ross Ryan (February 6, 1989). [https://web.archive.org/web/20130116040049/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-7049156.html Great American food chronicles: the hamburger. (restaurant marketing)]. Restaurants & Institutions. Reed Business Information, Inc. (US).</ref> [[White Castle (restaurant)|White Castle]] traces the origin of the hamburger to Hamburg, Germany, with its invention by Otto Krause.<ref>Lance Gay Scripps (April 2, 2004). [https://www.deseret.com/2004/4/2/19820803/birth-of-an-icon-hamburger-s-origins-unclear-but-it-became-popular-100-years-ago#the-white-castle-chain-traces-the-hamburgers-ancestry-back-to-a-german-cook-named-otto-kuase "Birth of an icon: Hamburger's origins unclear, but it became popular 100 years ago"]. ''Deseret News'' (Salt Lake City).</ref> Some have pointed to a recipe for "Hamburgh sausages" on toasted bread, published in ''The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy'' by Hannah Glasse in 1758.<ref name="Washington Post" /> Hamburgers gained national recognition in the U.S. at the [[1904 St. Louis World's Fair]] when the ''New York Tribune'' referred to the hamburger as "the innovation of a food vendor on the pike."<ref name="Origin2" /> No conclusive argument has ended the dispute over invention. An article from [[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] sums up: "One problem is that there is little written history. Another issue is that the burger spread happened largely at the World's Fair, from tiny vendors that came and went instantly. And it is entirely possible that more than one person came up with the idea at the same time in different parts of the country."<ref>{{cite web |author1=Berman, John  |author2=Millhon, Drew | url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2856336 | title=A Major Beef! Who Invented the Hamburger? | publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] | date=February 20, 2007 | access-date=May 24, 2014}}</ref>

====Louis Lassen====
Although debunked by ''[[The Washington Post]]'',<ref name="Washington Post">{{Cite news|title=Who invented the hamburger? Biting into the messy history of America's iconic sandwich.|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2021/05/28/hamburger-origin-story/|access-date=2021-12-16|issn=0190-8286}}</ref> a popular myth recorded by Connecticut Congresswoman [[Rosa DeLauro]] stated the first hamburger served in America was by Louis Lassen, a Danish immigrant, after he opened [[Louis' Lunch]] in [[New Haven]] in 1895.<ref name="James">[[Rosa L. DeLauro]] (2000). [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/legacies/CT/200002814.html Louis' Lunch]. the [[Library of Congress]].</ref> Louis' Lunch, a small lunch wagon in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], is said to have sold the first hamburger and [[steak sandwich]] in the U.S. in 1900.<ref>[http://www.americaslibrary.gov/es/ct/es_ct_burger_1.html Louis' Lunch A Local Legacy]. Library of Congress. Americaslibrary.gov. Retrieved on April 21, 2013.</ref><ref>U.S. Library of Congress Folklife Center Local Legacies Project retrieved on April 13, 2009 [http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/legacies/CT/200002814.html Louis' Lunch A Local Legacy]</ref><ref>[http://www.ct.gov/ctportal/cwp/view.asp?a=843&q=246434 About Connecticut]. State of Connecticut official website</ref> ''[[New York Magazine]]'' states that "The dish actually had no name until some rowdy sailors from Hamburg named the meat on a bun after themselves years later", also noting that this claim is subject to dispute.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=New York Magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReQCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA42|title=Roadfood|author1=Jane Stern|author2=Michael Stern |year = 1977  |page=42 |issn=0028-7369}}</ref> A customer ordered a quick hot meal and Louis was out of steaks. Taking ground beef trimmings, Louis made a patty and grilled it, putting it between two slices of toast.<ref name="Origin2"/> Some critics such as Josh Ozersky, a food editor for ''New York Magazine'', claim that this sandwich was not a hamburger because the bread was toasted.<ref name=Beach />

====Charlie Nagreen====
One of the earliest claims comes from [[Charlie Nagreen]], who in 1885 sold a meatball between two slices of bread at the Seymour Fair<ref name=Harmon /> now sometimes called the Outagamie County Fair.<ref name=Beach>Randall Beach (February 3, 2008) [https://web.archive.org/web/20130116040055/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-25510511.html Louis' Lunch has beef with book claiming it didn't invent the hamburger]. ''New Haven Register'' (New Haven, CT). McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.</ref> The Seymour Community Historical Society of [[Seymour, Wisconsin]], credits Nagreen, now known as "Hamburger Charlie", with the invention. Nagreen was 15 when he reportedly sold pork sandwiches at the 1885 Seymour Fair so customers could eat while walking. The Historical Society explains that Nagreen named the hamburger after the Hamburg steak with which local German immigrants were familiar.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.seymourhistory.org/news/?id=35 |title="Hamburger" Charlie Nagreen |publisher=SeymourHistory.org |access-date=September 3, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Myron|last=Heuer |title=The real home of the hamburger |url=http://www.herald-journal.com/archives/1998/columns/mh101298.html |work=Herald & Journal |date=October 12, 1999 |access-date=March 24, 2008 }}</ref><!-- For proof, the Historical Society's website refers to articles posted on http://www.homeofthehamburger.org/history.html, but these establish only that Seymour's first annual fair took place in 1885 Nagreen claimed in 1947 to have invented the hamburger there. -->

====Otto Krause====
According to [[White Castle (restaurant)|White Castle]], Otto Krause was the inventor of the hamburger. In 1891, he created a beef patty cooked in butter and topped with a fried egg. German sailors later omitted the fried egg.<ref name=Origin2 />

====Oscar Weber Bilby====
The family of Oscar Weber Bilby claims the first-known hamburger on a bun was served on July 4, 1891, on Grandpa Oscar's farm. The bun was a yeast bun.<ref>{{cite book|first=Josh|last=Ozersky |title=The Hamburger: A History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MjP0Jf2DGkEC&pg=PT19 |year=2009 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-15125-1 |page=19}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=John T. Edge |title=Hamburgers & Fries: An American Story |url=https://archive.org/details/hamburgersfriesa00edge |url-access=registration |year=2005 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |isbn=978-0-399-15274-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/hamburgersfriesa00edge/page/22 22]}}</ref><ref name="amhistory"/> In 1995, Governor [[Frank Keating]] proclaimed that the first true hamburger on a bun was created and consumed in [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]] in 1891, calling Tulsa, "The Real Birthplace of the Hamburger".<ref>[http://webersrootbeer.net/index.html Welcome To Weber's Superior Root Beer and Grill] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130114150801/http://webersrootbeer.net/index.html |date=January 14, 2013 }}. Webersrootbeer.net (April 13, 1995). Retrieved on April 21, 2013.</ref>

====Frank and Charles Menches====
[[File:NYC-Diner-Bacon-Cheeseburger.jpg|thumb|right|A bacon cheeseburger from a New York City diner]]
Frank and Charles Menches claim to have sold a ground beef sandwich at the Erie County Fair in 1885 in [[Hamburg, New York]].<ref name=Beach /> During the fair, they ran out of pork sausage for their sandwiches and substituted beef.<ref name=Harmon /> The brothers exhausted their supply of sausage, so they purchased chopped-up beef from a butcher, Andrew Klein. Historian Joseph Streamer wrote that the meat was from Stein's market, not Klein's, despite Stein's having sold the market in 1874.<ref name=Harmon /> The story notes that the name of the hamburger comes from Hamburg, New York, not Hamburg, Germany.<ref name=Harmon /> Frank Menches's obituary in ''[[The New York Times]]'' states that these events took place at the 1892 Summit County Fair in [[Akron, Ohio]].<ref>"Obituary: Charles Menches." The New York Times. October 5, 1951.</ref>

====Fletcher Davis====
Fletcher Davis of [[Athens, Texas]] claimed to have invented the hamburger. According to oral histories, in the 1880s, he opened a lunch counter in Athens and served a 'burger' of fried ground beef patties with mustard and Bermuda onion between two slices of bread, with a pickle on the side.<ref name="Origin2"/> The story is that in 1904, Davis and his wife Ciddy ran a sandwich stand at the St. Louis World's Fair.<ref name="Origin2"/> Historian Frank X. Tolbert noted that Athens resident Clint Murchison said his grandfather dated the hamburger to the 1880s with Fletcher "Old Dave" Davis.<ref name=Harmon>John E. Harmon [http://web.ccsu.edu/faculty/harmonj/atlas/atlasf.html "The Better Burger Battle"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130606114631/http://web.ccsu.edu/faculty/harmonj/atlas/atlasf.html |date=June 6, 2013 }}, in ''Atlas of Popular Culture in the Northeastern United States''.</ref> A photo of "Old Dave's Hamburger Stand" from 1904 was sent to Tolbert as evidence of the claim.<ref name=Harmon />

====Other hamburger-steak claims====
Various non-specific claims of the invention relate to the term "hamburger steak" without mention of its being a sandwich. The first printed American menu listing hamburgers is an 1834 menu from [[Delmonico's]] in New York.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Louis E. |last1=Grivetti |first2=Jan L. |last2=Corlett |first3=Bertram M. |last3=Gordon |first4=Cassius T. |last4=Lockett |date=January–February 2004 |title=Food in American History, Part 6-Beef (Part 1): Reconstruction and Growth Into the 20th Century (1865–1910) |journal=Nutrition Today |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=18–25 |pmid=15076706 |doi=10.1097/00017285-200401000-00006|issn=0029-666X}}</ref> However, the printer of the original menu was not in business in 1834.<ref name="amhistory">{{cite web|url=http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/HamburgerHistory.htm|title=What's cooking America: History of the Hamburger|first=Matthew|last=Preusch|date=October 26, 2007 }}</ref> In 1889, a menu from Walla Walla Union in Washington offered hamburger steak as a menu item.<ref name="Origin2"/>

Between 1871 and 1884, "Hamburg Beefsteak" was on the "Breakfast and Supper Menu" of the Clipper Restaurant at 311/313 Pacific Street in [[San Fernando, California]]. It cost 10 cents—the same price as mutton chops, pig's feet in batter, and stewed veal. It was not, however, on the dinner menu. Only "Pig's Head", "Calf Tongue", and "Stewed Kidneys" were listed.<ref>Roger M. Grace (January 15, 2004). [http://www.metnews.com/articles/2004/reminiscing011504.htm Old Menus Tell the History of Hamburgers in L.A.] metnews.com.</ref> Another claim ties the hamburger to Summit County, New York, or Ohio. Summit County, Ohio, exists, but Summit County, New York, does not.<ref name=Harmon />

===Early major vendors===
{{See also|White Castle (restaurant)#History|l1=History of White Castle|History of McDonald's}}
[[File:McD_Big_Mac.png|thumb|right|[[McDonald's]] [[Big Mac]]]]
* 1921: [[White Castle (restaurant)|White Castle]], [[Wichita, Kansas]]. Due to books by Upton Sinclair and Arthur Kallet discrediting the cleanliness and nutritional value of ground beef, hamburger meat was unpopular with families until the White Castle restaurant chain took it upon themselves to market the cleanliness and quality of their food through scientific studies and preparing the food in full view of customers with spotlessly clean buildings. They also reported in local newspapers how they carefully selected their meat, and opened the "Food Experiment Department" as a test kitchen and quality-control laboratory.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hogan |first=David Gerard |year=1997 |title=Selling 'Em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PT6s4ZbznHMC&q=Samuel+V.+Blair+Kewpee&pg=PA50 |edition=1st |publisher=NYU Press |pages=52–55 |isbn=978-0814735671 |access-date=June 4, 2008}}</ref> They marketed and sold large numbers of small {{convert|2+1/2|in|mm|order=flip|round=5|abbr=on}} square hamburger sandwiches, known as sliders and created five holes in each patty, which helped them cook evenly and eliminated the need to flip the burger. In 1995, White Castle began selling frozen hamburgers in convenience stores and vending machines.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.answers.com/topic/white-castle-system-inc | title=Hoover's Company Profiles: White Castle System, Inc.|publisher=[[Answers.com]]}}</ref>
* 1923: [[Kewpee Hamburgers]], or Kewpee Hotels, [[Flint, Michigan]]. Kewpee was the second hamburger chain and peaked at 400 locations before [[World War II]]. Many of these were licensed but not strictly franchised. Many closed during WWII. Between 1955 and 1967, another wave of restaurants closed or changed names. In 1967, the Kewpee licensor moved the company to a franchise system. Currently, only five locations exist.
* 1926: [[White Tower Hamburgers]]
* 1927: [[Little Tavern]]
* 1932: [[Krystal (restaurant)|Krystal]]<ref name="SBS">{{cite book |last=Hogan |first=David Gerard |year=1997 |title=Selling 'Em by the Sack: White Castle and the Creation of American Food |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PT6s4ZbznHMC&q=Samuel+V.+Blair+Kewpee&pg=PA50 |edition=1st |publisher=NYU Press |pages=52–55 |isbn=978-0814735671 |access-date=June 4, 2008}}</ref>
* 1936: [[Big Boy Restaurants|Big Boy]]. In 1937, Bob Wian created the double-deck hamburger at his stand in Glendale, California. Big Boy would become the name of the hamburger, mascot, and restaurant. Big Boy expanded nationally through regional franchising and subfranchising. Primarily operating as drive-in restaurants in the 1950s, interior dining gradually replaced curb service by the early 1970s. Many franchises have closed or operated independently, but the Big Boy double-deck hamburger remains the signature item at the remaining American restaurants.
* 1940: [[McDonald's]] restaurant, [[San Bernardino, California]], was opened by [[Richard and Maurice McDonald]]. Their introduction of the "[[Speedee|Speedee Service System]]" in 1948 established the principles of the modern [[fast-food restaurant]]. The McDonald brothers began franchising in 1953. In 1961, [[Ray Kroc]] (the supplier of their multi-mixer milkshake machines) purchased the company from the brothers for $2.7 million and a 1.9% royalty.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1984/01/15/mcdonalds-chief-ray-kroc-dies/5c5007d4-9cad-4fad-8a7f-08b8a785a33b/|title=Ray Kroc Dies - McDonald's company history|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>