The hamburger as we know it today-a ground beef patty served between slices of bread or a bun-was invented in the United States, though its roots trace back to Hamburg, Germany. The name "hamburger" comes from Hamburg, where minced beef was traditionally prepared as Hamburg steak, a high-quality dish served without bread in the 19th century. German immigrants brought this concept to America, where it evolved into the sandwich form to accommodate workers needing a portable meal
. Several American origin stories claim the invention of the hamburger sandwich:
- Frank and Charles Menches, food vendors at the 1885 Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York, reportedly substituted ground beef for pork sausage and named the sandwich after the fair's location
- Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin, in 1884, flattened meatballs and placed them between bread to make them easier to eat while walking
- Louis Lassen of New Haven, Connecticut, served grilled ground beef between slices of bread in 1900, which his family claims as the original hamburger sandwich
- Oscar Weber Bilby of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is credited by some as the first to serve a hamburger on a yeast bun in 1891
While the exact inventor is debated, the hamburger sandwich’s invention is widely accepted to have occurred in the United States in the late 19th century, inspired by Hamburg steak from Germany but transformed into the portable sandwich form popular today
