The invention of the hamburger is attributed to several different people, and its precise origin is unclear, with multiple claims from the late 19th to early 20th century. Key contenders for the invention of the hamburger include:
- Charlie Nagreen from Wisconsin, who in 1885 reportedly flattened a meatball and placed it between two slices of bread for easier eating at a fair.
- Louis Lassen, a Danish immigrant in New Haven, Connecticut, who in 1900 is said to have invented the hamburger by putting a beef patty between two slices of bread with cheese and condiments.
- Oscar Weber Bilby from Oklahoma, who is claimed to have served the first hamburger on a yeast bun in 1891.
- Frank and Charles Menches, who claimed to have sold a ground beef sandwich at a fair in 1885 after running out of pork sausage.
The hamburger's name is linked to Hamburg, Germany, where a dish called "Hamburg steak" (minced beef served as a patty) was popular, brought to the US by German immigrants. The modern hamburger took shape mainly in the United States by early 1900s, becoming a staple of American food culture. Despite several claims, no single inventor is conclusively credited with inventing the hamburger, as it likely evolved simultaneously among several people.
