No lag in beef sales was reported across the country, even though the contaminated hamburger sickened more than a dozen people in Colorado. Of course, many years of warnings about cholesterol haven't pushed McDonald's or Burger King out of business, either. Especially when you're a teen-ager. You get a burger. The hamburger's roots can be traced back to the tribes of Tartary living in the Baltic provinces in the Middle Ages.
Stories vary on just how the Hamburg steak evolved into the present-day hamburger.
Some credit Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wis., with inventing it in 1885 and selling it at the Outagamie County Fair. Others say Louis Lassen of New Haven, Conn., created the hamburger steak in 1900 as a means for using the trimmings from the steak sandwich he featured at his lunch wagon. In any case, the hamburger as we know it today gained widespread attention at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Mo., where it was said to be all the rage. It's just something that's not too difficult. Ross, the man who managed the Lincoln drive-in, says burgers are relaxing food.