History of the hamburger

Originally just aground beefpatty, as it is still interpreted in multiple languages,the first hamburger likely originated inHamburg, hence its name;however,evidence also suggeststhat theUnited Statesmay have later been the first country where two slices of bread and aground beefpatty were combined into a "hamburger sandwich" and sold as such. Shortly after this combination, the hamburger quickly included all of its currently typically characteristic trimmings, including onions, lettuce, and slicedpickles.
There is still some controversy over the origin of the hamburger – mainly because its two basic ingredients, bread and beef, have been prepared and consumed separately for many years in many countries before their combination. However, after various controversies in the 20th century, including a nutritional controversy in the late 1990s, the burger is now readily identified with the United States, and a particular style of cuisine, namelyfast food.Along withfried chickenandapple pie, the hamburger has become a culinary icon in the United States.
The hamburger's international popularity is the result of the largerglobalizationof foodthat also includes the rise in global popularity of other national dishes, including the Italianpizza, Chinesefried riceand Japanesesushi. The hamburger has spread from continent to continent, perhaps because it matches familiar elements in different culinary cultures.This global culinary culture has been produced, in part, by the concept of selling processed food, first launched in the 1920s by theWhite Castlerestaurant chain and its founder Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram and then refined byMcDonald'sin the 1940sThis global expansion provides economic points of comparison like theBig Mac Index,by which one can compare the purchasing power of different countries where theBig Machamburger is sold.
Apiciusdescribes a ground meat dish, isicia omentata, which consists of chopped meat wrapped incaul fatand sauteed in a reduction of grape juice.
Another precursor to the hamburger issteak tartare, a seasoned ground beef patty served raw.It is not known when the first restaurant recipe forsteak tartareappeared.While not providing a clear name, the first description of steak tartare was given byJules Vernein 1875 in his novelMichael Strogoff. There are certain similarities between steak tartare and the German dishesLabskausandMett.
Other similar raw, chopped meats appeared in the 20th century. One of the oldest references to a Hamburgh [sic] Sausage appeared in 1763 inHannah Glasse'sArt of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy. Hamburgh Sausage is made with minced meat and a variety of spices, includingnutmeg,cloves,black pepper, garlic, and salt, and is typically served withtoast. Other dishes are also made with minced meat, such asmeatloaf,theSerbianpljeskavica, the Arabkofta, andmeatballs.
The wordsandwichwas not recorded until the 18th century. Many cultures claim invention of the sandwich, but it was given its name around the year 1765 in honor of the English aristocratJohn Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, who preferred to eat sandwiches so he could play cards without soiling his fingers.In 1840 Elizabeth Leslie Cook included a sandwich recipe in her cookbook and it appeared in the localcuisine of the United States.
Minced meat was a delicacy inmedieval cuisine,red meatusually being restricted to the higher classes.Very littlemincingwas done by medieval butchers or recorded in thecookbooksof the time, perhaps because it was not part of thesausage-making process that preserves meat.
During the first half of the 19th century, most European emigrants to theNew Worldembarked from Hamburg, and New York City was their most common destination. Restaurants in New York offeredHamburg-style American fillet,or evenbeefsteak à la Hambourgeoise.  Early American preparations of minced beef were therefore made to fit the tastes of European immigrants, evoking memories of the port of Hamburg and the world they left behind.
In the late 19th century, theHamburg steakbecame popular on the menus of many restaurants in theport of New York. This might consist of a fried patty of chopped beef, eggs, onions, and seasoning,or it might be lightly salted and often smoked, and served raw in a dish along with onions andbread crumbs.The oldest document that refers to the Hamburg steak is aDelmonico's Restaurantmenu from 1873 which offered customers an 11-cent plate of Hamburg steak that had been developed by American chefCharles Ranhofer(1836–1899). This price was high for the time, twice the price of a simple fillet of beef steak.However, by the end of the century the Hamburg steak was gaining popularity because of its ease of preparation decreasing cost. This is evident from its detailed description in some of the most popular cookbooks of the day.Documents show that this preparation style was used by 1887 in some U.S. restaurants and was also used for feeding patients in hospitals; the Hamburg steak was served raw or lightly cooked and was accompanied by a rawegg.
The menus of many American restaurants during the 19th century included a Hamburg beefsteak that was often sold for breakfast.A variant of Hamburg steak is theSalisbury steak, which is usually served with agravysimilar in texture tobrown sauce. Invented by Dr.James Salisbury(1823–1905), the termSalisbury steakhas been used in the United States since 1897.Nowadays, in the city of Hamburg as well as in parts ofnorthern Germany, this type dish is calledFrikadelle, Frikandelle, or Bulette, which is similar to the meatball. The termhamburger steakwas replaced byhamburgerby 1930, which has in turn been somewhat displaced by the simpler term,burger.The latter term is now commonly used as a suffix to create new words for different variants of the hamburger, includingcheeseburger,porkburger,baconburgerandmooseburger. There are other foods with names derived from German cities that are shortened in different ways inAmerican English. An example is thefrankfurter, often abbreviated asfrank.
Many recipes and dishes traveled along with transatlantic immigrants to their destinations in the New World. Some authors question whether theHamburg America Linewas part of this, arguing that the hamburger was created to meet needs that arose amongst immigrants already in the New World.Others, however, support the thesis that the Hamburg America Line brought the first Hamburger steaks from Europe to the Americas.The hamburger as it is known today has multiple invention claims ranging between 1885 and 1904, but it is well established by the early 20th century.During the following 100 years, the hamburger spread throughout the world as a result of the emerging concept of fast food and a new business model: thefranchise.
The industrial use of mechanical meat shredding was the technical advance that helped popularize the Hamburg steak. The firstmeat grinderwas invented in the early 19th century by the German engineerKarl Drais. The machine made it possible for minced meat to be sold at market in large quantities at reasonable prices. By 1845, numerous patents existed for improved meat grinders in the United States.These machines could all shred meat to sizes before unimaginable. Before this, minced meat was prepared by hand at home using specializedchisels, intensive manual labor that severely limited the amount that could be produced.It is very likely that the invention of the meat grinder contributed directly to the popularization of Hamburg steak, while the steak gradually became distant from its German roots in the minds of many Americans.Minced meat also came to be used in other popular American foods, includinghot dogsandmeatloaf.
Another development facilitating the invention and popularization of the proto-hamburger was the increased production of beef through livestock intensification. By the late 19th century, an increasing amount of land was being devoted to cattle and a growing number of people being employed ascowboys, resulting in the United States becoming one of the world's largest producers and consumers of beef.The 1880s were declaredThe Golden Age of Beef, during which the abundance of rural beef production made vital its transportation by rail from agricultural to urban areas. This gave rise to various methods of meat preservation for making possible the consumption of fresh meat in urban and industrialized areas, among therefrigerator carsand different methods of packaging meat (such ascorned beef), which were promoted by industrialists likeGustavus Swift(1839–1903). Around this time, the city of Chicago, along with other cities on theEast Coast, became a focal point for the large-scale processing of beef. Beef was already inexpensive at that time, and it was available to the working class. This put the Hamburg steak within reach of the vast majority of the population, giving rise to what some authors jokingly call the "American beef dream".In this era, the number ofsteakhousesthat specialized in serving steaks increased markedly; some restaurants even served steak along with seafood, in a dish known asSurf and turf.
The high production and consumption of beef cattle in the United States made themeat industryincreasingly powerful by the end of the 19th century.Corruptionproblems soon arose in the meat industry, problems that endangered both quality and hygiene. At the beginning of the 20th century,Upton SinclairpublishedThe Jungle, a novel about conspiracies and corruption in the American meat industry, intended as a veiled criticism of the industry itself. The book raised popular awareness about the safety of meat processing and helped lead to the creation of thePure Food and Drug Act, which was sponsored by theFood and Drug Administration.The Junglewas a milestone in the subsequent history of the hamburger, as it led the American public to force restaurant chains to prove the safety of their cooked meat.In 1933, Arthur Kallett published a similar book, entitled100 million guinea pigs; Dangers in Everyday foods, drugs, and cosmetics, which warned consumers specifically about the contentpreservativesin hamburgers.
Many people have claimed to have invented the hamburger as a sandwich of a ground beef patty placed between two slices of bread. All claims for invention occur between 1885 and 1904, making it probable that the hamburger was created sometime in these two decades. Despite varieties, common elements in these narratives include the claim that the hamburger was born as a food associated with major events such asamusement parks,fairs,conferences, and festivals. These hypotheses also often share the presence ofstreet vendors.
James A. Cockrell, editor of theSt. Louis Globe-Democratstates that:
One of the first "birth of the burger" stories belongs to Canton, Ohio, natives Frank and Charles Menches who were food vendors at the 1885 Erie County Fair outside of Buffalo, New York, also known as the Hamburg Fair. According to this story, during the Fair the Menches ran out of their signature menu item of pork sausage sandwiches. Their local supplier, butcher Andrew Klein, was reluctant to butcher more hogs during a period of unseasonable late summer heat and suggested to substitute the use of ground beef.  The brothers fired some up, but both found it dry and bland. They added coffee, brown sugar and other ingredients to create a unique taste. The original sandwiches were sold with just ketchup and sliced onions. With new found success with their beef sandwich, they named it the "hamburger" after the Erie County Fair's home town ofHamburg, New York. "National Birth of the Burger Day" is celebrated on September 18 to honor the invention of the burger in 1885 at the Hamburg Fair. In the 1920s, carnival historian John C. Kunzog interviewed Frank Menches about his experience at the Erie County Fair. His detailed hamburger story was published in this book,Tanbark & Tinselpublished in 1970.
Another possible inventor of the hamburger isCharlie Nagreen(1871–1951) ofSeymour, Wisconsin, who at the age of 15 sold Hamburg steaks from a street stall at the annual Outagamie County Fair. Nagreen said he began by selling Hamburg steaks, but these did not have much success because people wanted to freely move around the festival without the need to eat them at his stand. In response to this, in 1885 Nagreen decided to flatten the hamburger steak and insert it between two slices of bread, so that the public could move freely from booth to booth while eating his sandwich, an innovation that was well received by his customers.This became known as the "Hamburger Charlie", and Nagreen's creation was sold at the festival until his death in 1951. To this day, his accomplishment is celebrated annually with a "Burger Fest" in his honor in his hometown of Seymour.
Another alleged inventor of the hamburger is the cook Fletcher Davis (better known as "Old Dave"), who claimed to have had the idea of putting ground beef between two pieces of Texas Toast when one of his customers was in too much of a hurry to sit down for a meal. The customer walked away with his Hamburger Steak and seemed so content that Old Dave offered his new carryout meal as a staple menu item at the end of 1880 inAthens, Texas. Fletcher had a stall with his wife at theSt. Louis World's Fairof 1904. Texan journalistFrank X. Tolbertmentions a salesman named Fletcher Davis who served hamburgers in a café at 115 Tyler Street in Athens during the late 1880s.The locals claim that Davis was selling beef sandwiches during that time, without having a clear name for his invention. During the 1980s, theDairy Queenice creamchain filmed a documentary about the birthplace of the hamburger featuring Davis' story. The story of "Old Dave's Hamburger Sandwich" is also found mentioned in Ronald L. McDonald's bookThe Complete Hamburger.
There are many additional claims as to the origin of the hamburger. Some enthusiasts claim the hamburger could have been created in São Gonçalo, a municipality located in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, in the 18th century by a Chef named Sauerbrown "Little" Victor, but this claim has no supporting evidence to back the opinion. A local newspaper claims that Louis Lassen, a Danish immigrant who arrived in America in 1880, sold butter and eggs as a street vendor. In 1974, in aninterviewwithThe New York Times, he recounted how he created a hamburger steak sandwich with small strips of beef for a restaurant known asLouis' LunchinNew Haven, Connecticut. Lassen's family claims 1900 as the year of his invention. Revealed in a public confrontation between the grandson of Louis, Kenneth Davis Lassen Fletch, and his uncle, documentation signed under notary in 1900 demonstrates the development of the hamburger, as it stresses the difference between a "hamburger steak" and a "hamburger sandwich".Louis' Lunch flame broils the hamburgers in the original verticalcast irongas stovesmanufactured by the Bridge and Beach, Co.,St. Louis, Missouri, in 1898. The stoves use hinged steel wiregridironsto hold the hamburgers in place while theycooksimultaneously on both sides. The gridirons were made by Luigi Pieragostini and patented in 1938.
Hamburg steak, once served between two slices of bread, began to be prepared with a variety of different ingredients that were included either in the sandwich itself or as a side dish accompanying it on a plate. One of these accompaniments, which is still common with today's burger, isketchup, a type oftomato saucewith a blend offlavorsbetweensweetandsourthat was first produced commercially in 1869 by entrepreneur and chefHenry John HeinzinSharpsburg, Pennsylvania. His company was originally called theAnchor Pickle and Vinegar Works, but in 1888 it was renamedF. & J. Heinz.The use of ketchup by American consumers grew quickly after this date, and it was not long before hamburgers were almost universally accompanied by ketchup by the end of the nineteenth and into the early 20th century.Mustardis a significantly oldercondiment, as it is thought that theancient Romansused a dressing made with non-fermented grapes andgrape seedsknown as "mustum ardens".Another ingredient incorporated into the burger,mayonnaise, appears to have been present in 18th century France, after the naval victory ofLouis-François-Armand du Plessis de Richelieuin the port ofMahóninMenorcaaround 1756.
Among the vegetables that come with the hamburger, the first described in the literature on its history is the onion, usually finely sliced in rings.Thus, the hamburger came to continue the long American tradition of sandwiches featuring some kind of plant product, whether that be lettuce (as in the case of theBLT sandwich),sauerkraut(as on thereuben),coleslaw, orpickles. It is possible that after the creation of the hamburger by uniting the steak with the bread, vegetables were included to give the finished product a more "natural" appearance and taste.All of these condiments were incorporated into the classical image of the hamburger during its golden age, the 1940s.In some cases, the hamburger is prepared differently and distinctly to add regional flavor, as in the case ofTex-Mexstyle burgers, which are served with a side ofchili con carne.
French frieswere invented in either France or Belgium.French fries were introduced as asnackin American cafés by the early 20th century,but they did not become popular until World War II-era rationing made them an inexpensive and easily available menu item.Initially, however, there were safety concerns raised over the fries and the kitchens in which they were prepared, leading some companies, such asWhite Castle, to remove them from their menus until the 1950s.The improvements inpotato freezingtechnology made byJ.R. SimplotofIdaho CityandMcDonald'sin the 1960s aided the large scale production of French fries. Previously, the frozen potatoes lost some of their flavor during frying, but new processes avoided this inconvenience, partly thanks to the use of a mixture of cowtallowandsoybean oil.
At the end of the 19th century, a new generation ofcolaemerged, a beverage that would soon join beer as the most traditional drinks served alongside the hamburger. The first recipe forCoca-Colawas invented in 1885 inColumbus, Georgia, by grocerJohn Pemberton.Originally calledcoca wine(the trademark was "Pemberton's French Wine Coca"), it may have been inspired by the formidable success ofVin Mariani, a European coca wine. In the late 19th century, it was sold as abottledsoft drinkin most of the United States. In the early 20th century, another beverage,Pepsi, was created bypharmacistCaleb Bradhamand quickly came to rival the sales of Coca-Cola.Strategic alliancesbetween large burger restaurant chains and these two soft drink companies greatly increased the beverages' availability to the general public.
The dawn of the 20th century witnessed the need to provide food for people living in highly productive urban centers with high population densities. Food also had to be economically affordable for the working class in order for them to maintain theirlaborand industrial production. The burger was born in a time when people needed to eat both "fast" and "cheap".Technological advances in the field offood preservation, as well as improvements in agricultural production and transportation, made it possible for hamburgers to be a practical choice of food for urban dwellers since their very creation. Thesocio-economicenvironment of the United States at the time of the burger's rise to popularity coincided with the end of World War I and the beginning of theGreat Depressionof 1929. This environment was particularly favorable for fostering inexpensive food, which was one reason why five-cent hamburgers were so popular. After its invention during the first decade of the 20th century, the hamburger came to be marketed on a large scale, after "visionaries" realized that it would benefit greatly from a mass production process.
The first automobileproduction linewas created byKarl Benzin Germany in 1888. The widespread appearance of telephones occurred at the beginning of the 20th century, along with other modern means of communication, including radio. For the average American who had not eaten in a restaurant in his or her entire life,the fast food chains that appeared in the cities offered an alternative form of restaurant in which eating was very much a public activity. The concept of a "greasy spoon" was thus born with these restaurants, in whichhygienesuffered in exchange for more inexpensive food. On the other hand, there was a growinginterconnectedworld in which trips by car, bus, and rail became increasingly available. All these means of transport were improving at the time, and soon it was necessary to feed a growing population that was "in permanent transit", frequently moving through different citieson business.George Pullmaninvented thesleeping carand thedining carin response to the needs of these people in the 1870s. Similarly, the English immigrantFrederick Henry Harveywas the first to use "dynamic mass movement" in restoring theFred Harvey Company, which catered to the patrons of a chain of hotels located near railway stations, as well as offering catering, services, and high quality products on the trains themselves.
Contemporary American society also witnessed the creation of new fast foods that originated from the traditional cuisine of various ethnic groups from around the world. For example,German immigrantCharles Feltman invented thehot dogin 1867 in his stall inConey Island, New York by pairing afrankfurterwith a bread bun.Imitators such as Harry Magley and Charles Stevens soon began selling hot dogs atNew York Polo Groundsbaseball games. Similarly,Italian immigrantssoldice creamfrom vending carts in the streets or pasta at their restaurants.Chinese immigrantsinitially opened restaurants to cater to their fellow Chinese-Americans, but they gradually became accepted by the American clientele, sometimes resulting in truly Chinese-American cuisine such aschop suey. In this diverse world of ethnic foods, the hamburger was able to rise to mainstream popularity and become a national food of the United States.
On November 16, 1916, chef and entrepreneur Walter "Walt" Anderson opened a hamburger stand inWichita, Kansas, that used hygienic cooking methods, includinggrillsandspatulas, and impressed his Wichita customers so much that many would become regular patrons. At this time, the hamburger was still not widely known by the American public. Anderson addedonion ringsto the burgers while they grilled, giving them a distinctive flavor.As demand increased, customers often bought his hamburgers by thedozen, giving rise to the company's subsequently popularslogan: "buy 'em by the sack". Despite some growth, Anderson had opened only four stands in the busiest areas of the city. In 1926, Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram collaborated with Anderson to open the firstWhite Castle restaurantin Wichita. The restaurant was founded on the idea of cooking a hamburger quickly, giving it the honor of being the firstfast food restaurant.
Ingram soon realized that the wordburgerevoked connotations ofcircusperformances at livestock markets and greasy pieces of meat eaten in the poorest districts of the city in the collective mind of the American public. He tried to change those connotations from White Castle's earliest days. At the same time, he became known to some as theHenry Fordof the hamburger,while inventing a restaurant concept he called the "White Castle System", which helped the hamburger achieve fame.Between 1923 and 1931, the "White Castle System" established almost a hundred restaurants in cities throughout theMidwestern United States. In order to raise awareness among White Castle employees, anewsletterentitled "The hot hamburger" was circulated throughout the company, which challenged the employees to improve the sale of the burgers with a simple idea: to be able to prepare burgers rapidly so anyone could purchase and eat them anytime and anywhere. Instead of waiting for half an hour to be served at a traditional restaurant, the White Castle System provided rapid service and a menu centered around the hamburger. At the time, the hamburger was typically served with coffee.Upton Sinclair'sThe Junglehad already caused public outrage over the safety of processed meat, so by the 1920s, the general public had come to expect a clean and hygienic hamburger. In addition to offering clean and safe food, White Castle offered regularity and standardization, ensuring that each patty was served in the same manner in each restaurant. At the time, this was an entirely novel idea that would revolutionize the sale of food itself with a style that would come to be known as fast food.During its early years, White Castle emphasized providing quality coffee, and collaborated with universities to publish studies on the nutritional quality of their hamburgers.
The success of the White Castle chain was rooted largely in the power of propaganda, something that was both an original innovation and necessary to change the public's negative perception of the hamburger.In 1931, it became the first restaurant toadvertise in newspapers, using its old "buy 'em by the sack" slogan. White Castle also pioneered the concept oftake-outservice, and the restaurant is further known for being the first to market square burgers, called "sliders", which were sold for five cents into the 1940s.White Castle was founded in March 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, by Billy Ingram and his business partner, the cook Walter Anderson, and they opened a second restaurant inKansas Cityin 1924. In 1932, White Castle created its first subsidiary: Paperlynen Company, which provided thecartonsandwrapping paperthat the food was served in, as well as the hats worn by the kitchen staff. It acquiredporcelaincompanies in a similar fashion, placing them in charge of building small White Castle restaurants using white porcelain facades.
Walter Anderson contributed a number of novel ideas to White Castle during its early years, including the creation of a specialspatulaand a special bread for the burgers. In 1947, an employee named Earl Howell calculated the amount of time that it took to break hamburgers apart in a presentable fashion, eventually leading him to create theperforatedburger.By 1951, White Castle had incorporated five perforations into its burgers.Before Anderson, hamburgers were cooked on a grill for an indefinite period of time and minced meat balls were "crushed" into conventionalslices of bread, like a sandwich. The meat was frozen and hamburgers came to be cooked from frozen, instead of using fresh meat. White Castle revolutionized the burger-making process by regularizing the finished products and using hygienic preparation techniques that were in clear view of the customers.
White Castle had a very large progression of sales, and its success was such, that by 1926, it had already generated competitors andimitatorsin the emerging hamburger business. One of these imitators also had a highly similar name,White Tower HamburgersofMilwaukee,Wisconsin, founded by the father and son tandem of John E. and Thomas E. Saxe. The creation of White Tower led to numerous legal battles between it and White Castle during the 1930s. By 1930, White Castle already had 116 restaurants spread over a distance of 2,300 kilometres (1,400 mi), all of which were located within the United States. [1] The company eventually became a large restaurant chain, however, there has never been a restaurant outside of the United States.The Americanshortageof beef during World War II had little effect on sales across White Castle, due to the effect ofvertical integrationalong with the appearance of fast food chains that operated on afranchisemodel that emphasizedhorizontal integration.
In 1937, Patrick McDonald and his two sonsRichard and Mauriceinaugurated the simple restaurant "Airdrome" on Huntington Drive (Route 66) near the airport in the American city ofMonrovia, California. The success of its sales eventually led to the May 15, 1940, opening of a restaurant namedMcDonald'salongU.S. Route 66inSan Bernardino, California. After analyzing their sales, the brothers discovered that, to their surprise, 80% of theirrevenuewas coming from selling hamburgers.The menu initially featured 25 different dishes, the majority of which werebarbecued. Through their new restaurant, the McDonald brothers introduced the notion of fast food to parts of the Western United States by 1948. From the beginning, McDonald's focused on making hot dogs and hamburgers as efficiently and quickly as possible.During the 1940s, simple and formative concepts took root at McDonald's, including the preparation and service of burgers in just one minute and the ability for customers to eat in their own cars in adrive-instyle. All the while, the restaurant was trying to further develop a hamburger that was inexpensive enough to be within the economic reach of most Americans. By the 1950s, the concept of drive-in style service had become firmly established and hamburgers and cars had become closely connected in the minds of many Americans. It was now not only possible for a customer to purchase a hamburger without getting out of a car, and a customer also no longer needed to wait to be served.The McDonald brothers built upon the achievements of their original San Bernardino restaurant when in 1953 they began franchising their now famous chain restaurants, starting inPhoenix, Arizona, andDowney, California(the latter of which isstill in operation). Later,Ray Krocopened one in the northwest Chicago suburb ofDes Plaines, Illinoison April 15, 1955, which has now been converted into theMcDonald's Museum.It is noteworthy that the original McDonald'smascotwas a hamburger faced cook called "Speedee" that would serve as the iconographic identity of the company until being replaced by the clownRonald McDonaldin 1963.
The McDonald brothers intensively studied the existing kitchen protocol of their restaurants in an effort to improve them. They looked at different options that could increase the speed of cooking hamburgers, designing and patenting specialgrillsthat had a higher output, made theircutleryand otherkitchen utensilsdisposable, and introduceddishwashersthat reduced the costs of water, soap, andlabor. The brothers also created a detailed system for operating each kitchen throughout the franchise in a similar and largely standardized manner, as well as recruiting adolescents as employees in the kitchens.
The company began to expand at a much faster rate when 52-year-old ice cream machinery salesmanRay Kroctook over as its chief executive.Kroc was the initiator of both McDonald's expansion across the United States and the definitive standardization of its burgers. He was not alone, however, as some of his co-workers were also very productive and innovative. McDonald's executive andfood scientistHerb Petersoninvented theMcMuffinin 1972 and also the now famous greeting, "May I have your order, please?". In another key development,Jim Delligattiof thePittsburghfranchise invented theBig Macin 1967. The McDonald's successful expansion was mainly due to its use of the franchise system, an innovation borrowed from a sewing machine manufacturer, theSinger Corporation. Singer had developed it during the late 19th century, and it was so successful that it was soon adopted by its competitors.Nowadays, McDonald's even has its own university for training its staff:Hamburger University, located inOak Brook, Illinois. Graduates receive a degree entitled "bachelor of hamburgerology with a minor in French fries".As McDonald's expanded into other countries, it encountered more opposition and general difficulties, as was the case in 1996 when it opened a restaurant in New Delhi amid outcry from Indian leaders.In 1995, the country with the most McDonald's restaurants (aside from the United States) was Japan, followed by Canada and Germany, while the company itself had restaurants in more than 100 countries.Throughout its history, the company has become a symbol ofglobalizationandWestern culture, sometimes resulting in it being the subject ofangerand protests in various parts of the world.
Many different variants of the hamburger have been created over the years, some of which have become very popular. Much of this diversity has been the product of other restaurant chains that have tried to reproduce the success of McDonald's and White Castle, while others served to influence McDonald's. An example of a restaurant that influenced McDonald's and its imitators isBig Boy, which was first opened in 1936 byBob WianinGlendale, California, and became known in that locale asBob's Big Boy.It was at this restaurant that a major hamburger variant, the double deck cheeseburger, with two beef patties, was first made. Wian's creation was distinctively served by Big Boy restaurants with the bun sliced twice, the center slice—known as the club section—separating the two patties. The chain also popularized the drive-in restaurant format, taken and simplified by McDonald's type fast food operators. By the 1960s, Big Boy had expanded throughout the United States and Canada. Despite the benefits it provided to Wian, the chain was sold along with the rights to their signature Big Boy hamburger to theMarriott Corporationin 1967. This same year McDonald's franchisee Jim Delligatti, created an imitation of the Big Boy — the Big Mac.An example of the many McDonald's and White Castle imitators isKewpee Hamburgers, a fast-food chain founded in 1923 inFlint, Michigan, by Samuel V. Blair as "Kewpee Hotel Hamburgs."
As with the invention of the hamburger, the exact origins of thecheeseburgerare unknown. Several chefs claim to have been the first to add a slice of cheese to a hamburger.Lionel Sternbergerof Rite Spot inPasadena, California, takes credit for the cheeseburger, claiming that he invented it between 1924 and 1926.A description from a 1928 menu from theO'Dell Restaurantin Los Angeles reveals that it was serving burgers with slices of cheese at the time.Luis Ballast, owner of the Humpty Dumpty drive-in restaurant inDenver, Colorado, made an attempt to create a cheeseburger with aregistered trademarkknown as a "yellowburger" in 1935. J.C. Reynolds, the operator of a bar inSouthern Californiafrom 1932 to 1984, popularized apimentoburger.Processed cheese, the type of cheese most used in cheeseburgers, was invented in 1911 by Walter Gerber ofThun, Switzerland, although the first U.S. patent awarded for it was given toJames L. Kraftin 1916.Kraft Foodswent on to create the first commercial version of sliced processed cheese, which was first introduced to the market in 1950.
After World War II, a number of hamburger restaurants known as InstaBurger King (laterBurger King) began emerging, the first of which was opened on December 4, 1954, in a suburb of Miami, Florida. It was established byJames McLamoreandDavid Edgerton, both of whom were students at theCornell University School of Hotel Administration.McLamore had visited the original McDonald's in San Bernardino, California, when it was still owned by the McDonald brothers, and saw the potential that existed for themass productionof hamburgers. He was so inspired by this visit that he decided to create a similar burger chain himself. By 1959, Burger King already had five restaurants inmetropolitan Miami, and its early success prompted McLamore and Edgerton to expand throughout the United States by using afranchise systemthat allowed them to grow the business at a relatively low cost. They formed Burger King Corporation as a parent company to the franchises they were selling throughout the United States.The Burger King Corporation was acquired by thePillsbury Companyin 1967, and during the 1970s, it began to expand outside the United States, principally in South America and Europe.Burger King's core product has long been theWhopper, which was created in 1957 by founder James McLamore and initially sold for 37 cents.
Wendy'swas founded byDave ThomasandJohn T. Schuessleron November 15, 1969, inColumbus, Ohio. By the late 1970s, it had become the third largest hamburger company in the United States.Wendy's has consistently tried todifferentiateitself from other hamburger restaurants by its claim that it makes its burgers using fresh, not frozen, beef. Wendy's sparked acontroversyand entered into Americanpop culturein the 1980s with its "Where's the beef?" advertising slogan and an accompanying campaign stressing the primacy of the beef patty over the hamburger's other ingredients.
The hamburger was very popular among Americans during thepostwar periodfollowing World War I,even in popular culture. An example of this was the prominent appearance of hamburgers inE. C. Segar'sThimble Theatrecomic strip, which prominently featured acartoon characternamedPopeye the Sailorwho atespinachto sustain his superhuman strength. Popeye's first appearance was as asupporting characteron January 17, 1929, alongside many other characters. One of these characters wasJ. Wellington Wimpy(often shortened to just "Wimpy"), a lover of hamburgers who was both polite and gluttonous. His signature phrase, "I'd gladly pay you tomorrow for a hamburger today", became popular and widely known.During the height of his popularity in the 1930s, Wimpy introduced the hamburger to the youth of the time as a healthy food. It also resulted in the creation of a chain of fast food restaurants calledWimpy'sin his honor, which sold hamburgers for ten cents.In a similar fashion, the fictional characterJughead Jones, who first appeared inArchie Comicsin 1941, was passionate about food generally, and hamburgers specifically.
Fictional characters related to the hamburger, such as theRonald McDonaldclowncharacter designed byWillard Scottwho first appeared on television in 1963,soon became a recognizable part ofAmerican culture. The burger also made appearances inunderground comixsuch asZap Comix#2during the late 1960s, in which cartoonistRobert Crumbdesigned a character called "Hamburger Hi-Jinx". By the end of the decade,pop artwas including the hamburger as an artistic element, appearing in the works ofAndy Warhol(Dual Hamburger),Claes Oldenburg(Floor Burger),Mel Ramos(Vinaburger, 1965), and more recently,David LaChapelle(Death by Hamburger, 2002).
An example of the popularity and identification that the burger enjoyed among the American public was the name of theBattle of Hamburger Hill, which occurred in May 1969 during theVietnam War. Its name was inspired by the number of American andVietnamesecasualties, which made the scene resembles a "butcher".The hamburger was also the inspiration ofStar WarscreatorGeorge Lucas's design for theMillennium Falconship.Hamburgers also appear in computer games, as in the case ofBurgerTime, anarcade-style gamecreated in 1982 byData East Corporation. The hamburger also appears prominently onAmerican televisionshows such asAmerican EatsandMan v. Food.
By the 1960s, American society had become highlymotorized, largely due to the 1956Federal Highway Actpassed by PresidentDwight Eisenhowerand inspired by theGerman Autobahn, as well as the impressive growth rates of Americanautomobile manufacturersat the time.Due to the extensive use of cars at the time, hamburgers were often served atdrive-ins, often by waiters known ascarhops. Drive-in restaurants first appeared in the United States in the early 1930s, and gradually become a common sight across the country. The ability to serve hamburgers to customers in their cars was seen as a business opportunity by countless fast-food chains, especiallyMcDonald's.The popularity of the hamburger grew rapidly among the American population during this period, and statistics indicate that the average American was eating three burgers per week.
During theCold War, the hamburger became anational symbolof the United States. As private outdoor social events, often held inbackyardsand featuring abarbecue, became more widespread during the mid-1950s, the hamburger gained a new culinary and social relevance in the country.By the late 1960s, hamburgers began to grow in size as various burger chains competed with each other, resulting in Burger King launching theWhopperandMcDonald'slaunching theQuarter Pounder. As the race between the major chains grew more intense, the prices of their burgers increased, and the days when a hamburger could be bought for just a few cents were numbered.
In the 1970s, major hamburger chains began to use considerable resources in marketing their products. They began to compete directly with each other through their advertising, much of which wascomparativeand often featured directallusionsand comparisons.The event came to be jokingly referred to as the "burger wars" by many Americans. By the end of the 1980s, the era ofslogansin large chain restaurants had begun.
The modern hamburger was developed in the United States, but by the end of World War II, around the middle of the 20th century, it began to spread to other countries as fast food becameglobalized.The main cause of this gradual globalization was the successes of the largerestaurant chains. Their desires to expand their businesses and increase their profits resulted in them creatingfranchisesaround the world.McDonald'swas among the first of the burger chains to take the global establishment of its brand seriously,but it was not the only one.Wimpybegan operating in the United Kingdom in 1954, 20 years before McDonald's began operation in the country, and by 1970 it had expanded to over a thousand restaurants in 23 countries.On August 21, 1971, inZaandam, nearAmsterdamin the Netherlands,Aholdopened its first European franchise. In the 1970s, McDonald's began to expand into Europe and Australia. In Asia, Japan saw the establishment of its own fast food chain in 1972:MOS Burger(モスバーガー,Mosu bāgā), an abbreviation of "Mountain, Ocean, Sun", which eventually became a direct competitor to McDonald's. All of its products, however, were variations on the burger adapted to the Asian world, including the teriyaki burger, takumi burger, andriceburger.In Hong Kong,Aji Ichibancompeted with large chains before it spread quickly throughout Asia.One of the first hamburgervending machinesdebuted in Amsterdam in 1941 under the brandFEBO, its name derived from its original place of creation, theFerdinand Bolstraat.
At the same time the hamburger was growing in popularity around the world, it took on a variety of local features in different locations. Such examples of this include ground meat made from local animals, such askangaroosin Australia,orTex-Mex-style dishes likechilli con carne.
The expansion and standardization of the hamburger has led to the creation of a price index that can be used as an economic reference between different countries, known as theBig Mac Index. It measures the worth (in US$) of a burger in different parts of the world, allowing for the comparison of thepurchasing power parityof 120 national economies in which McDonald's does business.American sociologistGeorge Ritzercoined the related concept of "McDonaldization" in his 1995 bookMcDonaldization of Society.Another byproduct of the globalization of fast food was the creation of internationalcompetitive eatingcontests that involve contestants from many different countries. One of the best-known contests is theKrystal Square Off, run by the fast-food chainKrystaland sponsored by theInternational Federation of Competitive Eating(IFOC), which has been held annually since 2004.
In the 21st century, the hamburger appeared as the central topic in some books on the literature of culinary topics. An example of this isFast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, published byinvestigative journalistEric Schlosserin 2001, that examines the local and global influence of the American fast food industry.An example of a modern variation of the hamburger is the so-calledgourmet burger, which is made byhaute cuisinechefs with patties that includeluxuryingredients. One of the first such burgers was cooked in New York City by chefDaniel Bouludin June 2001, and subsequently sold for US$29 withloin, ribs Bres, cannedblack truffles, and amirepoixof vegetables. TheManhattanrestaurant "Old Homestead", one of the oldeststeakhousesin the country, offers a $44 hamburger with beef-bred Japanesewagyū.An haute cuisine burger created byRichard Blais, a student ofFerran Adrià, was introduced in 2004 at a restaurant inAtlanta, where it is served with a crystal chain and a silkribbon. In response to the haute cuisine take on the hamburger, others have created more humble versions. Alberto Chicote ofMadridmakes homemade hamburgers in his kitchen, usingIberianpork along with homemadeketchupandmustard.In 1993, Max Schondor created a hamburger made of soy. In a 2005 episode ofSpongeBob SquarePants, the adventurous title character visitsMr. Krabs's popularKrabby Pattyburgers, where hamburgers figure prominently in the story.
In the United States during the 20th century, there have been numerous celebrations marking the centenary of the burger. Two locations in particular organized high-profile events to celebrate 100 years of the hamburger. One was held inAthens, Texas, in November 2006, in honor of Fletcher Davis. In a resolution made by the state of Texas, it was established that Athens is the "Original Home of Hamburger". However, in August 2007, the state ofWisconsinmade the same claim on behalf of the town ofSeymour, the home ofCharlie Nagreenwho also claimed to be the creator of the hamburger.These two decisions have split the honor of creating the hamburger between these two American cities. The town of Seymour continues to annually celebrate a "Burger Fest" on the first Saturday of each August.
Since the latter part of the 20th century, the burger has undergone severalcontroversiesregarding its nutritional values. In an era in which a growing amount of the world's population has become eitheroverweightor more conscious of weight and the need for a healthy diet in general, the appearance of exceptionally larger burgers (popularly known as "XXL hamburgers") has generated considerable controversy.One example of this is theTriple Whopper, which surpasses the 1,000-calorie threshold established by the Health Strategy Against Obesity, which is promoted by the health institutes of the Spanish Association of Food and Nutrition Safety (AESAN). AESAN works to prevent the growth of the incidence ofobesityin all people, particularly children. More generally,dietitiansare beginning to see that the consumption of foods high incaloriescan cause excessiveappetite.In response to this message, many restaurant chains have reduced the calories in their burgers since the beginning of the 21st century. The late 20th century witnessed a lawsuit brought byMcDonald'sagainst twoenvironmental activists,Helen Steeland David Morris, that was colloquially known as theMcLibel case. McDonald's took action following the publication of apamphletby Steel and Morris that was entitledWhat’s wrong with McDonald’s: Everything they don’t want you to know, which was subsequently developed into a documentary calledMcLibel.
In 2004,Morgan Spurlockaddressed the obsessive consumption of hamburgers by some Americans by directing and starring in the documentary filmSuper Size Me. In the film, he himself eats onlyMcDonald'sfood for an entire month and documents how his health changes. That same year saw the premiere ofHarold & Kumar Go to White Castle, a film in whichWhite Castle restaurantsplayed a vital part. Two years later, in 2006, the filmFast Food Nationpresented a fictional representation of the intrigues and machinations of themeat industryon the border between Mexico and the United States. It is largely based on the 2001 bookFast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.