The Hamburger; A History and New Conception

If you don't already know, cooking is one of my favorite aspects of life, and the hamburger is something I recently became unable to eat. You may or may not already know, but recently I cut gluten out of my diet, this was mostly for health reasons. Since then I have discovered the delicacy of hamburgers wrapped in lettuce with all the fixings inside, it is so good! If you get crunchy fresh iceberg lettuce it is absolutely amazing: better then a hamburger if you ask me.

For that reason, today I will be sharing with you the history of the hamburger and my new approach to the classic hamburger.

Before we get into the history of the hamburger it would be best to understand what it looks like in the American society today. Currently we view the hamburger as a very "American" creation, whether we know the history of the burger or not, that is how we see it.
Another fascinating look is how we consume burgers, and what they mean. While the burger can be seen as fancy food, most often it is viewed as the fast food Whopper, Quarter Pounder, 3x3 Animal Style, or the other various names given by restaurants like Wendy's, Carls Jr., and Jack in the Box. In 1985 one in every six trips to a restaurant ended at a McDonalds (Chow).

Personally, and you probably have the same view, but my favorite hamburger is from that nice restaurant, that serves a nice cut of meat, battered in beer and grilled, then topped with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, and secret sauce on a toasted bun with large steak fries and a cold ginger ale (or root beer if you are into that kind of thing).

Anyway you like your burger there is a little bit of predictability involved, especially in regards to fast food restaurants. The burger will be prepared to your liking no matter where you go, within reason: when I worked at Burger King we had a group of teenage girls come in asking for ridiculous toppings, like heart-cut pickles and star-cut cheese...we didn't fulfill that request. But if you wanted a Double Whopper with cheese, it is made the same, every time: predictability.
While this predictability is nice for the customer, the way fast food is prepared has been effected by this desire for predictability (Ritzer). One way this is obviously seen is in the meat, processed patties cooked by machines. I will give credit to In-N-Out where they cook their patties by hand.
Another aspect that has been affected specifically in fast food, is quantity over quality (Ritzer). Can you get one or two patties for a dollar? There is no surprise that fast food burgers are not 100% beef, they can't afford to be. Although, have you ever had a Wendy's burger? What they call a patty might be a flimsy cut of beef, but it is 100% beef. Wendy's receives props for that.

This is the Wendy's Bacon Bleu Burger.

Alright Alex, now where did the hamburger originate? Alright, the origin is highly debated, this is because it was originally two slices of bread with hamburg steak in the middle. Going from there I can tell you that the Oxford Dictionary defined hamburg steak in 1802 as salt beef (Chow). Salt beef at that time is much like the Salisbury Steak of our time. In other words, salt beef is not like beef jerky, it had a sauce to it.
The website Chow, makes first note of claim to inventing the hamburger by Charles Nagreen in 1885 when he put fried ground meat between two pieces of bread so that people attending his fair could walk and eat. In 1892 another fair owner claims to have invented the hamburger when he was running low on sausage and decided to grind it up and put it in-between bread. There are more people who claim to have invented the hamburger, but in all honesty it sounds more like a rip off than anything, used to stretch the supply of beef.

Fast Food Burger Restaurants: According to Chow
White Castle starts in Kansas, 1921, selling burgers at 5 cents.
Rite Spot Restaurant in California starts selling cheeseburgers in 1924.
McDonald brothers open a streamlined version of their former burger stand in California, 1948.
In-N-Out opens up in California, 1948.
Jack in the Box opens up in California, 1951.
Burger King is founded in Florida, 1954.
Carls Jr. is founded in California, 1956.
Wendy's is founded in 1969 to compete with McDonald's.

Key Points In History:
A hamburger is featured in a Popeye comic in 1931 setting the Hamburger in American culture.
In-N-Out install the a drive thru speaker system in 1948, creating the drive thru as we know it today.
McDonald's first franchise in 1954 for $950.
Burger King launches the signature Whopper in 1957.
White Castle sells billionth burger in 1961.
McDonald brothers sell McDonald's for $2.7 Million dollars to Ray Croc in 1961.
Filet-O-Fish was created for Catholic customers in 1962.
Ronald McDonald is introduced in 1963.
Big Mac is introduced in 1968.
White Castle sells 2 billionth burger in 1968.
First Veggie Burger is created in London, 1982,
In-N-Out starts printing bible verses on their cups and burger wrappers in 1987.
Worlds Largest Hamburger is created, weighing 5520 pounds at the 1989 Burger Fest in Wisconsin.
In-N-Out's "secret" menu is revealed in a 2002 New York Times article.
Bunless Burgers reemerge in 2003 dubbed "low carb" burgers.

The first sighting of bread-less sandwiches was around the time of the Great Depression, when people who couldn't afford bread switched to lettuce and cheaper alternatives (Olver). At this point in time the no-bread aspect of life was out of necessity, but recently there have been more bread-less sandwiches available on the market, like In-N-Out's "Protein Style."

In-N-Out: Protein Style

While the idea of a bread-less diet can be necessary for some individuals, for many it is a way to eat less carbohydrates. You may consider taking the "Protein Style" next time you are having a burger, because they really are healthier and quite tasty.
One of the best parts about eating these types of burgers is the crunchy, juicy, ice-berg lettuce that makes all the flavors unite in harmony. If you get a chance, try one of these delicacies, and remember some of the history and development of the hamburger, and then come back to my blog and tell me how it was.

Thanks for your time reading.


Alex D. Chandler




Sources:

 Chow. "The Hamburger Through Time." Web. 12 Feb 2013. < http://www.chow.com/food-news/54564/the-hamburger-through-time/ >.

 Ritzer, George. The McDonaldization of Society. Blackwell Publishing, 1983. Print.

 Olver, Lynne. "The Food Timeline: Sandwhiches." . The Food Timeline. Web. 12 Feb 2013. < http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsandwiches.html#breadless >.