|America’s favorite hamburger has centuries-old history|
|Written by Holyoke Enterprise| Trivia database KGB Answers
states that 13 billion hamburgers are consumed worldwide every
year. That’s 35,616,438 burgers eaten each day. As people around
the globe munch on savory ground beef and their preferred
toppings and condiments, many people have wondered just why a
hamburger is called a hamburger. After all, there is no ham in
it. A hamburger is a cooked ground patty, typically made out of
beef, though different meats have been substituted in recent
years. Still, most people will not find ground ham in their
hamburger. The name “hamburger” comes from where the first
hamburger was created. The hamburger originated in Hamburg,
Germany. Historians surmise it was based on minced beef
specialties that first appeared around different regions of
Europe as early as the 15th century. Germans devised a dish
called the Hamburg steak. It consisted of a simply flavored,
shredded, low-grade beef with regional spices. The dish