The Burger

The history of the burger or hamburger dates back to the late 19th century in the United States. While the exact origin of the burger is debated, there are a few theories about how it was invented.

One popular theory is that the burger was invented by a German immigrant named Otto Kuase. In the 1890s, Kuase ran a food cart in New York City where he sold cooked meat patties between two slices of bread. He called it a “Hamburg-style American beef sausage,” which was eventually shortened to just “hamburger.”

Another theory is that the burger was invented by Frank and Charles Menches, two brothers from Ohio who were selling food at a county fair in 1885. When they ran out of pork for their sandwiches, they substituted it with ground beef and created the “hamburger sandwich.”

Regardless of who invented the burger, it quickly became popular in the United States and eventually spread to other parts of the world. Today, burgers are a staple of fast food restaurants and can be found in a variety of forms, from classic cheeseburgers to plant-based veggie burgers.