National Hamburger Month ushers in the summer grilling season during the month of May each year, wrapping up with National Hamburger Day on May 28th. The month celebrates America’s beloved sandwich and its countless variations.

Historically, brands such as McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s have offered deals and limited-time menu items. Franchises like Shake Shack and Five Guys often feature unique burger creations or combo deals, and grocery chains like Kroger and Whole Foods have sales on ground beef, buns, toppings and select accessories.

A hamburger, or burger – consists of a patty of panfried or grilled ground meat, typically beef — placed inside a sliced bun, sesame seed bun, or bread roll. The patties are often served with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chili, inside the bun. The burger filling can be topped with condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish, or a specialized proprietary sauce, often a variation of Thousand Island dressing. A burger with the patty topped with cheese is called a cheeseburger.

History

Versions of the meal have been served for over a century, but its origins are still unclear. The 1758 edition of the book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse included a recipe called “Hamburgh sausage” on toasted bread, suggesting that it should be served “roasted with toasted bread under it.” A similar snack was also popular in Hamburg under the name of “Rundstück warm” (“bread roll warm”) in 1869 or earlier, and was supposedly eaten by emigrants on their way to America. However, this may have contained roasted beefsteak rather than Frikadelle. It has been suggested that Hamburg steak served with two pieces of bread and eaten by Jewish passengers traveling from Hamburg to New York on Hamburg America Line vessels, which began operations in 1847, became so well known that the shipping company gave its name to the dish.

There is also a reference to a “Hamburg steak” as early as 1884 in The Boston Journal. On July 5, 1896, the Chicago Daily Tribune made a highly specific claim regarding a “hamburger sandwich” in an article about a “Sandwich Car.”

Claims of invention

“Hamburger steak sandwiches” have been advertised in U.S. newspapers since the 1890s, but the inventor is unclear.

The invention of hamburgers is attributed to various people, including Charlie Nagreen, Frank and Charles Menches, Oscar Weber Bilby, Fletcher Davis, and Louis Lassen. The iconic White Castle franchise traces the origin of the hamburger to Otto Krause in Hamburg, Germany.

Hamburgers gained national recognition in the U.S. at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair when the New York Tribune referred to the hamburger as “the innovation of a food vendor on the pike.” No conclusive argument has ended the dispute over invention.

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