During
the days of the Cold War, Russia was claiming to
have invented just about everything from judo to
tennis to the airplane, providing fodder for jokes
by Bob Hope and other comics. To be taken more seriously
is Russia’s claim to invention of steak tartare,
progenitor of the hamburger.
John Harmon, professor of geography at Central Connecticut State University,
in his online “Atlas of Popular Culture in the Northeastern United States,” recites:
“The origin of ground beef is accepted to have been with Mongolian and
Turkic tribes known as Tartars who shredded low-quality beef from Asian cattle
to make it more edible and digestible. Russian Tartars, possibly through other
peoples in the Baltics, introduced it to Germany before the 14th century. The
Germans flavored it with regional spices and either cooked it or ate it raw.
It became a standard meal for poorer classes and in Hamburg acquired the name ‘Hamburg
steak.’”
There’s evidence that minced beef was consumed by various peoples earlier
than the 13th century; there are differing views as to whether German sailors
discovered the dish in Russia or Russian sailors brought it to Hamburg and other
German port cities; and some sources set the time when chopped beef came to Germany
as late as the 18th century. What is without controversy is that the American
hamburger traces its ancestry to the Hamburg steak, which in turn was patterned
after the Russian dish.
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, notes
that German immigrants introduced this food to North America in the 19th century.
It adds:
“The entree may have appeared on an American menu as early as 1836, although
the first recorded use of Hamburg steak is not found until 1884. The variant
form hamburger steak, using the German adjective Hamburger meaning ‘from
Hamburg,’ first appears in a Walla Walla, Washington, newspaper in 1889.
By 1902 we find the first description of a Hamburg steak close to our conception
of the hamburger, namely a recipe calling for ground beef mixed with onion and
pepper. By then the hamburger was on its way, to be followed — much later — by
the shortened form burger, used in forming cheeseburger and the names of other
variations on the basic burger, as well as on its own.”
The University of California at Davis Web site provides this information:
“‘Filet de boeuf a la Hambourgeoise,’ was sold in Boston in
1874, while Hamburger Beef Steak appeared on the Lookout House Restaurant menu
in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the mid-1870s. During the last years of the 19th century
ground round or hamburger became associated with a hot sandwich, and early 20th
century illustrations depict hamburger served on sliced white bread or toast. ‘Hamburger
Steak, Plain’ and ‘Hamburger Steak, with Onions,’ was served
at the Tyrolean Alps Restaurant at the 1904 Saint Louis World’s Fair.
“The modern hamburger (on a bun) appears during World War I. The White
Castle restaurant chain was established in 1916 at Wichita, Kansas and by the
early 1920s sold hamburgers. Some scholars say the first hamburger served on
a bun appeared in 1917 at Drexel’s Pure Food Restaurant, Chicago. By 1920
hamburgers on buns were sold in San Francisco and Cincinnati, and by the mid-1920s,
hamburgers were recognizable to most Americans. Hamburger popularity continued
to grow, and became associated with mobility and the concept of ‘fast food.’ The
hamburger as an icon of American popular culture spread globally during the 1980s
and 1990s with franchise restaurants opening around the world. American-style ‘burgers’ can
be purchased today from Moscow to Quito and from Tokyo to Cairo.”
From a 1941 decision of the California Supreme Court, we learn that the hamburger
had by then gained popularity as food to eat while walking around, but was not
commonly consumed in restaurants, and was not considered a “meal.”
The decision arose from a sales tax dispute. The plaintiff wanted a refund of
taxes it paid, under protest, on sales made during the 1937-39 World’s
Fair on San Francisco’s Treasure Island. Operating food booths, it “sold
only frankfurter (commonly referred to as ‘hot dog’) and hamburger
sandwiches, together with coffee, milk, ale and beer,” the per curium decision
said. The issue was whether these sandwiches constituted a “meal,” rendering
them exempt from the sales tax. Resolving the issue against the concessionaire,
the high court said:
“A ‘hot dog’ or hamburger sandwich is the type of food frequently
offered for sale to and desired by persons who wish to eat something while walking
about. It is not the type of food generally ordered by a person who patronizes
a hotel, restaurant or other public eating establishment with the intention of
securing a ‘meal’. Nor do we agree with defendant’s contention
that, in any event, where a beverage is consumed with a sandwich it necessarily
amounts to a ‘meal’…. It may not be said that one has ‘served’ a
meal who merely prepares a sandwich for consumption, wraps it in a paper napkin
and hands it to a purchaser without offering any facilities for its consumption
on the premises, and with the intention that it be consumed elsewhere.”
Cookbooks in the first half of the 20th century generally did not allude to use
of a bun to encase hamburgers; only occasionally was there a reference to bread
or toast. Since family members were not apt to wander around the house while
eating their beef patties, buns apparently were viewed as unnecessary.
Next week, I’ll discuss competing claims to having invented the hamburger
sandwich and disputes over who originated the cheeseburger.
The "55-Plus" column
is written especially for those over the age of 55, by a veteran California
journalist who is himself eligible for the club. Roger M. Grace has written
and edited newspapers for more than four decades, and has been a lawyer for
more than three.
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American Hamburger’s Roots Trace Back to Russia 