Named for a group of German immigrants. Their ship sailed from the port city of Hamburg. The salt meat on board was only palatable if ground fine due to its toughness, and the passage was so rough that plates were pointless, so they served the meat on bread instead. When the settlers arrived, they were poor - so the only meat they could afford was tough offcuts, which they ground and made sandwiches from, as they had done on board ship.
This post was edited by Slartibartfast at April 1, 2018 6:43 AM MDT
The reason burgers are called hamburgers it that the German city of Hamburg is where "meat in a bun" were invented. Ham is a lot more common in Germany than beef, so it is not unlikely that the original hambyrgers were made with ham. Sadly Ham go rotten pretty quick if not refrigerated, so the sailing ships in colonial times preferred to carry beef (strongly salted beef lasts a long time) so sailors made burgers with that.
Nope, meat wrapped in bread is an English invention - by John Montagu, Earl of Sandwich. Hungry and not wanting to leave the card table (he was a compulsive gambler), he sent his manservant to fetch him some "slices of roast beef, wrapped in bread - can't have the fingers getting greasy". Hence the generic term 'sandwiches'.
The first was in Hamburg, Germany. It had an egg and a meat patty. How it ever gained popularity is beyond me. :)
I remember being in Hamburg at the train station and there was a platter of hamburgers (just bread and meat) on the counter for anyone to touch and for flies to land upon. I'll never forget that. That was back in the 70s. I'm sure much has changed since then. I have not been to Hamburg again.
JakobA the unAmerican. 