Hamburgers?

Question

Why is a hamburger called a hamburger if it doesn't have any ham?

Answer 1

As others have said it is because this originated in Hamburg, Germany. But I have a solution to your potential frustration over the illogic of it: Have a cheeseburger and call it a day!!! Somehow the minute you slap some cheese on the hamburger, the ham leaves town.

Answer 2

The short answer is that it came from Hamburg, Germany. And that is just plain weird when you think about it, because the frankfurter (a.k.a. the hot dog) came from Frankfurt, Germany (see What are hot dogs made of? for details). One can only imagine why French Fries beat out German Fries...
Hamburger started with the Tatars (or Tartars), a nomadic people who invaded central Asia and eastern Europe in the Middle Ages. The Tatars ate their shredded beef raw (hence the name "steak tartare" these days). According to one account, they tenderized their beef by putting it between the saddle and the horse as they rode. When the Tatars introduced the food to Germany, the beef was mixed with local spices and fried or broiled and became known as Hamburg steak. German emigrants to the United States brought Hamburg steak with them. It showed up on New York restaurant menus in the 1880s. Hamburgers became a sensation as sandwiches at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis.

White Castle, founded in 1921 in Wichita, Kan., is the world's oldest chain of hamburger restaurants. The hamburger's popularity exploded in the United States after World War II when burgers became the main menu item at drive-in restaurants spawned by the growing number of cars. McDonald's, which started as a hamburger stand in San Bernardino, Calif., has spread the hamburger around the world. The world's largest restaurant chain with more than 26,000 restaurants in 119 countries has served billions of hamburgers.

Answer 3

We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes;
but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes.
One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese,
yet the plural of moose should never be meese.
You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice;
yet the plural of house is houses, not hice.
If the plural of man is always called men,
why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen?
If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet,
and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet?
If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth,
why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth?
Then one may be that, and three would be those,
yet hat in the plural would never be hose, and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.
We speak of a brother and also of brethren,
but though we say mother, we never say methren.
Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him,
but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.
Let's face it,
English is a crazy language.
There is no egg in eggplant,
nor ham in hamburger;
neither apple nor pine in pineapple.
English muffins weren't invented in England.
We take English for granted.
But if we explore its paradoxes,
we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square
and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea, nor is it a pig.
And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing,
grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham?
Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends,
but not one amend?
If you have a bunch of odds and ends
and get rid of all but one of them,
what do you call it?
If teachers taught,
why didn't preachers praught?
If a vegetarian eats vegetables,
what does a humanitarian eat?
Sometimes, I think all the folks who grew up speaking English should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane.
In what other language do people recite at a play
and play at a recital?
Ship by truck and send cargo by ship?
Have noses that run and feet that smell?
How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same,
while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites?
You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down; in which you fill in a form by filling it out
and in which an alarm goes off by going on.

Answer 4

The word "Hamburger" comes from Hamburg, Germany; the inhabitants of this city are also known as Hamburgers. In Germany, local traditional snacks are often named after the place of origin, like the Frankfurter.

Answer 5

Because the Earl of Hamburg loved them.

Answer 6

In Hamburg,Germany, the countrymen used to ride with the meat under their saddles to tenderize it. they balled it upand flattented it out for even cooking. The Hamburger made a patty!

Answer 7

it comes from hamburger Gremany

Answer 8

Hey,all i want to say nameer shut up because it doesn't come from holland okay i life there and uh i learned history so shut up. ok back to the question i think it just is a word ham-burger it is a burger i think the persom who mad hamburgers or so he/she is last name has something ham or so.

Answer 9

Same thing has been asked for years, never got a decent answer.It is beef, not sure where ham comes in.

Answer 10

its made from groundbeef and put on a bun so they called it a hamburger ( two things combined into one) the burger and the bun