Why is it called "HAMburger" if it's not made from ham?

Question

i just thought about it when making lasagna. the box said "made from Bocca hamburger" (i'm a vegetarian). doesnt hamburger come from cows?

Answer 1

Because of the town in Germany where the first hamburger is thought to have been made. Hamburg Germany, tell me you've heard of it?
Sigh, this question is asked like 100 times a day on here.

Answer 2

Back in the mid 1800's, the folks in Hamburg, Germany used to eat a kind of pounded beef called a Hamburg Steak. A lot of people were immigrating from Germany around that time, and being a port city, Hamburg residents brought some of their popular foods along as well. Sometime in the late 1800's, people just started calling the meal "hamburger", which in German means "from Hamburg".

Around the turn of the century a restaurant owner decided to put the hamburger between two slices of toast for people on the go. The idea took off, obviously.

Later people dropped the "ham" altogether and just started calling it "burger", and then adding modifier to this shortened version of the word. So, if you added cheese, you'd call it a cheeseburger. And if you're a vegetarian foods company called Boca, you'd call it a Boca burger.

Boca burgers were designed to be a meat analogue -- which means they were crafted to have a lot of the same properties of meat (taste, texture, etc), but without the meat. People often cut up a Boca burger for a vegetarian version of ground beef, for example.

So your lasange is a "meat" lasagna, where Boca burger has been substituted for beef.

Answer 3

It's called a hamburger because it was invented in Hamburg, Germany. And yes, it is cow meat.

"The word "Hamburger" comes from Hamburg, Germany; the inhabitants of this city are also known as "Hamburger" in German but as Hamburgians in English."

Answer 4

The whole idea started in Hamburg, Germany.

Answer 5

Because it (hamburger) was first made in Hamburg, Germany. I guess saying Boca hamburger is just a shortcut way of saying " ground-beef-like vegetable protein bits".

Answer 6

I have always wondered the same thing. I am a vegetarian as well, and that always amazes me that they can call it a hamburger, when there is no ham!! Lol.

=]

Answer 7

It is because it hails from Hamburg, Germany. It has nothing to do with what it is made of.

Answer 8

HAM comes from pigs, so not even sure why normal hamburger meat is called hamburger, when it is made out of cows, not pigs.

As for what on earth vegetarian food is doing calling itself hamburger...no idea! What the?

Answer 9

Yes Hamburg Germany, and should be asked also why Buffalo wings??? I've seen many Buffalo but never one that could fly....

Answer 10

I asked my stepdad this exact question one day. He told me its because they were first made in hamburger, germany. but he might be wrong. but that's the best answer I have. :)