Hamburgische Burgerschaft

When I read or hear Berliner or Hamburger, I think about the food first and then about the citizens of Berlin or Hamburg. Lately, I read an article in the weekly Die Zeit Hamburgische Burgerschaft. This is another pun concerning "hamburger." In German, the last word is instead spelled Bürgerschaft and means the city-state's parliament.

A Freiburger is a citizen of Freiburg, or?

My grandchildren refuse to eat at McDonald's and prefer der frei Burger

Red Baron blogged extensively about Currywurst and Döner but mentioned hamburgers only sporadically.

So here is my blog about the hamburger, starting with some basic knowledge I read on Wikipedia:

The origin of the word "hamburger" has not been handed down. What is certain is that the first syllable, "ham," has nothing to do with the English "ham" (Hinterschinken). Instead, "hamburger" is the short word for fried minced meat (hamburger steak), which Hamburg immigrants introduced in the States in the 19th century.

Going back in history reveals that street vendors in ancient Rome already sold isicia omentata, a meatball made of beef, refined with pine nuts, pepper, and wine.

In the 19th century, Karl Drais, the bicycle inventor, allegedly developed the meat grinder, and the raw minced meat, the steak tartar, became popular.

Since 1802 the entry "hamburg steak" existed in the Oxford English Dictionary, describing a "hard slab of salted, minced (ground) beef, often lightly smoked, mixed with onions and breadcrumbs."

Instead of a Hamburger, you find on the menu of traditional German restaurants a Hacksteak (minced steak) or Deutsches Beefsteak. My mother used to cook patties as Fleischbällchen (small meatballs). The Berliners call them Bouletten; in Bavaria, they are known as Fleischpflanzerl (little meat plants).

In the 19th century, millions of Germans emigrated to the United States in search of a better life. The "hamburger" crossed the Atlantic, and the Cyclopedia of American Agriculture states, "The best hamburger comes from lean meat of the rump."

But what about the burger bun? 

According to a legend, the burger bun was invented in Hamburg in the late 19th century and made its way from there to the United States. The butcher Heinrich Heckel ran an inn on Hamburger Berg near the Reeperbahn. One day, guests are said to have asked for something to eat late at night, but Heckel only had roast, sauce, and rolls, and his cook was ill, so he put the roast between two slices of roll - and is said to have invented the Rundstück warm (round piece warm) still served today in the port city.

The States know several inventors of hamburgers. After the Civil War, the "gilded age" made industrialists and robber barons rich but hid the bitter poverty of the day laborers. They were looking for cheap and readily available food.

When the 15-year-old Charlie Nagreen sold meatballs at a fair in the small town of Seymour, Wisconsin, he noticed that people liked to keep walking around while eating. So he pressed his meatballs, put them between slices of bread, and soon became known as "Hamburger Charlie." So the Wisconsin State Assembly decided that the hamburger was invented in their state in 1885. In the home of the burger, Seymore, they celebrate an annual "Burger Fest."

This story is contested by the towns of Hamburg* in New York State and Tulsa in Oklahoma.
*The U.S. counts 18 places carrying the name Hamburg

The chefs Frank and Charles Menches claimed, "We did it with the hamburger in Hamburg, NY. It is New York's gift to world cuisine." They celebrate September 18 as the National Birthday of the Burger.

They only smile about these stories in Oklahoma. Oscar Bilby from Tulsa served the first hamburger in a bun on Independence Day on July 4, 1891. And they claim that neither Charlie Nagreen nor the German immigrant Louis Lassen from New Haven - although he is listed as such in the library of the U.S. Congress - nor the cook Fletcher "Old Dave" Davis from Texas served a hamburger for they all placed their meatloaf not in a bun but between slices of bread. "Tulsa is the real Birthplace of the Hamburger."

Back to the roots: When McDonald's opened their first fast food in Hamburg in 1976, they boasted, "McDonald's brings the hamburger to Hamburg."

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