An active, curious and fulfilling day to you and all those around you,

Where did that hamburger come from?

The hamburger is the ubiquitous American comfort food. Composed of a ground beef patty (fried or grilled), often with a piece of melted cheese atop (to make it a cheeseburger, my favorite), placed between the two halves of a sliced bun (grilled and buttered is my preferred), decorated with whatever sliced, diced or shredded vegetables you like (tomatoes, lettuce, onions and, in Texas, jalapenos for the stout of heart and hearty of appetite), slathered with the condiments of your choice (ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise and the more the merrier some might say) and for finish and flare a dash of salt and pepper. It is a delicious, descrumptious and delightful meal in a bun. So, munch a burger today and be content and fulfilled.

But, where did it come from and why that name, hamburger?

Well, over there, where many of our ancestors come from, is a country called Germany. In that country, is a city with the name Hamburg, the second largest city in the country of Germany. After their arrival in the New World, some Germans and those of their descent opened restaurants. On the menus of those restaurants were listed dishes like the Hamburg Plate (I bet there was some sauerkraut and spaetzle on that one), Hamburg Schnitzel (it is hard to beat a good schnitzel) and perhaps a dish called the Hamburg Steak (not an hamburger yet, but you begin to see a connection). People like and enjoy good food and good meat dishes, and restaurant-goers began to associate good meat dishes and good steak dishes (America was becoming the land of beef) with the name Hamburg. Can you begin to see the mind of a good marketer beginning to work here?

At this point, two asides may be appropriate. First, meat has been ground forever. So, ground balls and patties were out there and in use. Second, in Germany, the Burgher was in olden times a high-ranking city official or member of the nobility. So, a Burgher was a very good thing to be, a superlative, like a king. I can see the marketing types in the audience thinking more.

Fast forward to the St. Louis World’s Fair in the year 1904. (You may remember this Fair as the place where the ice cream cone was invented to serve ice cream — see the Blog Post of June 22, 2012.) At the Fair was a couple from Athens, Texas – I like that they were from a town named for a place in Greece known for new ideas. Fletcher Davis and his wife Ciddy ran a sandwich stand on what was called the Pike, a mile-long walk of amusements and concessions that was one of the great draws and marvels of the St. Louis World’s Fair. From old photos, the name above Ciddy and Fletcher’s concession stand (Fletcher was called Dave because of his last name), the name on the sign was “Old Dave’s Hamburger Stand.”

It had happened! The hamburger had been born!

The fair-goers loved it. They bellied right up for a hamburger composed of a fried ground beef patty with mustard and Bermuda onion between two slices of bread with a pickle on the side. Folks, they still serve ’em with mustard and onion in Texas. The New York Tribune attributed the innovation of the hamburger to a stand on the Pike. Many people believe that stand was “Old Dave’s Hamburger Stand,” serving the sandwich Ciddy and Fletcher had been serving at their lunch counter in Athens, Texas since the 1880’s.

You know what I think happened? I think that Old Dave was a good salesman. He looked down that Pike with all the most amazing things in the world on display from every country in the world, and he saw a Hamburg steak on the menu in a fancy German restaurant near a real castle (there was one there on the Pike, built just for the Fair) with a poster of a regal Burger inviting folks to enjoy the food. He knew he had a great sandwich. He just needed a great name. There it was, the hamburger. He rushed back, told Ciddy, pulled down the old sign and put up the new one.

As the say, the rest is history. And, what a rich, tasty and downright enjoyable history it is.

Although historians agree that the hamburger was first created in America somewhere around 1890, there are a number of other people who claim to have invented it. A ground meat patty and bread are as old as ground meat and bread. Most of the claimants did just that — put meat to bread. With due deference to the competing claims, to make and eat a sandwich that resembles a hamburger is not to invent and present the hamburger.

Almost 20 million individuals attended the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, which was the formal name of the St. Louis World’s Fair. In 1904, the year of the Fair, the US population was about 80 million. There were people from all over the world, but if they had all been from the US, 1 in 4 citizens would have attended. That is a tremendous turnout, an astounding audience and an event that changed the world. The Fair brought us the ice cream cone and the hamburger. Though others may claim to have been the first to bite some bread with a burger between, Old Dave and Ciddy were there at the Event of the Age, and they named their sandwich the hamburger and marketed that hamburger on one of the greatest stages man had known. As an attention getter, they got it, and many believe they deserve the credit for the now world-famous hamburger.

Consider a hamburger today and remember Old Dave and Ciddy,

Grandpa Jim

PS: And, remember Uncle Joe. On Saturday morning, he will present his latest adventure. I hope it keeps you on the edge of your seat. After you settle down, go somewhere to talk and get something to eat. A burger and fries may be just the thing to relax and comfort those nerves.