Hamburger

What I am going to talk about today is the history of the hamburger. Now the reason I chose this topic is because of a girl my brother use to like. She is a closed minded person that said that the only thing she would eat is American food. Things like hamburgers, hot dogs and Taco Bell. As my brother and I were talking about this we remembered that hamburgers are not American and that is how I choose my topic.

Now, how many of you know where the hamburger came from? Well, the hamburger comes from the city of Hamburg, Germany. Now, how the hamburger came to be goes back to the Mongolian times when Genghis Khan ruled. Since Genghis Khan was a conqueror he and his army spent many days traveling without stopping. This meant that the army needed food that they could eat quickly. So what they did was that they got ground meat and placed it between the saddles of their horses while riding. When it was time to eat, the meat would be eaten raw, having been tenderized from the horse ride.

When the grandson of Genghis Khan, Khubilai Khan invaded Moscow he took the ground meat with him. The Russians adopted it and called it, “Steak Tartare” (tartars is what they called the Mongos). In the beginning of the 15th century minced meat was a delicacy in Europe. In the 16th century ships from the German part of Hamburg was bringing back the Russian steak tartare. In the 18th century sailors would visit the ports of Hamburg and New York and brought the food and term “Hamburg Steak” into popular usage. They would use it to bring German sailors to the New York harbor. German immigrants who also came to the United States also brought the hamburg steak. Today this hamburger pattie is no longer called the “Hamburg Steak” in Germany, but rather ,”Frikadelle” , “Frikandelle” or “Bulette”.

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