Why is a hamburger called a hamburger?
Although there is no ham in it, a hamburger is called a hamburger because it originated in Hamburg, Germany.
A merchant noticed how nomadic Tartars softened their meat by keeping it under their saddles. It would be pounded to bits and then seasoned to be eaten. This made it’s way back to the merchant’s town of Hamburg, where it was referred to as Hamburg meat. The word "Hamburger" was introduced to the US by German immigrants. It appeared on Delmonic’s restaurant in New York in 1834.
“The originated on the German Hamburg-Amerika line boats, which brought emigrants to America in the 1850s. There was at that time a famous Hamburg beef which was salted and sometimes slightly smoked, and therefore ideal for keeping on a long sea voyage. As it was hard, it was minced and sometimes stretched with soaked breadcrumbs and chopped onion. It was popular with the Jewish emigrants, who continued to make Hamburg steaks, as the patties were then called, with fresh meat when they settled in the U.S. The prevailing version [of the story] is that at the end of 1800′ s, European emigrants reached America on the ships of the Hamburg Lines and were served meat patties quickly cooked on the grill and placed between two pieces of bread.” The name refers to hamburg-er meat, not a ham-burger.
