# Where do hamburgers come from?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [May 6, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982 "2011-05-06T17:19:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/41 "2011-05-07T19:51:59Z")
> [@ExcitedIdiot](#):
>
> I call ground beef hamburg, too. I thought everyone would know what I meant if I said, “Cook up some hamburg for that spaghetti sauce”. Maybe it’s a Massachusetts thing.
Wait…there are people who **don’t** call it that? 😕
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/42 "2011-05-07T20:01:09Z")
New England is weird.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/43 "2011-05-07T20:50:40Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I call ground beef hamburg, too. I thought everyone would know what I meant if I said, “Cook up some hamburg for that spaghetti sauce”. Maybe it’s a Massachusetts thing.
I would certainly understand what you meant, but would never use that phrasing, myself. I’d refer to it as either “ground beef” or “hamburger” (with the distinction from the sandwich on a bun being clear from context).
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/44 "2011-05-07T20:57:23Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Wait…there are people who **don’t** call it that? 😕
Nope. If you said that to me, I’d scratch my head a bit and tentatively hand you the ground beef, hoping that’s what you wanted.
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### Author:  [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/45 "2011-05-07T21:07:19Z")
> [@kath94](#):
>
> My elderly aunt in Massachusetts referred to raw, minced or shredded beef (what I know as hamburger) as “hamburg.” Once it’s cooked and put on a bun she called it a “hamburger.”
I’ve never heard this before (then again, I’ve never been to the NE), but when I was living in Japan I discovered that there’s a modern Japanese dish known as “hamburg” that’s basically the same as Salisbury steak. The name is not of Japanese origin, it’s just an abbreviated form of the English “hamburger”.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/46 "2011-05-07T21:43:42Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> Nope. If you said that to me, I’d scratch my head a bit and tentatively hand you the ground beef, hoping that’s what you wanted.
I’d think someone was talking about a [Homburg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homburg_(hat)).
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/47 "2011-05-07T21:45:45Z")
I suppose someone can make an ‘I’ll eat my hat!’ joke.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/48 "2011-05-08T00:51:46Z")
> [@elfkin477](#):
>
> Wait…there are people who **don’t** call it that? 😕
Yeah, everyone but Yankees, by both the Southern and Midatlantic definition.
What you call hamburg, other Americans call ground beef.
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2011, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/49 "2011-05-08T01:16:59Z")
\*Oh, the cow in the meadow goes “moo”
Oh, the cow in the meadow goes “moo”
Then the farmer hits it in the head with a hammer
And that’s how we get hamburger!
Nooooooow - chickens!\*
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/50 "2011-05-08T07:04:10Z")
> [@Hades](#):
>
> Yeah, everyone but Yankees, by both the Southern and Midatlantic definition.
>
> What you call hamburg, other Americans call ground beef.
Well, the grocery stores call it that here too, but…it sounds so _unnatural_ to refer to it as “ground beef.” Because it’s raw hamburg.
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### Author:  [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/51 "2011-05-08T13:28:28Z")
> [@Hades](#):
>
> Yeah, everyone but Yankees, by both the Southern and Midatlantic definition.
>
> What you call hamburg, other Americans call ground beef.
Where I grew up calling it Hamburger was a lot more common than saying ground beef. Just a matter of context. Talking about it in the collective sense(I need some Hamburger, Mom did we run out of Hamburger?) context was the raw blob a meat. In a discrete context (a Hamburger, 4 hamburgers was the sandwich).
Sometimes it wasn’t perfectly clear though, “Ohh shit, your Hamburger fell on the floor”
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### Author:  [@JohnnyMac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyMac)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/52 "2011-05-08T15:20:51Z")
What’s the difference between “ground beef” and mince? 😕
Is it just that mince could concievably be made out of, say, pork?
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/53 "2011-05-08T15:29:05Z")
> [@JohnnyMac](#):
>
> What’s the difference between “ground beef” and mince? 😕
It’s the difference of what side of the Atlantic Ocean you grew up on, I believe. Or is “mince” used somewhere in the US? I hear it from the UK.
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### Author:  [@JohnnyMac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyMac)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2011, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/54 "2011-05-08T15:30:26Z")
Heh, yeah. I’m from the UK. That must be it.
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### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/55 "2011-05-08T15:41:01Z")
> [@JohnnyMac](#):
>
> Heh, yeah. I’m from the UK. That must be it.
🙂 The only time I hear us use mince is for mincemeat, which is one word and refers to the mix of dried nuts and fruits and lard that goes into a micemeat pie (which is NOT very popular, but your grandmother may still make it for Christmas), or it’s used as a verb, as in, “mince the shallots”.
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### Author:  [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2011, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/56 "2011-05-09T09:58:43Z")
> [@tdn](#):
>
> I just had a conversation with a couple of food workers who were wondering why hamburgers are not called beefburgers. After all, they’re not made from ham.
In the UK they are relatively commonly referred to as beefburgers. I’ve no idea about the rest of the world though.
Example:
> **[Classic cheeseburgers recipe](https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/homemadebeefburger_83644)**
>
> These homemade burgers are perfect for the BBQ and so much more healthy than anything from a packet.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2011, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/57 "2011-05-09T10:11:40Z")
Around here, ground beef may be hamburger meat, but it’s not (a) hamburger. Hamburger is either the sandwich or occasionally the formed meat patty (although that’s usually specified). Ground beef is hamburger meat because it can be used to make hamburger(s).
I do wish though that there was a term for a hamburger made with ham. For now, we have to use pigburger or porkburger, but both of those are often used for ground pork patties.
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### Author:  [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2011, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/58 "2011-05-09T10:15:28Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#):
>
> The ancient Romans had chopped beef sandwiches, fried, on buns. Flavored with pine seeds, I believe.
Yep, the hamburger is an ancient Roman snack.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/59 "2011-05-09T20:21:15Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> I do wish though that there was a term for a hamburger made with ham.
Ham sandwich? I’m not entirely certain I’ve even seen what you’re trying to describe here.
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### Author:  [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/60 "2011-05-10T17:28:07Z")
> [@mlees](#):
>
> Wiki also says that the controlled use of fire pre-dates homo sapiens, but the use of fire for cooking is more debated (wiki’s numbers range from 40k to 1.5 million years, with 250k being the most accepted). Wiki says cooking with heat/fire is unique to humans.
>
> I guess if fire was used to ward of night predators, maybe one tried to have a human-snack anyway, but fell into a fire, and died. Then humans go “why waste a good hyena?”. 😃
There’s even a theory that states that cooking food was a key piece of the evolution of humans.
[http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/books/27garn.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/books/27garn.html)
It’s not without controversy, of course, but it’s an interesting idea.
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