# 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:** 6
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2011, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/61 "2011-05-10T17:33:10Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> 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.
What’s a pigburger (or a hamburger made with ham) if not a ground pork patty? Is it a mixture of pork and beef? I’d call that meatloaf.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/62 "2011-05-10T17:46:22Z")
> [@WhyNot](#):
>
> What’s a pigburger (or a hamburger made with ham) if not a ground pork patty? Is it a mixture of pork and beef? I’d call that meatloaf.
“Meatloaf” to me means it has binders and/or fillers in it. If you have egg and/or bread (crumbs) in your burger, it ceases to be a burger, by my definition. At that point, it is well into meatloaf territory, even if it’s not formed in a loaf. Others may disagree–the definition is flexible, and certainly the word “burger” is used to cover these cases, too, as long as it has the external appearance of a hamburger. Still, I’m always disappointed when I bite into a burger of any type and it’s not that lightly packed loose meat texture I expect, but instead something more like meatloaf or sausage.
Now, I do realize I am making a bit of a prescriptivist and purist definition here, and I may be a bit of a pest about it. But it’s not an idiosyncratic definition–others draw the line here, too.
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/63 "2011-05-10T17:47:47Z")
> [@BigBertha](#):
>
> I am wondering now who thought up the idea? Humans saw animals eating other animals, they may have even tried some themself. It probably didn’t taste good raw. Who thought to cook it and make it palatable?
The Inimitable Elia (Charles Lamb) takes up the tale.
[A Dissertation on Roast Pork](http://www.amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/dissertation_on_roast_pork.html) (1822)
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### Author:  [@Chou4555](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chou4555)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/64 "2011-05-17T07:23:41Z")
Fascinating thread. In England, I grew up on Wimpyburgers… and thought there was an animal called the Wimpy!
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### Author:  [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/65 "2011-05-17T09:15:55Z")
> [@Chou4555](#):
>
> Fascinating thread. In England, I grew up on Wimpyburgers.. and thought there was an animal called the Wimpy!
The jury is still out on what animal, if any, Wimpyburgers come from.
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [May 17, 2011, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-do-hamburgers-come-from/580982/66 "2011-05-17T09:20:18Z")
As I recall from the old Popeye cartoons, Wimpy was not very discriminating about what went into his grinder.
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