Hamburgers and Americanism

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that there are few other icons that are more connected to the growth of the American dream, its culture and the iconography of this nation, than the hamburger sandwich, known today simply as the burger. The paper explores the hamburger's true origin. The paper discusses how the hamburger and the fast food industry have transformed marketing and even the architecture of the US.

From the Paper:

"Studying the hamburger's true origin has proven difficult, as its popularity growth has been so expansive that the idea's origin likely got thrown out with the paper first used to wrap it for "take out." As the Hamburger today website points out, there are three prevailing claims to the invention of the hamburger, and as it was not a coveted offering and only today are people seeking to ground it in tradition, even in the age of exponential patent growth, it does not have a documented history."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Berger, Michael L. 2001. The Automobile in American History and Culture: A Reference Guide. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
• Betts, Raymond F. 2004. A History of Popular Culture: More of Everything, Faster, and Brighter. New York: Routledge.
• Cudahy, Brian J. 1990. Cash, Tokens, and Transfers: A History of Urban Mass Transit in North America. New York: Fordham University Press.
• Hamburger today website at: http://www.ahamburgertoday.com/archives/2005/08/the_history_of.php
• INVENTIVE LAND; See Early Patent Models in Arlington. 2003. The Washington Times, March 30, D04.

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