Author(s): Andrew F. Smith

Food

Perhaps the most ubiquitous fast food in the Western world, the hamburger has come to represent all that is best and worst in American culture; but how many of us know how and where the hamburger originated? "Hamburger", one of the first in Reaktion's mouth-watering new series "Edible", traces the global story of the hamburger's rise from an obscure American street food to the iconic fast food phenomenon of the twentieth century. Meat pattie sandwiches were first served by street vendors in American cities during the late nineteenth century. Within a few decades they had started appearing on the menus of diners, cafes and restaurants, with the first hamburger chain - White Castle - opening in 1921. Other operators - McDonald's, Burger King and Wendy's - emerged and began to franchise their restaurants in the following decades. The hamburger began to change the way Americans ate, turning people away from home-cooked meals towards fast food consumed outside the home."Hamburger" also traces effects on American culture - artists painted pictures of hamburgers, and hamburgers and fast food operations appeared in television shows and movies.