“…what confers authenticity is a rootedness…”–Terry Theise

A.

Ancient Rome’s isicia omentata is considered the spiritual ancestor of the modern hamburger. Found in the 4th-century Roman cookbook Apicius, this once popular dish consisted of minced pork patties mixed with pine nuts, black pepper, wine-soaked breadcrumbs, and fermented fish sauce (garum). However, most food historians agree that the modern hamburger we eat today actually traces back to the 19th-century “Hamburg steak” (a grilled blend of minced beef and steak topped with gravy), brought to the US by German immigrants. The transition from steak patty to sandwich happened in 1900, when Danish peddler Louis Lassen sold the first burger in the US from his wooden lunch wagon in New Haven, Connecticut. Today, visitors can visit Louis’ Lunch, Lassen’s family-run establishment, to order the “original burger,” which is made of ground steak trimmings and served between two slices of toast.