Hamburger

A hamburger, often known as a burger, consists of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun, sesame seed bun, or bread roll. The patties are often served with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or chilis. The filling of the burger can be topped with condiments such as ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, relish or a "special sauce", often a variation of Thousand Island dressing. A burger with the patty topped with cheese is called a cheeseburger.[1] Under some definitions, a hamburger is considered a sandwich.

Hamburgers are typically associated with fast-food restaurants and diners but are also sold at other restaurants, including high-end establishments. There are many international and regional variations of hamburgers. Some of the largest multinational fast-food chains feature burgers as one of their core products: McDonald's Big Mac and Burger King's Whopper have become global icons of American culture.[2][3]

Etymology and terminology

The term hamburger originally derives from Hamburg, Germany. However, it is contentious what the exact connection between the food item and the city is.[4][5][6]

By linguistic rebracketing, the term "burger" eventually became a self-standing word that is associated with many different types of sandwiches that are similar to a hamburger, but contain different meats such as buffalo in the buffalo burger, venison, kangaroo, chicken,[7][8][9] turkey, elk, lamb or fish such as salmon in the salmon burger, and even with meatless sandwiches as is the case of the veggie burger.[10] The term burger can also be applied to a meat patty on its own. Since the term hamburger usually implies beef, for clarity burger may be prefixed with the type of meat or meat substitute used, as in beef burger, turkey burger, bison burger, or portobello burger.