Grill up a hamburger for yourself, or visit any number of sandwich shops and restaurants to enjoy one of mankind’s greatest, greasiest culinary inventions today to celebrate National Hamburger Day.

National Hamburger Day has been celebrated since at least 2010, but the history of the burger goes back much further than that! The invention of the hamburger has been claimed by so many that there’s only one real origin: Hamburg, Germany.

No matter who says they invented the hamburger, no one can deny that it was the second-largest city in Germany that was its namesake. While not all types of ‘burgers’ resemble the meat that came out of Hamburg, they all have the roots of their preparation in this noble city.

One of the most interesting things about hamburgers isn’t actually about the burger itself, believe it or not, there are actually people out there dedicated to finding out the truth about who really invented the hamburger.

If we track back to the beginning and look at the namesake Hamburg, where the burger undoubtedly gained its name, there are many people who think the burger was created in 1881 by a gentleman named Otto Kuase or Otto Krause.

On the other hand, the Library of Congress would have you believe something else. It seems the US audience seemed to favor the story of Louis Lassen in 1900. The popular story goes that a businessman was in a rush and wanted some food in a hurry. Louis is said to have placed a piece of grilled meat in between two pieces of toast and thus invented the burger.

Where this story gets interesting is here, the US disregards Otto Krause simply because his name has three different spellings, which is common with German names. As for the Lassen story, well, when it comes to putting grilled meat in between two pieces of toast, he was pretty late to the party, it seems the Chinese had been doing that since 1045.

So whether you believe it’s Otto, Lassen, or the people of the Zhou dynasty, there is no question hamburgers are one of the greatest creations in history, and National Hamburger Day is something that will go on for centuries to come.

Celebrating National Hamburger Day is easy peasy. You can grab one from local favorites Bailey’s, Fausto’s, The York Chop or chains Dairy Queen or Burger King.

Of course, if you’re daring and handy with a grill, we suggest making up your own blend of hamburger spices and having a good old fashioned cookout.

Source: daysoftheyear.com