The Roman Hamburger Hoax

Was the hamburger really invented by the ancient Romans? Click the image below to watch this week’s episode of the State of Greater Western New York Report and discover the surprising truth behind the “Roman hamburger” myth — and how its real origin is tied directly to Greater Western New York.

In the first half of the show, hamburger historian Chris Carosa explores National Hamburger Day and the persistent modern myth that the Romans invented the hamburger, based on a 4th-5th century recipe from Apicius. He breaks down the original Latin text of “Isicia Omentata,” explains why it couldn’t have been made with beef, and reveals what the Romans actually used.

In the second half, Chris reveals why the Roman recipe is a hoax, contrasting it with what we know as a hamburger today. He then spells out the irony of the Roman Hamburger Hoax when he tells the true story of how the hamburger was born by accident in 1885 at the Erie County Fair in Hamburg, New York, when the Menches brothers ran out of pork sausage and improvised with ground beef.

Theme music by “mansardian” courtesy of FreeSound.org under Creative Commons License Attribution 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/