28 May is World Hamburgers Day, which is also a popular day in our country, so I did a little research on the subject. I bring you some history, current events and, of course, nothing but the country's Burger Pope Jancsa Janit, who was, among other things, the hamburger, I asked him about the present and future of food.
There are many theories about history and I am not a historian. This blog promises to be light-hearted recreation so I won't go as far as ancient Rome today because that's where the story starts.
I'm going to outline the two most common stories, but I'll add that there is no clear evidence as to exactly where and how far back the origins of this food can be traced, who made the first one and what exactly we take to be a burger.
America is the most popular consumer in the world, that's a fact. Yet the most accepted claim is not linked to their name, but to Germany, and in particular the city of Hamburg. This is presumably where German immigrants brought ground beef patties and meatballs on buns to the USA.
Another story has it that America, and in particular the Buffalo area, is the winner, with the city of Hamburg, where a brother and sister experimented with a beef sandwich for lack of pork and the result was called the hamburger, also based on the location.
To what does this dish owe its popularity today?
It is in its complexity that it is powerful. Who doesn't love a well-baked, delicious, fresh baked good, or more precisely buns, the grilled meat pie and a variety of vegetables and sauces. Now, when that's all wrapped up in one, it really is an orgy of flavour. Its strength lies in its complexity as well as its variety. It can be prepared in so many different ways, if I'm just looking at the meats: beef, bison, lamb, chicken, vega, camel, sky's the limit...different Cheeses, vegetables, textures, flavour combinations are available. Anyone, that is everyone, can dream up their own version, which is doable. The rule is that there are few rules, within which everything is free.
On Hungarian burger consumption habits, I ask Jancsa Jani, who modestly co-owns Burger Papa and countless restaurants. He is also the founder of one of the most popular Hungarian restaurant chains on the burger front, which has won a number of international awards. He runs a blog on the subject, a youtube channel, administers a group and is regularly invited as an honorary, professional judge at various events.
How is burger consumption in Europe, how are we doing Jani, what is the trend?
You could say that a serious burger culture has really developed in our country in the last ten years. If we talk about Western Europe, we are definitely at the forefront in terms of creativity and quality. Obviously, we can't necessarily compete with the Netherlands or England in terms of quality of ingredients, but I think we can certainly compete with them in terms of creativity. This can be seen while, in the West there may be more widely available, better quality beef, there they are very often content (this is obviously based on my personal experience, by no means a great universal truth) with less exciting burger variations, and what I see here at home is that fantasy is definitely at its peak, so I would say that if anyone from anywhere in Western Europe comes to Hungary, to Budapest, to have a burger, they can find a place that will not disappoint.
There are “supporting” stories, when people come from America and say that they have never eaten so good food only at home, we are obviously talking about a particular person, we don't know what his gastronomic culture is, we don't know what he has eaten so far... All in all, from my experience in the past years, as a blogger and restaurant co-owner, I can say that we are definitely in a good place in Europe.
Where can burgers be enhanced? What is the present and future of burgers?
We started from a very low level and have managed to reach a standard and a plateau a few years ago, which means that you can get a great quality burger with great ingredients in many places, not just 1-2. From there, it's not a very, very big leap because we've caught up with the rest of the world. Which is not necessarily in Western Europe, but in America... different regional burger variations may have a renaissance, but they are still the way they were done 40-50-60 years ago. They're kind of re-mapping it for themselves.
Burgers have been made in small local venues countless times, and then discovered that they were no longer unique to the region. I'm thinking of the smash burger, for example, which is one of the oldest ways of making a burger, the steamed burger for example, and there are a few other stories that are pretty much spun these days. Now there are even some in Hungary beef, which means that we don't have to transport meat from the other side of the world, which I think is a big thing, and this could be the key to the future, that through long, hard work we can take a raw material like meat to the next level at home.
The ingredients for a burger are finite... it is the ultra quality ingredients, toppings and toppings sourced locally, from the area, that will define the years to come and that I think are worth paying attention to.
Can you tell me about the current burger trends?
The past little over a year has allowed virtually nothing, and restaurants have been closed. Specifically, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that there's nothing that's up that wasn't up a year ago. There's not too much hype about everyone being crazy creative, it's not that you're playing for survival, I would say, but rather you're trying to appeal to the customers in some way and that's what the marketing is going towards and not necessarily about putting together the biggest, fanciest burger combinations now.
The problem is, if there are no customers to sell it to profitably, then the whole thing is eaten. Unfortunately, in this time of living with the chewing and aftershocks of the virus, we couldn't create anything that big, because we couldn't, outside of, say, home delivery. And you don't like to deliver your best burgers in a box.
It's World Burger Day today, but we're here the other 364 days of the year too, so get there as soon as you can! Every day should be World Burger Day, that's my wish!
I would just like to say thank you Jani and I hope everyone who reads this article orders a good burger from their favourite place and supports the burgeoning hospitality industry!
