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[tfunk]

I come from Ireland but I don't know whether or not to describe myself as a Westerner. I always associate 'Western food' as hamburgers etc. but my students also volunteer pizza etc.

Is Western more or less America?

I think hamburgers are from Germany though.

[Yesterday]

In korea - Koreans consider Americans, Canadians, British, Australians, NZ's etc - as westerners (although the USA is both East and west of Asia)...

Sames as Americans consider Asians to be Easterners,, (East)

The term Western world, the West or the Occident (Latin: occidens -sunset, -west, as distinct from the Orient) can have multiple meanings dependent on its context (e.g., the time period, the region or social situation).

Accordingly, the basic definition of what constitutes "the West" varies, expanding and contracting over time, in relation to various historical circumstances. Some historians believe the West originated in the northern and eastern Mediterranean with ancient Greece and ancient Rome. Over time, their associated empires grew first to the east and south, conquering and absorbing many older great civilizations; later, they grew to the north and west to include Western Europe.

Since the Age of Discovery and Columbus, the notion of the West expanded to include the Americas, though much of the Americas have considerable pre-Western cultural influence.
Australia and New Zealand are considered part of Western culture due to their former status as settler colonies of Western Christian nations.
Generally speaking, the current consensus would locate the West, at the very least, in the cultures and peoples of Europe, North America,and Australia. Although nations such as Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil and New Zealand are heavily Western in the traditional sense of the term, the common element being the omnipresence of Christian culture.

The term "Western World" often includes developed countries in Asia, such as Israel, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea, that have strong economic, political and military ties to Western Europe, NATO or the United States.

While these countries also have substantial Western influence and similarities in their cultures, they nonetheless maintain largely different and distinctive cultures, religions (although Christianity is a major religion in South Korea), languages, customs, and worldviews that are products of their own indigenous development, rather than solely Western influences. Japan and South Korea, in particular, are the only Asian members of the OECD and the two leading full democracies in Asia, having a high standard of living and a high level of human development. All of these are amongst the generally accepted political or economic characteristics of Western nations.

There is debate among some as to whether Eastern Europe and Latin America are in separate categories of their own or if they are part of the "West". Culturally Eastern Europe and Latin America are usually more or less accepted into the 'West'. They, however, do not fill the traditional economic and living standard criteria which one associates with "The West"

The Hamburger - everyone claims to have invented it - (including the Chinese -of course)


1209-1121 - Genghis Khan (1167-1227), crowned the "emperor of all emperors," and his army of fierce Mongol horsemen, known as the "Golden Horde," conquered two thirds of the then known world. The Mongols were a fast-moving, cavalry-based army that rode small sturdy ponies. They stayed in their saddles for long period of time, sometimes days without ever dismounting. They had little opportunity to stop and build a fire for their meal. The entire village would follow behind the army on great wheeled carts they called "yurts," leading huge herds of sheep, goats, oxen, and horses.

As the army needed food that could be carried on their mounts and eaten easily with one hand while they rode, ground meat was the perfect choice. They would use scrapings of lamb or mutton which were formed into flat patties. They softened the meat by placing them under the saddles of their horses while riding into battle. When it was time to eat, the meat would be eaten raw, having been tenderized by the saddle and the back of the horse.

1238 - When Genghis Khan's grandson, Khubilai Khan (1215-1294), invaded Moscow, they naturally brought their unique dietary ground meat with them. The Russians adopted it into their own cuisine with the name "Steak Tartare," (Tartars being their name for the Mongols). Over many years, Russian chefs adapted and developed this dish and refining it with chopped onions and raw eggs.

1600s - Ships from the German port of Hamburg, Germany began calling on Russian port. During this period the Russian steak tartare was brought back to Germany and called "tartare steak."


Many Americans claim to have invented it also -

Charlie Nagreen 1885, Seymour, Wisconsin. According to one claim, Charlie Nagreen served the world's first hamburger at the Seymour Fair (Outagamie County Fair) of 1885. "Hamburger" Charlie decided to flatten a meatball and place it between slices of bread to increase portability.

Menches brothers 1885, Hamburg, New York. Western New York history recorded that Frank and Charles Menches ran out of pork for their sausage patty sandwiches at the 1885 Erie County Fair. Their supplier, reluctant to butcher more hogs in the summer heat, suggested they use beef instead. The brothers fried some up, but found it bland. They added coffee, brown sugar, and other ingredients to create a taste which stands distinct without condiments. They christened their creation the "Hamburg Sandwich" after Hamburg, New York where the fair has been held since 1868; the name was probably later condensed by common use to the shorter contraction "hamburger" (and so explaining why a beef sandwich--which never contained any pork--bears this name). The original recipe is featured at Menches Brothers Restaurants in Akron, Ohio.

Fletcher Davis late 1880s, Athens, Texas. In 1974, The New York Times ran a story about Louis' Lunch having a serious challenger to the title of inventing the hamburger.

According to the McDonald's hamburger chain the inventor was an unknown food vendor at the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904. Newspaper columnist, Texas historian, and restaurateur Frank X. Tolbert said that this food vendor was Fletcher Davis who operated a caf� at 115 Tyler Street on the north side of the courthouse square in Athens, Texas, in the late 1880s. Local lore holds that Davis was selling an unnamed sandwich of ground beef at his lunch counter at that time. During the 1980s Dairy Queen ran a commercial filmed in Athens, calling the town the birthplace of the hamburger.

Louis' Lunch 1900, New Haven, Connecticut. Louis' Lunch has been selling steak and hamburger since 1895 when Louis Lassen opened his lunch wagon. This small establishment, which advertises itself as the oldest hamburger restaurant in the U.S., is credited by some with having invented the classic American hamburger when Louis sandwiched a pattie between two pieces of white toast for a busy office worker in 1900. Louis' Lunch flame broils the hamburgers in the original 1898 Bridge & Beach vertical cast iron gas stoves using locally patented steel wire gridirons to hold the hamburgers in place while they cook.

The U.S. Library of Congress American Folklife Center Local Legacies Project web site credits Louis' Lunch as the maker of America's first hamburger and steak sandwich.

Dyer's Burgers, 1912, Memphis, Tennessee, deep-fried burgers using a cast-iron skillet.

White Castle, 1921, Wichita, Kansas. Due to widely prevalent anti-German sentiment in the U.S. during World War I, an alternative name for hamburgers was salisbury steak. Even after the war, hamburgers' popularity was severely depressed until the White Castle chain of restaurants created a business model featuring sales of large numbers of small hamburgers. White Castle holds a U.S trademark on "slyders."

Ted's Restaurant, 1959, Meriden, Connecticut. Ted's Restaurant uses steam to cook their cheeseburgers. Some people believe that steam was used to cook hamburgers in the early 1900s in this part of Connecticut.

(Google is a useful tool) -sometimes