Hamburger

   BOLOGNA, (HOT DOG), HAMBURGER

   Three fine European cities have become eponyms for common American edibles. Bologna, a gastronomic center in northern Italy, has been credited with many delectable dishes that have spread throughout the world; V nus's navel, better known as tortellini, is served in the best of European and American restaurants. But the eponymous food that has made the city famous is the sausage. This everyday meat was called bologna and was so ubiquitous that the city of its origin was on everyone's lips. The name of the sausage has been corrupted to "baloney," and the name has received other usages. An ordinary way of expressing disbelief is to say, "You're full of baloney." "Baloney" has become the equivalent of nonsense. The phrase proliferated during the early '30s, and it may have had its genesis in a jingle: "Dress it in silks and make it look phoney, / No matter how thin you slice it, it's still baloney."

   The frankfurter is a sausage originally made in Frankfurt, Germany. During World War I, the American soldiers called this snack a "victory steak," but in America, where it found a warm home, the frankfurter received a new name: "hot dog." The name giver was T. A. Dorgan, "Tad," the most prominent sports cartoonist of the era. According to H. L. Mencken, the first person to heat the roll, and add mustard and relish, was Harry Stevens, concessionaire at the Polo Grounds, home of the New York Giants. The hot dog has become America's basic food delight at a baseball game. According to William Morris, the hot dog in the Midwest is called a Coney Island, and it is piled high with all kinds of culinary treats, but it has ketchup. Ketchup is unheard of on Coney Island, New York; there the hot dog is drenched with mustard. From Laurence J. Peter, Quotations for Our Time (1977), has come the warmest tribute to a hot dog: "The noblest of all dogs is the hot-dog; it feeds the hand that bites it."

   The meat pattie known as the hamburger originated in the city of Hamburg, Germany. In the early days in the United States, chopped beef was known as hamburger steak and was served like any other steak. With time, hamburger steak degenerated from the estate of a steak to the level of a sandwich. It then became known as hamburger, the biggest selling fast-food item,in America. The National Restaurant Association reported that ninety percent of all table service restaurants offer the hamburger and that the hamburger is America's number one choice for eating away from home. Over five billion hamburgers were purchased or sold in 1995.