It’s one of those food questions that can spark a surprisingly heated debate: Is a burger a sandwich? After all, it has bread on the outside and a filling in the middle, which sounds like a pretty good definition of a sandwich. But burgers have their own buns, toppings and place on restaurant menus, so should they really be lumped into the same category as a turkey club or grilled cheese?The answer depends on how you define a sandwich. Linguists, chefs and dictionaries have weighed in on the question, and there’s a pretty strong case to be made on both sides.Here’s what you should know about whether or not a burger is technically a sandwich.Related: The Ultimate Dessert Debate: Is Cake Actually Better Than Pie?
What Is the Definition of a Sandwich?
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Before deciding whether a burger qualifies as a sandwich, it helps to look at what actually makes something a sandwich. According to a definition cited by Oxford University Press, a sandwich is “an item of food consisting of two pieces of bread with meat, cheese, or other fillings between them, eaten as a light meal.”
By that definition, a burger certainly seems to qualify. Its bun consists of two halves of bread, with a cooked patty and other ingredients tucked between them.
The definition also leaves room for different types of fillings, meaning a sandwich doesn’t necessarily have to contain sliced deli meat. A hamburger patty, chicken breast or plant-based burger could all fit the description.Related: Panko or Breadcrumbs? When To Use Each for the Best Crunch
Why a Burger Is Considered a Sandwich
If you go by the basic construction of a sandwich, a burger checks all the boxes. It has two pieces of bread and a filling, making it difficult to argue that it doesn’t qualify. Alton Brown, the television chef and food personality, agrees. In a 2019 interview with The Takeout, Brown was asked whether a hot dog is a sandwich.
“A hamburger is a sandwich, and a hot dog is a sandwich,” he said.
Brown explained that he considers anything delivered to someone’s mouth with their hands touching only bread to be a sandwich, unless it’s a stuffed food like a calzone.
There’s also support for the classification in dictionary definitions. The American Heritage Dictionary defines a hamburger as “a sandwich made with a patty of ground meat usually in a roll or bun.”
So if you’re taking a literal approach, a burger is indeed a type of sandwich.
Why Some People Say a Burger Is Not a Sandwich
Of course, not everyone is convinced. For many people, a burger is its own distinct food category, and calling it a sandwich just doesn’t sound right.
The late celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain was among those who rejected the classification. During a September 2016 Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session, someone asked whether a hot dog was a sandwich. Bourdain’s response also addressed hamburgers.
“No. I don’t think it’s a sandwich. I don’t think a hamburger is a sandwich either,” he wrote. Bourdain went on to explain his reasoning: “The fact that it’s in between bread—the bread is a delivery system, a ballistic delivery system. It is not a classic sandwich, in my view.”
In other words, he believed that simply putting something between bread doesn’t automatically make it a sandwich. The food itself has its own identity, and a burger is a burger.
Is a Hot Dog a Sandwich?
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The burger clearly isn’t the only popular food caught up in the sandwich debate. Hot dogs have also inspired plenty of arguments about whether they belong in the sandwich category.
Like a burger, a hot dog has bread surrounding a filling. However, its bun is typically sliced down the middle without being completely separated, which gives it a slightly different construction.
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council has officially declared that a hot dog is not a sandwich, arguing that it deserves its own food category. Meanwhile, Merriam-Webster‘s definition of a sandwich includes a “split roll” with a filling, giving hot dogs a reasonable claim to the title.
Ultimately, the same argument applies to burgers: If you define a sandwich by its ingredients and construction, hot dogs technically qualify. But if you believe certain foods deserve their own categories, you might prefer to keep hot dogs separate.Related: Is Boneless Chicken Better Than Bone-In Chicken?
When Did Burgers Become Their Own Food Category?
Interestingly, the distinction between burgers and sandwiches also has a linguistic history. In a 2018 article for the Oxford University Press blog, linguistics professor Edwin L. Battistella explored how the word “hamburger” evolved and eventually became a food category of its own.
According to Battistella, menus were listing “hamburger sandwiches” as early as 1916. By the 1930s, however, the word “sandwich” was increasingly being dropped, and “hamburger” had become a noun in its own right.
The shortened word “burger” also began taking on a life of its own, eventually appearing in names such as cheeseburger, turkey burger and chicken burger. Battistella explained that the word came to refer broadly to hamburger-style sandwiches, including patties served on buns with toppings and condiments.
He ultimately offered a nuanced answer to the debate: “If a sandwich is two pieces of bread with meat between them, a hamburger qualifies as a sandwich.” However, he also noted that a hamburger can be viewed as an independent category because of its distinctive shape and ingredients.
That distinction helps explain why burgers are typically listed separately from other sandwiches on restaurant menus, even though they share many of the same characteristics.
So, Is a Burger a Sandwich?
Technically, yes. A burger fits the basic definition of a sandwich, and dictionary definitions support that classification. It consists of bread with a filling in between, which is essentially what a sandwich is.
But that doesn’t mean everyone has to think of burgers that way. As Bourdain pointed out, food can have its own identity beyond the way it’s assembled. Burgers have a long-standing place in American food culture, and many people recognize them as a category of their own.
Perhaps the best answer is that a burger can be considered a special type of sandwich, but it’s also perfectly reasonable to just call it a burger. After all, nobody needs to start ordering “beef patty sandwiches” the next time they’re at a cookout.
Related: Ganache vs. Frosting: Which One Is Better for Cakes and Desserts?
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