During world War II, tide of anti-German sentiment motivated some to describe hamburgers together "liberty sandwiches."

Note the discrepancy between WW1 and WW2. The cited source was an short article in The Chive around WW2.

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Hamburgers to be renamed “Liberty Steaks” in order to protect against the German-sounding surname for a brief duration of time.

Note the discrepancy in between "sandwiches" and also "steaks". The Chive doesn"t give a source.

The inconsistency in between articles and also the bad referencing has actually all the signs of a claim that is untrue. That is also similar to liberty fries, which has actually a basis in truth, therefore the insurance claim is remotely believable.

Did the U.S. Government ever make an effort to readjust the surname of hamburgers to "liberty sandwiches" or "liberty steaks"?


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energetic earliest Votes
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Yes, several restaurants change the name hamburgers, but that doesn"t average the US government was involved.

World battle I example

From a 1976 interview through German-American T. Max Kniesche, who moved to mountain Francisco in 1907, and worked in restaurants and also cafes there:

Teiser: What to be it prefer in san Francisco because that Germans during the first world war? you were functioning at a clearly German restaurant.

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Teiser: did you change the kind of food the you served, or the decorations?

Kniesche: Well, the hamburger steak was Liberty Steak. French-friedpotatoes to be Liberty Potatoes. We called it Liberty, yet the liberty wasn"t there. Anyhow, every little thing went come "Liberty."

World war II Example

This menu is from a new York cafe, in 1941:

Combination Grill, consist of of 1 lamb chop, 2 sausages and 1 liberty steak.

(I suspect, native context, the "liberty steak" referred to a hamburger patty, and also a "liberty sandwich" referred to a hamburger - a patty in a bun - yet I haven"t acquired a recommendation for that.)