---
title: "Which came first, Fanta or the hamburger?"
description: "Fanta vs the hamburger: the hamburger came first, by 40 years — 1900 against 1940. What happened in each case, and why the dates are often given differently."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/fanta-vs-hamburger/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, Fanta or the hamburger?

**Which came first, Fanta or the hamburger?: the hamburger**

1900 — 40 years before Fanta

the hamburger came first, by 40 years. Competing American claims put the first burger between 1885 and 1904.

## Side by side

|  | Fanta | the hamburger |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1940 | 1900 |
| Category | food | food |
| What happened | Coca-Cola's German bottler invented it when syrup imports stopped. | Competing American claims put the first burger between 1885 and 1904. |

## Fanta

When the war cut Coca-Cola GmbH off from American syrup, its head Max Keith made a drink from what was available in Germany — whey left over from cheese making and apple pomace left over from cider pressing. The name came from a brainstorming session where staff were told to use their imagination, Fantasie. Sprite arrived 21 years later in 1961, developed from a German lemon drink Coca-Cola had launched in 1959, so Fanta comfortably predates it.

## the hamburger

At least four places claim it. Charlie Nagreen said he flattened a meatball between bread at the Seymour Fair in Wisconsin in 1885; the Menches brothers claimed the same year at the Erie County Fair; Louis' Lunch in New Haven claims 1900; and Fletcher Davis of Athens, Texas is credited with introducing it at the 1904 St Louis World's Fair. No contemporary document settles it. What is documented is the Hamburg steak — chopped beef, no bun — on American menus from the 1870s.

## Common questions

### Which came first, Fanta or the hamburger?

the hamburger, by 40 years — 1900 against 1940.

### When did Fanta start?

1940. Coca-Cola's German bottler invented it when syrup imports stopped.

### When did the hamburger start?

1900. Competing American claims put the first burger between 1885 and 1904.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place (/about/)