The earliest form of the hamburger may not have sprung up in the United States, but it certainly developed into an all-American treat. It's a simple hot sandwich, a patty made of cooked ground beef placed between two halves of a bun or slices of bread. In part because of the explosive spread of fast food in the 20th and 21st centuries, the notion of a hamburger has grown standardized: topped with condiments like mayonnaise, ketchup, and "secret sauce," and vegetables including onions, pickles, lettuce, and tomato, is virtually universal.
Either with or without those additions, the hamburger is still but a blank canvas awaiting additions or interpretations. The U.S. is a gigantic country that's home to hundreds of millions of people. The ways that even the most mainstream and ubiquitous foods are prepared and served can vary from region to region owing to different tastes, shared cultural backgrounds, and ingredient availability. This makes for a rich tapestry of little-known burger styles across America. Disparate sensibilities and creativity gave rise to pockets of the country where particular burger styles are favored, and they're relatively rarely found outside of that place. Here are the endemic burger styles of many regions across the states.