Is a hamburger a sandwich?

Yes. It’s assembled from two slices of bread on the outside, and something not-bread on the inside.

No. It’s a hamburger.

Yes, I think it is, technically. It fits the spec’.

I think this brings to light the serious lack of an American Sandwich Association. We Brits have the British Sandwich Association and after Googling for 30 secs, I couldn’t find an American one so it therefore must not exist. That, to me is concrete proof that we are in fact, the sandwich masters. In the states, with proper education and guidance from us, these sandwich-burger quandaries would be ironed out once and for all.

Not to me it isn’t. Hamburger is its own genre of sandwich-like food items. To me a sandwich implies a cold or room temperature filling, unless it’s explicitly noted as a hot sandwich. Although according to the meaning of the word sandwich, anything that’s put between bread is. I can make a shoe sandwich.

Continuing my thought process a bit, I guess it’s not wrong to classify it as such. I would not be surprised to see a hamburger on a Lunch Sandwich menu. But I would be surprised if a sandwich bar had hamburgers ready.

@damien, cool info that.

In the U.S., seeing as we’re so litigious, we take that kind of conundrum to the judiciary.

As a matter of fact, in the case of Panera Bread vs. Qdoba Mexican Grill, it was ruled by a Massachusetts supreme court that a sandwich must legally include at least two slices of bread.

You see, think of the legal fees which could have been saved if only there was a sandwich governing body of some sort.

Yes.

All hamburgers are sandwiches, but not all sandwiches are hamburgers.

Could it be a Manwhich?

A hamburger is not a sandwich it is a meat “patty”. Now if you take burger and put it in a bun then you could call it a sandwich if you wanted.
I’m English, we use the word hamburger differently

Technically, yes. Do I call it that? No.

Anything that comes between two pieces of bread is considered to be a sandwich. I just read that in the dictionary. It includes meat in the description. Great question, hope this helps.

I have to say, reluctantly, that a hamburger does in fact fit the sandwich paradigm.

Yep. Why wouldn’t it be?

Tho, wouldn’t it be a “bunwich”? Does anyone else here use that word?

I’ve never heard the term bunwich before. If a hamburger is a bunwich, wouldn’t a sandwich be a breadwich? or a rollwich?

You call it a sandwich because it has bread and non bread thrown in the middle… Then what is a hotdog? No one would ever call a hotdog a sandwich. Hamburger is a hamburger. Call it a sandwich if you want to be lame.

So a hotdog is not a sandwhich, but it is two pieces of bread with something that is not of bread characteristics within the two slices… so why would it not be called a sandwhich? In this long deep thought process we call life, we materialize these idiotic questions that have no absolute value to our lives except to say “A HAMBURGER IS A FRIGGIN SANDWHICH!!!!”

Usually a hot dog bun is not two pieces of bread, but one piece of bread with a slice down it. It’s one bun cut in almost half. Ergo, it is not a sandwich.

@dynamicduo But then what about subs served on a roll that is not completely split in two?

Aha! Great counter example. I do think that such a sub is a sandwich. But I still don’t feel that a hot dog is a sandwich. It would be an interesting thought experiment to see what elements make a hot dog in a sub bun into a sandwich and not a hot dog in a bun.

It’s a conundrum all right. Maybe even a pernicious abstraction!

How could I not give lurve for your eloquence?

Ok, but is a hamburger a sandwhich or a different genre of food? I mean why do they call a chicken sandwhich “Chicken” and a Hamburger “Ham” and not a beefburger? I mean its from a friggin cow!

Hamburgers are not sandwiches if they were would you not call it a ham sandwich or beef sandwich? even if its turkey its not a turkey sandwich its a turkey burger.