We just had the Labor Day holiday, and it was a hot dog and hamburger feast. Americans love hot dogs and according to data by Nielsen, in the year 2020, 944.3 million pounds of hot dogs were sold at retail stores, totaling more than $2.8 billion in retail sales.
Joey Chestnut eats a lot of them. He is an American competitive hot dog eater and is ranked first in the world for the number of hot dogs he has consumed at one sitting (or standing). At the famous Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest, held on July 4th each year, he has won the coveted Mustard Belt many times. He did not compete in 2024, but in 2021, he set the record now standing (or at least reclining) by eating 76 dogs in 10 minutes. In 2023, he won his 16th title when only four competitors could gobble beyond 50.
If you go to an American baseball game, vendors will be selling hot dogs. The average lowest price for a hot dog in the Major League’s ballparks this year was $5.99, but at a Yankees game, they will cost you $6.29, and at a Detroit Tigers game, a dog will set you back, $6.49. However, you can go to HEB and buy a whole pack of 8 for $6.23. Unfortunately, you can’t take these dogs into a ballpark, even on a leash.
What is it that makes hot dogs so appealing? Some say it's salty and fatty without having a strong taste, and they are portable and easy to eat-on-the-go. Usually, they are topped with yellow mustard, ketchup, and relish. Sometimes diced onions and sauerkraut are added, and the famous Chicago-style hotdog contains anything but the kitchen sink. Some say they get their ingredients from the kitchen sink!
Hot dog historians say that Americans did not have the first herd of dogs, so to speak. It was either Frankfurt, Germany, or Vienna, Austria. The latter seems more likely and is where we get the name “wiener” from, because “Wien” means “Wienna’” in German. This is disputed, of course, and some sausage specialists insist that the Germans invented it and that it came from Frankfurt am Main in the 15th century. There is no record of hotdogs or sausages being brought to America on the Mayflower.
Americans not only love their dogs, they have also created memes and myths about them. One of the legends is that they are made from “mystery meat,” and that additives, preservatives, and unknown substances are added. They are not only made from beef, pork, turkey, and chicken but may be made from “byproducts’ like heart, liver, and other organs. However, by using these parts, “it helps to reduce food waste.”
If you keep Kosher or Halal dietary practices, you can have dogs made without pork, and if you have a gluten sensitivity, you can somehow come up with a suitable dog. But remember that “not all hot dogs are created equal,” and some may have health risks associated with them because of preservatives and additives.
Still another myth is that hot dog casings are made from plastic, but that is not true. They are cased in the intestines of pigs, sheep, and cattle. That should make you feel better, and you are not contributing to the earth’s destruction by eating a hot dog.
Hot dogs aren’t mentioned in the Bible, even in the most modern paraphrases or the original Greek. But dogs are (about 41 times) and if someone ate a dog while it was still hot from cooking, it would certainly be a “hot dog.”
You have probably heard the slang expression of a “hot dog,” a showoff, particularly in the sports arena. You can see them at every football game, congratulating themselves by jumping up and down and chest-bumping a teammate.
In Australia, sausages are called "snags," and the word probably comes from a British dialect that meant “a light meal.” But if they put anything extra "on the barbie," it will probably be shrimp and not a snag. I read that “glizzy” is another word for a hot dog and was first used around Washington D.C. area. Glizzy is also slang for a Glock handgun, so there may be some connection.
There is information on the web about Carolina, West Virginia, Alabama, Coney Island, Puka, and many other varieties of hot dogs. I imagine that Joey Chestnut has tried them all. There is even a National Hot Dog and Sausage Council to count how many hot dogs are eaten every year (about 29 billion).
Well, it was a hot dog holiday, so that is enough for now. Soon I’ll probably have another Frank, a Footlong, or perhaps even a Pig in a Blanket.
Karl Franklin
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