Hot Dogs
A staple of summer BBQ’s and small children everywhere, the Hot Dog had a strange and twisted route to fame and fortune. While the specific history of the hot dog is uncertain, there are some interesting moments that lead to the treat we know and love today. Sausages have a long and celebrated history. One of the earliest ways to utilize otherwise unattractive bits of meat, sausages were popular in Europe centuries ago. The Hot Dog though is an American Phenomenon.
The Frankfurter was invented in Germany in the city of Frankfurt. In the late 1600’s Johann Georghehner made the first “dachshunds” or little dogs and took them to Frankfurt to promote. In a contrasting story the people of Vienna, named Wien in Austrian, point to their town’s name to validate their claim that the “wiener” actually originated there. No matter the true origin, it is most likely that the hot dog started out as sausages brought to the Americas with European immigrants in the 1800s.
It is in 1893 that the modern Hot Dog starts its journey. The world fair took place in Chicago that year and it is recorded that sausages were extremely popular at the time. Additionally, sausages made it into the baseball fields that same year, but it isn’t until 1904, at the St. Louis “Louisiana Purchase Fair’ that the buns were added. It seems that a sausage vendor loaned his patrons gloves with which to eat the hot sausages. Unfortunately most of the gloves never returned. The gloveless vendor asked his brother-in-law, a baker to provide him with some buns in which to serve the treats, to avoid the glove problem, and an American legend was born. The name may have come from a simple spelling deficit; after all, how many people can spell dachshund correctly? Reportedly a vendor who couldn’t manage the spelling settled for dog.
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The term Hot Dog began to appear in the 1890s as well. Yale sold the product at its dorms from “dog wagons” to their hungry hordes of students. It is also likely that the name was begun as a sarcastic comment about the origins of the meat that went into the product, bit of humor that remains to this day. The truth remains that although the government has very specific guidelines about what goes into a hot dog, people still view them as humorously near the bottom of the food chain.
Hot dogs are an American icon at this point. While attempts have been made to try to create a more nutritious hot dog, few people take tofu dogs seriously. You won’t find any served at the ball park or when the carnival comes to town. The royalty of the competitive eating world, hot dogs have achieved a sort of panache that is rare for such comfort food. If you have never seen a small, skinny Japanese man eat more than 40 hot dogs in twelve minutes, you haven’t lived.
Hot Dogs and their condiment variations are very regional. A Chicago dog is covered with relish, onions, mustard, sport peppers and a pickle. In Boston you will get mustard and relish. Head to LA and you will get a foot long that is steamed or grilled on top of a steamed bun. No matter where you go though, the hot dog is a true American favorite.
