July is National Hot Dog Month, a time to honor one of America’s most beloved, misunderstood and delicious foods.
On July 4 alone, Americans consumed an estimated 150 million hot dogs, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council — and that was just in my backyard!
The origin of the hot dog goes way back. Sausages were mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey. The Germans perfected them, bringing frankfurters and wieners to America in the 1800s.
Early sausages were called “dachshund sausages,” due to their resemblance to the long-bodied pup.
As the story goes, a cartoonist at a 1901 baseball game couldn’t spell “dachshund” and labeled them “hot dogs” in his cartoon instead.
The hot dog became iconic at Coney Island in 1871, when German immigrant Charles Feltman began selling sausages in buns from a cart. He eventually built an upscale, full-service restaurant.
It was a former employee of that restaurant, Nathan Handwerker, who truly revolutionized the dog.
In 1916 Nathan opened a humble stand on the boardwalk and sold all-beef, kosher-style hot dogs for a nickel.
Customers were suspicious of their low cost — cheap hot dogs had a reputation for being unsanitary — so Nathan hired men in white coats to pose as doctors to “vouch” for their health benefits.
That stand became Nathan’s Famous.
Nathan’s is now a national brand and home to the world-famous July 4 Hot Dog Eating Contest, where Joey “Jaws” Chestnut just reclaimed his mustard belt by downing 70.5 hot dogs in 10 minutes.
Is there anything more American than “athletes” competing to see who can stuff more food down their gullet?
Nathan changed the hot dog’s reputation, and its popularity blossomed from there.
Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, Americans will consume more than 7 billion hot dogs — about 50,000 every minute.
But no beloved American food can exist without some Americans using their First Amendment rights to attack it.
Nutritionists warn us about nitrates, sodium and saturated fat — and claim one hot dog might take 36 minutes off your life.
Fact check: It’s not that you gain 36 minutes every time you don’t eat a hot dog — your life just seems longer!
Food activists — particularly PETA — claim hot dogs are made with “mystery meat,” such as snouts, lips, hearts and other unmentionables. PETA also claims they may contain “glass, plastic, metal, bone, rodents and other miscellaneous ingredients.”
That sounds like a Harry Potter recipe — and a very tasty one, so long as the dog is grilled to perfection, slathered with mustard and washed down with an ice-cold beer.
Look, the American hot dog is the working-class hero of summer food. It’s portable, cheap and brings people together at ballparks, cookouts and roadside diners.
It was an affordable way for people to feed their families during the high inflation of the past four years.
In these partisan times, we can’t agree on much. But here’s one thing we should agree on: Americans should never put ketchup on their hot dogs!
The great Chicago newspaper columnist Mike Royko, writing from America’s hot dog capital, made that point loud and clear.
To paraphrase Royko, putting ketchup on a hot dog is disgusting and perverted — hey, why not use toenail clippings and cat hair while you’re at it?
Well said, Mike.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a couple of dachshund sausages to tend to on my Weber grill!
Tom Purcell column is distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
