National Hot Dog Day in July celebrates a summertime staple on a bun. Enjoy one piping hot and add some relish and mustard to go! One thing we want to know – is it a sandwich or not?
Celebrated every year during National Hot Dog Month, this day pays homage to the frankfurter, the footlong or wienie, wiener, wienerwurst or even red hot. They taste just as great no matter what we call it.
- Sausage is one of the oldest forms of processed food, having been mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey as far back as the 9th Century B.C.
- Historians believe that its origins can be traced all the way back to era of the notorious Roman emperor Nero, whose cook, Gaius, may have linked the first sausages.
- Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, is traditionally credited with originating the frankfurter. However, this claim is disputed by those who assert that the popular sausage – known as a “dachshund” or “little-dog” sausage – was created in the late 1600’s by Johann Georghehner, a butcher, living in Coburg, Germany. According to this report, Georghehner later traveled to Frankfurt to promote his new product.
- It’s said that the frankfurter was developed there in 1487, five years before Christopher Columbus set sail for the new world. The people of Vienna (Wien), Austria, point to the term “wiener” to prove their claim as the birthplace of the hot dog.
- Also in doubt is who first served the dachshund sausage with a roll. One report says a German immigrant sold them, along with milk rolls and sauerkraut, from a push cart in New York City’s Bowery during the 1860’s.
- In 1871, Charles Feltman, a German butcher opened up the first Coney Island hot dog stand selling 3,684 dachshund sausages in a milk roll during his first year in business.
- There are various theories about where the name “hot dog” actually came from. Some believe it was a holdover from the 1850’s when sausage makers were often accused of using dog meat in their links.
- The most common attribution however, is to a cartoonist named Tad Dorgan, who drew a cartoon depicting the “hot dachshund sausages” being sold at a New York baseball game and called them “hot dogs” because he could not spell dachshund.
- Baseball fans will consume more than 26 million hot dogs at US baseball stadiums this season. That’s enough to circle the bases 36,000 times.
- In honor of the 1996 Olympics, the world’s biggest hot dog was 1,996 feet long, created by Sara Lee Corp.
- The average hot dog is consumed in 6.1 bites. (average sized mouth tested)
- 7-Eleven sells the most grilled hot dogs in North America – 100 million annually.
- NASA has approved hot dogs as a regular item on Apollo moon flights, Skylab missions and space shuttle flights.
- From Memorial Day to Labor Day every year, Americans typically consume 7 billion hot dogs. That’s 818 hot dogs consumed every second.
- U.S. soldiers in military posts around the world consumed 2.4 million hot dogs in 2007.
- New Yorkers eat the most hot dogs, more than any other city in the country.
- According to the National Sausage and Hot Dog Council, the most commonly used condiment is mustard which is the topping preferred by 32% of Americans. The second place finisher, with 23% of the vote is ketchup and chili takes the third place spot with 17% of the vote.
- The year, 1893, was an important date in hot dog history. In Chicago that year, the World’s Columbian Exposition brought hordes of visitors who consumed large quantities of sausages sold by vendors.
- Also in 1893, sausages became the standard fare at baseball parks.
- On July 4th, Americans will enjoy 150 million hot dogs.
- The most expensive hot dog is $169 and was sold by Tokyo Dog (USA) in Seattle, Washington, USA, on 23 February 2014. The ingredients list for the footlong frank would make a Michelin-starred chef blush: the Juuni Ban contains smoked cheese bratwurst, butter Teriyaki grilled onions, Maitake mushrooms, Wagyu beef, foie gras, shaved black truffles, caviar and Japanese mayonnaise, all served up in a brioche bun.
- President Franklin Roosevelt served King George VI of England hot dogs & beer during a White House visit in 1939.
- When Queen Elizabeth II held a royal banquet for the American Bar Association in 1957, she placed hot dogs on the menu.
- First Lady Rosalynn Carter served hot dogs at a White House picnic in 1977.
- The legendary baseball player Babe Ruth reportedly once ate 12 hot dogs and drank 8 bottles of soda between the two games in a double header. Unsurprisingly, he suffered from a severe case of indigestion and was rushed to the hospital.
- Nathan’s dogs were reportedly gangster Al Capone’s favorite food.