If there are two things America loves to do, it’s eat hot dogs and argue about trivial things. Lucky for us, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council is happy to fuel both of our beloved passions.
The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (NHDSC) has, on occasion, dredged up a dispute that has raged between opposing factions of foodies since the dawn of the internet: Is the hot dog a sandwich?
As it turns out, the council has a very strong opinion on the subject: No, it’s not. But it took a few years to come to that conclusion.
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The NHDSC first decided in 2015 that the humble hot dog inhabits “a category unto its own,” despite previously siding with the USDA’s vague definition of a “closed-face sandwich” that placed hot dogs in the sandwich category.
“When it first arrived on American shores from Europe in the late 1800s, it was often referred to as a ‘Coney Island Sandwich’ or ‘Frankfurter sandwich,’” the NHDSC wrote of its decision in 2015. “But much like an ‘ice cream sundae’ is simply referred to as a sundae, terminology changes.”
“Exceeds the sandwich category’
Then, in 2021, the NHDSC once again reiterated its stance — and claimed that the majority of Americans were in agreement.
That year, in honor of National Hot Dog Day, the NHDSC revealed the results of a self-commissioned survey (in partnership with the Cattleman’s Beef Board and its Beef Checkoff campaign) that found that 57% of respondents agreed with the NHDSC that hot dogs were not sandwiches.
“It’s such a relief that Americans are on the same page on these key hot dog beliefs,” said NHDSC President Eric Mittenthal in a press release. “As we’ve said time and time (and time) again … a hot dog is NOT a sandwich. It is in a classification of its own that exceeds the sandwich category.”
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It goes without saying that the NHDSC, which was established by the North American Meat Institute in 1994, clearly has a dog in this fight. But that’s not to say they’re the only major mouthpiece for the meat industry. In 2018, Oscar Meyer publicly announced that hot dogs were indeed sandwiches, seemingly for no other reason than to ignite debate on Twitter.
