Nuffnang

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Yikes...Man eats dog

Warning! The following content may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.

I have been hearing some very disturbing rumours about men (women and children too!) eating dog. Wait, don't panic, hold your horses. Let me do some sniffing and digging among the humans to see if there is any truth in it first.
It really is quite exciting to play detective - just like the famous Sherlock Holmes. Together with Dr Watson (aka. mum), my sidekick, we digged out some information on the internet and reviewed the evidence. Here's what we found out:

1)This dog is apparently one of America's favourite foods (gasp!).
2)Every year, Americans consume on average 60 dogs (yikes!)
3)There is a dog stand on almost every street corner in New York City
4)The dog is sold in every baseball game and amusement park
5)Coney Island has its very own Coney sauce for its dog
6)There are dog eating contests
7)Dogs are very popular during summer BBQs

Yes, you guessed it - it's the hot dog (also known as the sausage, frankfurter or wiener)!


Joke aside, the dog series has given me the opportunity to carry out some digging and learn some new information (do take it with a pinch of salt coz not everything on the net is true). I for one, was curious about how the famous hot dog got its name and what, if any, are the linkages of the "dog of the food variety" to the "dog of the canine variety".

Well, the origin is unclear. There are many myths, a popular (but disputable) one refers to a cartoon by a newspaper cartoonist, Thomas Aloysius "TAD" Dorgan. He apparently illustrated the sale of frankfurters by a food concessionaire, Harry Stevens at a New York Giants game back in the 1900's with a drawing of a daschund (probably just like Lorenza) between buns. And because he couldn't spell frankfurter, he called them "hot dogs".

There may be a darker history to the hot dog. Apparently, the link between sausages and dogs may go as far back as the 19th century in the US. Barry Popik of the American Dialect Society who supposedly did extensive research on this matter found a popular song of 1860:

Oh where oh where has my little dog gone?
Oh where oh where can he be?
Now sausage is good, baloney, of course.
Oh where oh where can he be?
They make them of dog, they make them of horse,
I think they made them of he.


Of course, the hot dogs of today aren't made of dogs. They better not be...GRR...Instead, most are made with pork, beef or chicken and served with a tantalising range of condiments ranging from mustard, tomato sauce, saurkraut, chilli peppers, etc, etc. If you fancy a simple recipe to spice up an ordinary dog, check out Mama's "Vienna Sausage Wrapped with Bacon, Homemade Onion Rings and Potato Salad" recipe.

Bon appetit!

P.S. This post was inspired by the comment left by Dughallmor Beagles on my last post. Thanks guys!

"Dog" Series
1. It's a dog's life
2. Fighting like cats and dogs(Beagle Identity Crisis)
3. Gone to the dogs
4. Let sleeping dogs lie
5. It's dogged as does it
6. The Underdog (vs. Top dog) (The Awesome Blog Award Nomination)
7. Every Dog Has Its Day
8. Dog Star

18 comments:

Unknown said...

Of course ... we knew it right away: hot dogs. "Chicago red hots" are famous ... it's a Chicago-style dog -- pure BEEF, not DOG! -- with everything on it: mustard, tomatoes, onions, relish, pickles, hot peppers. BUT HOLD THE KETCHUP! PS H-Mom will not eat a HOT DOG. She knows what's really in them, and that goes for most of the stuff in the deli counter ...

Dughallmor Beagles said...

Hot-diggity-dawg SherlocKess.....you are one super sleuth, great detective work! Another very interesting and informative post....and your sidekick's recipe is making Mum drool all over the keyboard!
Drooly slobbers xx

Lorenza said...

Ooops! Do you think I have to go on hidding??
Kisses and hugs
Lorenza

Sapphire said...

hot DOG.. mmmmMMM

in some places, they call it 3,6. Add numbers together (in cantonese) and you'll get the answer.

;o)
H and S

Agatha and Archie said...

Ooohhhh that picture has us drooling..we were a bit worried at first! Lvoe A+A

Thor and Jack said...

I'm getting hungry. What a food delicious!
Happy weekend, Kess!

xoxoxo
Thor

Gennasus said...

Well, we're familiar with hot dogs but knew nothing of the history so thanks for the lesson!

I now have justification for spending hours on the computer.....blogging broadens the mind!

KEY WEST COLLIES said...

That was a dog gone good story. When started to think about where we could hide, but relaxed after reading more of the story.

Essex & Deacon

Anonymous said...

Hi Kess! What a relief that you were only talking about hot dogs! Good job sniffing and digging out their history!

See ya!
Joey and Zeke

Martha said...

Hi Kess
Great piece of detective work there! We were so relieved to discover hot dogs were not, in fact, dogs!
We thought we had better lay low since a lot of people refer to us as 'sausage' dogs.
Dont be giving them any ideas we say!
love
Martha & Bailey xx
Bassets not Sausages!

Molly the Airedale said...

You had us going there for a minute, Kess!
We were at Glenwood for dindin tonight and guess what dad had to eat? Yup, a hotdog! And did he share any with us? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - but he and mom did share fries and ice cream!

Love ya lots,
Maggie and Mitch

Kathryn and Ari said...

We like tofu pups. Do those count, too?

Anonymous said...

Hot Dogs...oh...oh...I should've guessed it!

I always wondered why they called it hot dog. Thanks for the clarification (however dark truth may be, a true detective never flinches in calling a dog a dog...or...was it...something to do with a spade?)

I must thank you for your wonderful dog-gy posts:)

Licks n wags,
Oorvi

Twinkle a.k.a Chicken Little said...

*drooling*
*wiping*


slurpy licks,
Twinkle

Princess Patches said...

We heard a story on Animal Planet that hot dogs are named after Daschunds even though there is no actual dog in them! We don't know if it's true! We have heard that people used to eat dog in Korea, but we don't know if that's true either!

Aire-hugs,
Poppy, Penny & Patches

Honey said...

Oh Yikes! You scared us there for a few minutes....but upon further reading...then I got drooly on the delicious potential of the food pics!
Cheers,Honey
www.supertrooperhoney.blogspot.com

bokjae said...

I know thee is a catch some where! haha! Hey Kess can you please change my url to Walk of Life? I no longer post on my old blogger! thanks!

Lucy The Great Dane said...

Awesome post. There are all sorts of famous hot dogs. We are big fans of Coney Island Dogs or coney dogs for short. For those that do not know coney sauce is a meat sauce sort of like chili but not quite.

Thanks for signing my guest book.