Long before there were hamburgers and milkshakes, there were - hot dogs*. Yes, you got that right. The world's first fast food was the humble ballpark hot dog.

The origin of the hot dog sausage

The sausage, it seems, has always been a favourite food of humankind. It was a favourite fare back in the time of the Romans, and it certainly was a treat to King George VI (1895-1952) who ate his first hot dog in 1939 at a picnic organised by the Roosevelts in Hyde Park*.

The history of the baseball stadium/pavement stall hot dog can be traced to the year 850 B.C. where it was mentioned in Homer's "Odyssey":

"As when a man besides a great fire has filled a sausage with fat and blood and turns it this way and that and is very eager to get it quickly roasted..."

It is said that Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar's cook discovered the first wiener some time around 64 A.D. Back then it was the custom to starve pigs for a week before slaughtering, so as to ensure that it would be clean and fit for eating. One roast pig that passed through Gaius's kitchen had apparently bypassed the cleaning process. Gaius slit the pig's belly to check if the pig was fit to eat, and was duly surprised when the pig's intestines popped out, puffed out and hollow. He exclaimed, "I have discovered something of great importance", stuffed the intestines with ground venison and bround beef mixed with cooked ground wheat and spices, and tied them into sections - and voila, the first wiener was born.

At the time, sausages were associated with a Roman festival called Lupercalian. Since this Lupercalian Festival was celebrated on February 14th and 15th, was the predecessor of the modern-day Valentine's Day, and included a sexual initiation rite, it is hardly surprising that when Catholicism arose and Constantine the Great embraced Christianity in 325 A.D., he completely banned sausage consumption.

Needless to say, the sausage was not seen again* until the 15th century when the Germans in Frankfurt developed the frankfurter - thick, soft, fatty sausages that Constantine would have hated. The modern-day sausage only came into being in the 1690s, however. It was created by a German butcher named Johann Georghehner, who subsequently went to Frankfurt to promote this new food.

German immigrants brought frankfurters with them to the U.S. in the 1860s, where they were sold with milk rolls and sauerkrauts from a push cart in New York City's Bowery. It was there that the frankfurter would evolve into the hot dog that we all know today.

How the frankfurter acquired a bun

In 1880, a German named Antonoine Feuchtwanger was peddling hot sausages in the streets of St. Louis, Missouri. His sausage business was not going well - because the sausages were piping hot, he felt obliged to provide a white glove with each purchase so that customers hands and fingers would not get burned. This, of course, did nothing to raise his profits. His more practical wife suggested that he cut costs by putting the sausages in a split bun - which his baker brother-in-law dutifully supplied in the form of long soft rolls that fit the meat.

Despite H. L. Mencken's derogatory description of them as "same rubber, indigestible pseudo-sausages that millions of Americans now eat, and they leaked the same flabby mustard", these hot dogs (called "red hots") did extremely well in the American society. Visitors who went to the Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 consumed massive quantities of them; in the same year, these red hots became the standard fare at baseball parks* (and would continue to do so until today).

Hot dogs?

Nobody is entirely certain where the word "hot dog" originated. It is said that in 1902 a sports cartonist by the name of Tad Dorgan was at a Giants baseball game, desperate for ideas as his deadline approached - when he heard concessionaire Harry M. Stevens cry out, "They're red hot! Get your hot dachshund sausages while they're red hot!" Inspiration struck, and he hastily drew a cartoon of barking dachshund sausages nestled warmly in rolls. However, his spelling was none too good - a problem he solved by simply writing "hot dogs!" (this cartoon was, alas, never found)

Other sources credit Adolf Gehring as the inventor of the term "hot dog". According to this legend, Gehring, a food and drink vendor at a St. Louis ball game, had run out of ware and was forced to visit a baker to buy bread, and the butcher for sausages and wieners. The baker had only long dinner rolls, which the desperate Gehring bought. Having cooked the meat on a portable wood stove, he started making his rounds in the park. One man apparently hollered, "Give me one of those damn hot dogs", and soon practically everybody else in the crowd were calling out for "hot dogs".

Of course, these stories are apocryphal, and we may never know the truth. But does it matter? Somewhere, somehow, someone thought of the name - and thanks them, the "hot dog" today refers not to a canine in heat* or one that has been stuck on a spit, but a fat, juicy sausage nestled in a bun with mustard, ketchup and sauerkraut - one that even the King of England was not too prim and proper to enjoy.

What's in today's hot dog?

Thanks to Quality Management and Quality Assurance, the contents of today's frankfurters are regulated by law. Traditional meat hot dogs are made of beef, pork, veal, chicken or turkey and are permitted to contain up to 30 percent fat and 10 percent added water. They come in both the skin and skinless variety. There is also the vegetarian tofu hot dog for those who abstain from eating meat but would nevertheless like to enjoy a 'dog'. The size varies from frank to frank - the smallest being cocktail weiners (two inches long) to foot-long franks (Viking Hotdogs come in this length), although you would normally find six-inch-long franks in your local cold storage in packs of ten.

There are basically four hot dog terms regulated by law:

• Beef/All-Beef: sausages of this kind contain only beef, with no soybean protein or dry milk solid fillers added
• Kosher all-beef: this type of sausage is usually heavily seasoned with garlic
• Meat: this refers to sausages made up of a mixture of pork and beef, usually in a 40%:60% ratio. No fillers
• Frankfurter: the most common. This may contain up to 3.5 percent fillers, and is made from a combination of meats.

Hot dog buns and garnishing will differ from place to place. However, the law has regulated these hot dog style terms:

• Chicago dogs: this type of hot dog is served on a poppy seed bun and is garnished with yellow mustard, dark green relish, chopped raw onions, tomato slices, celery salt.
• Kansas City dogs: these come with sauerkraut and melted Swiss cheese, on a sesame seed bun.
• New York City dogs: these contain steamed onions and pale yellow mustard.
• Coney Island dogs: created by the Original Coney Island company*, this type of dog comes topped with a spicy meat mixture.
• Southern slaw dogs: these are probably the only ones to come with coleslaw.
• Corn dogs: these are placed on a stick, dipped in corn bread batter and deep-fried.
• Tex-Mex dogs: these are topped with salsa, Monterey Jack cheese and chopped jalapeño peppers.
• Pigs in a Blanket: these come wrapped in pastry and are baked. More commonly known as plain sausage buns.
• Baltimore Frizzled: split and deep-fried.
• Lilies/Lilliputians: these cocktail-sized sausages are usually served as appetizer, and come with a sauce of some sort.

Endnote: Where can one get a hot dog today?

The answer is: anywhere! There are plenty of fast food restaurants that sell hot dogs these days - A&W, 1901 Hotdogs... and of course, the Original Coney Island. There are still plenty of hot dog stands on the pavement everywhere. Ballparks are a good place to go to if you want traditional ball game hot dogs. But unlike in the old days when you had to go out to a stand to buy a hot dog from a vendor, you can simply pick up a pack of franks - plain, stuffed with cheese, you name it - from the cold storage these days, or canned cocktail weiners from the shelves and make your own at home. Most supermarkets also carry hot dog buns in the bread section. Not to mention mustard, ketchup, sauerkraut and practically everything else you need. And, unlike olden times, recipes for sausages and franks are now available everywhere from traditional recipe books to Internet websites. Your craving no longer has to be fulfilled by walking out of the house.

And yet... sometimes a hot dog still tastes so much better at a ballgame than at home.

Chicago-style Hot Dogs and Hot Dog Stands

Hot Dog Stands and Other Street Foods, New York City, USA

Stradley, L. 2002.
History and legends of hot dogs.

History of the Hot Dog.

Hot Dogs, Weiners & Frankfurters Part 2: Are they pork, beef or a mix? That depends.