Is a hot dog a sandwich? When you think of a sandwich you automatically think of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, or maybe a ham and cheese, possibly a BLT, but a hot dog doesn’t automatically come to mind. I wonder why? When you walk into a fast food restaurant and you’re looking at the menu they have separate categories for hot dogs and sandwiches. By definition a sandwich is “A food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type.” And a hot dog is a grilled or steamed link-sausage where the sausage is served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. So then by definition of both — a sandwich and a hot dog –hot dogs are sandwiches. Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg even weighed in on the situation while talking to Steven Colbert. When debating the situation Colbert asked “Does the roll need to be separated into two parts?” then pointed out that a sub sandwich is as its name implies, a sandwich — and yet, in the case of a sub, the bread is not split apart, he explained. He then asked the question “Is a hot dog a sandwich?” in which she stated, “On your definition, yes, it is.” I then went to the National Hot dog and Sausage Council to see if they had any input in the situation and they stated “It is truly a category unto its own. Limiting the hot dog’s significance by saying it’s ‘just a sandwich’ category is like calling the Dalai Lama ‘just a guy.” They then went on and said “We therefore choose to take a cue from a great performer and declare our namesake be a “hot dog formerly known as a sandwich.” So according to them a hot dog is not a sandwich. When you think about the debate about whether a hot dog is a sandwich the confusion is mainly focused on whether the bread being a split roll instead of two individual pieces makes it a sandwich or not. I think Steven Colbert brought up a good point when he stated subs are still considered sandwiches despite having a split roll which means that hot dogs would fall into the category of being a sandwich. So by definition yes a hot dog can be considered a sandwich, however when you go by the National Hot dog Association and Sausage Council and check the USDA definition of a sandwich it causes a grey area in the debate for those who believe it is a sandwich. So the verdict in the debate is a hot dog a sandwich is……undetermined. But what do you think is a hot dog a sandwich?
Clarke Mann