It’s National Hot Dog Day!
And that’s big news here at The Relish
It’s an exciting day for two reasons: 1) I finally got to use the hot dog photo I pulled a U-turn for in the Catskills. 2) It’s National Hot Dog Day! Alli and I have compiled a collection of fun hot dog facts, some awesome links to fancy toppings to dress up your dogs, and some of our stadium hot dog favorites from across the nation. Without further ado, let’s start with a few hot dog fun facts.
1. Hot Dog season lasts from the unofficial start of summer, Memorial Day, until the unofficial end of summer, Labor Day. During this time about 20 billion hot dogs are consumed, which means more than 800 hot dogs per second are eaten in the U.S.
2. National Hot Dog Day has been celebrated since the 1950s. Check out some more facts about hot dogs from International Business Times here!
3. Moving on to Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. Congrats to this year’s champions, Joey Chestnut (this name is dropped at our dinner table more than you can imagine...lookin’ at you Noah!) and Miki Sudo! My research on this contest turned up some pretty interesting scandals and made me realize that business sites seriously love hot dog-related stories. But back to the facts!
4. Nine times as many people tuned in to last year’s hot dog contest as watched the Wimbledon finals. Does that mean this story will get nine times the views of our Wimbledon article??! We’ll let you know!
5. In the 100 years of the contest, the winning hot dog-eating count has more than quadrupled. Athletes are always pushing themselves to the next level.
6. On to facts about the Weinermobile! According to this article from Mental Floss (one of my favorites), we all should apply to attend Hot Dog High:
“Since resurrecting the marketing campaign, Oscar Mayer has trained aspiring Wienermobile drivers at Hot Dog High in Madison, Wisconsin. The company receives 1,000 to 1,500 applications for the 12 available positions annually, typically from college graduates looking for a road trip experience. Those selected for duty are given 40 hours of instruction and assigned a different region of the country. The company tracks their routes with a GPS.”
And did you know that the Wienermobile Once Crashed Into a House? “Though it can be challenging to pilot an enormous hot dog, most Wienermobiles log mileage without incident. A rare exception: a 2009 accident near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when a driver attempted to back the vehicle out of a residential driveway, thought she was in reverse, but shot forward and bored into an unoccupied home.”
7. Now on to the amazing toppings to dress your dogs with! I received countless texts from Alli, containing images from the pages of Bon Appétit magazine’s “8 Creative New Hot Dog Toppings that Put Ketchup and Mustard to Shame” article. Let me tell ya, I was IMPRESSED! Holy tamole, check this link (and look above) out to start getting fancy with your dogs ASAP!
8. And last but not least: Stadium favorites from across the nation!
What you see above are a Phillies’ Chicago Dog (left) and a Washington Nationals Ben’s Half Smoke (right). We don’t even understand how something can be a Phillies and Chicago dog at the same time, but what we want is both of these hot dogs and we want them now. So while we go stuff pepperoncini peppers and chili into our faces — you can check out these, along with 21 other stadium favorites from Delish here.
And before we sign off, one more quick shout-out on National Hot Dog Day to our favorite little hot dog in the world, our pup, Mr. Wilson.
And don’t forget to share how YOU take your hot dog with us by posting with #therelish and #howItakemydog and we will send you this very chic hot dog pin!
Have an awesome day full of hot dogs! Until next time…
