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Hi, it s David here.
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This is just a quick note before we start the episode, I wanted to let you know that Flightless Bird is taking a little break after this episode, returning in February next year.
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February the 6th to be exact.
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I wanted to say a big thanks for listening this year, I get a lot of feedback through email and DMs, and while I can t get back to all of you
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It s always really great to hear your point of view on the episodes that have just gone out, and your ideas for future episodes.
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I love hearing from you, and I really can t wait to get stuck in again next year.
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You re about to listen to episode 71 of Flightless Bird, so maybe while we re on a break you can go back and revisit some of the old ones.
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I think episode 1 about religion is really fun.
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So is episode 11 about circumcision.
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Episode 20, we did porn, and that goes places.
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Or there s maths, or toilets, or Waffle House, or Waco.
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I also wanted to give a big thanks to everyone who works on this show.
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Rob, our producer, editors Billy and Jake, and Jake and Matt who score every episode.
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It s a really tiny team, and I sort of can t believe we get this thing out every week, so thanks to them.
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And of course, a big thanks to Monica, who I get to hang out with every week, and Dax, who gives us the space to do our own thing.
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I really love discovering America with my little team, and most importantly with you, who listens to this show.
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Thanks, and have a happy holiday.
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I m David Farrier, a New Zealander accidentally marooned in America, and I want to figure out what makes this country tick.
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Now, the obvious answer to this question is, of course, food.
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Food makes America tick, because without food, there d be no Americans.
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But it s the food that America chooses to consume that s fascinating to me, and consume it to a level that boggles the mind.
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with 62 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes.
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For his 16th win, I give you the number one ranked eater in the world, Gary Chestnut!
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That clip was from ESPN, who covered an American man named Joey Chestnut winning his 16th Nathan s Hot Dog Eating Contest.
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62 hot dogs downed in 10 minutes.
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It s extreme.
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But then the average American doesn t feel that far behind.
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Because Americans eat 20 billion hot dogs each year.
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Average that out, and the average American eats 70 hot dogs each year.
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So grab that wiener and bun and prepare to cover it in mustard, ketchup, onions, relish and cheese and all sorts of stuff because this is the Hot Dogs episode.
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How s it going Monica?
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Well, I m grateful we re doing this episode, because I do think hot dogs are extremely American.
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They re so American.
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Did you have them in New Zealand?
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Yeah, we have hot dogs.
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If you order a hot dog in New Zealand, you ll get a wiener on a stick, which here is a corn dog.
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So that gets confusing.
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But yeah, we definitely have them, but they re not as much in our culture as they are here.
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I guess the equivalent to the American hot dog would be the mince pie, which I bought you on a while ago.
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That s our kind of like unhealthy, delicious thing that we eat.
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I do love a hot dog.
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My mom loves hot dogs.
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So I associate hot dogs a lot with my mother.
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Yeah, you d grow up and have like hot dogs on weekends and stuff.
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But also we had the processed, you know, the brand that I won t say so we don t get in trouble, but has a fun rhyme song to it.
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I can t stop reading about hot dogs, and so that was that brand.
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There s the Wienermobile, which is a fleet of motor vehicles shaped like a hot dog on a bun, and they ve been around since 1936.
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Wow.
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Yeah, they re a big...
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They re like the thing.
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They re the thing.
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And we would have those hot dogs constantly.
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My mom would just, I guess like boil them or microwave them.
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Like we would just eat them all the time.
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Like the classic, you cut up hot dogs and eat with ketchup.
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I had that meal so often growing up.
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Do you still today, having eaten so many hot dogs in your life already, like, do you still enjoy them?
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Are you ever drawn to the hot dog or are you like, I m done with it now?
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I am drawn, but if I m at a cookout, I normally am choosing the burger over the hot dog.
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Yeah, right.
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Yeah.
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But if I am at a sporting event, like a baseball game specifically, gotta have the hot dog.
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I think I had one with you, Rob, right?
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We had a hot dog at a game a while ago, and they re pretty nasty.
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They re a very basic soggy dog, aren t they?
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I wouldn t say soggy.
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I felt like the hot dog, the sausage bit was like, I felt like it had just definitely come out of the water.
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It felt wet.
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At the baseball game?
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At the game.
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It felt wet.
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I just remember eating this dog and thinking it feels damp.
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I feel like hot dogs are very specific at baseball games.
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I m like, maybe you ll get a stale bun.
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I don t feel at all like the hot dog at a baseball game is wet.
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I had one wet, bad dog.
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Schnauzer.
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It was raining that day, so maybe.
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Maybe it was, yeah, maybe it just got rained on.
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It just got rained on.
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This is slightly on a tangent and probably wildly out of date by the time we release this, but I came across a funny
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thing during the rounds where Uber Eats is generating AI-generated food.
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And the food images, like instead of getting stock images of a pizza, they re getting AI to do it.
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And because it s AI, it s kind of messing up.
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And so these foods are popping up as ads on Uber Eats, and they re all a bit warped and a bit wrong.
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So there ll be like a pizza, but it looks like it s off.
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Like it looks like a dessert.
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So the AI is kind of messing it up.
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Anyway, that s some new food news.
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Well, I m really excited to hear about your adventures.
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So you and Rob went out eating hot dogs.
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I m a little, okay.
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Like what the fuck?
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It was a boys trip.
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Sometimes boys just need to be boys.
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We were out there talking about babes and stuff and cars.
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You had to eat wieners.
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We had to man stuff, you know?
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2023 and you are not to do that.
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Like really.
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So that s not a good excuse.
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It was disgusting.
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So yeah, this is our journey into the world of the hot dog.
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Look, I m sorry to do that to you, but early on in researching hot dogs I was reminded of 90s nu metal band Limp Bizkit and their seminal album Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavoured Water.
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The reference to the hot dog flavoured water was apparently a nod to Crystal Geyser bottled water, which the band joked tasted like meaty hot dogs.
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Ding ding ding to the bottled water episode of Flightless Bird.
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For this episode, it seemed like a good idea to just go experience some hot dogs.
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As in a bun, the wiener, sauce, the mustard, all the stuff.
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Now, in New Zealand, if you order a hot dog, you re likely to get a fried sausage on a stick, which in America I think you call a corn dog.
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Ding ding ding to the Disney episode.
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So, on a warm sluggish LA day, Rob picked me up and he grimaced with a slight level of disgust, but also intrigue, as I suggested we go to Pink s.
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Pink s is a Hollywood landmark.
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Started by Paul and Betty Pink in 1939, today it serves about 2,000 hot dogs a day.
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It s not a place for hardcore foodies, but Rob was in a kind mood and said yes.
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And so 15 minutes later we pulled up outside Pink s, which as the name suggests is very pink.
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What are your initial thoughts on Pink s?
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Describe this place in Los Angeles.
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All I really know about it is it s famous for their hot dogs and there s always a big line.
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The line today is mild, and we look at our options.
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There are a lot of dogs here.
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Classic stretch chili dog, the Brando dog, bacon chili cheese dog, Polish pastrami dog.
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This feels like it s all about the filling almost.
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It s almost what goes in is important, because these are huge.
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Yeah, I m a little overwhelmed with all these options.
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They look good.
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They ve got a Chicago Polish sausage.
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Hello, they got a Lord of the Rings.
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That s right up my alley.
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Is that what you re gonna get?
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I think I might have to.
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It looks like it s covered in onion rings.
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My stomach hurts a little bit already from looking at these photos though.
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I get the Lord of the Rings dog and Rob gets the bacon chili cheese dog.
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No tomatoes.
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Can I get no tomatoes on that?
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On the side we get some onion rings and some bacon nachos with cheese.
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And some cream sodas.
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Good lord.
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Heart attack coming up.
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We walk to our tables out the back, passing an assortment of signed celeb photos on the wall.
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American celebs who have attended Pink s.
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It s always nice to know you re dining where one day, years ago, possibly decades ago, a famous person also dined.
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I noticed Pink s is also selling merchandise.
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Another very American thing that fast food chains seem to do here.
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And speaking of American, are hot dogs American?
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Well, the wieners you find in the hot dog originally came from Germany, but America took to them with gusto, and the hot dog became a go-to for America s working class.
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It s rumored the bun element was added in 1901 in New York, when a vendor ran out of paper to hold the sausages in.
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According to Wikipedia, which should not be the source of all knowledge, but it s also very, very handy, hot dogs are now a traditional element of American food culture.
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having obtained significant cultural and patriotic status from their association with public events and sports since the 1920s.
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And today, as I look around Pink s, it s sort of nice seeing everyone enjoying the same thing.
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Hot dogs.
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There are couples here, and tourists, and parents with their kids, and me and Rob.
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I go and talk to Anthony, who s just sitting alone, but looks utterly satisfied.
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Just them and their dog.
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What do you like about Pink s?
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What do you like about this place?
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Oh, I ve been coming to Pink s since about 1969.
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Since I was young.
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But if anyone asks, I m only 32.
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Who brought you here?
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What was your first experience like at Pink s?
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Do you remember?
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I think I came with one of my girlfriends back then.
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I was pretty young and we came here and I brought her out to eat.
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And I ve been coming here ever since.
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What makes their hot dogs good?
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They make their hot dogs special for them.
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You know, you go to the market, you get those skinny little hot dogs that don t taste very good.
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These are really good.
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What is it about the hot dog that makes it such an American meal?
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Gee, I don t know.
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You know, every time you go to a baseball game, they don t serve hamburgers, they serve hot dogs, you know?
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I guess it s the American favorite.
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I wander over to another table.
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There s a couple in their mid-30s, Paige and Spencer, and they ve brought their dad, Greg, out for a hot dog.
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Well, I ve actually never been here, and it s been about 10 years since I ve lived in LA, so I figured I gotta do it, you know, I gotta try it out.
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So this is your first trip here?
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This is my first trip, yeah.
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You ve got a beautiful hot dog in front of you.
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Can you sort of describe what you ve ordered and what s sitting in front of you there?
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So I got the Brando, which is a nine-inch stretch hot dog with mustard, chili, onions, and cheddar cheese.
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And I ll let you know how it is right now.
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biting into it.
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It s a big hot dog.
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It s layered in chili, cheese.
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It s intense.
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You got it in there.
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How are you feeling?
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I feel complete now.
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Victory sirens.
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It is a very American kind of pastime.
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I honestly couldn t tell you where it was actually invented.
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It s also super easy and a lot you can do with it as there s like so many different types here, so it s kind of fun.
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What would you say?
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I think it s simple and it s something we could call ours, you know.
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The pizza, we can t say that.
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I don t know, the hamburgers from Hamburg, although we call it ours.
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But yeah, I think we just
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We love it.
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Just quickly, you ve got a much healthier dog.
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You ve sort of almost got some vegetables on here.
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What s going on?
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Well, I was going to get exactly what my girlfriend got.
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And then I figured I d get something else, which is the Chicago dog, which they say drag it through the garden.
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It s got all sorts of like the tomato and usually it s pickle.
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This is a little different, but I said that way we could share.
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And then she said, Oh, I m not sharing.
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I don t share my hot dog.
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We ve been together for six years.
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I didn t know that.
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This is my dad.
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He s visiting.
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What do you think of your hot dog here?
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It looks like there s been a few bites you ve taken.
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What do you think?
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Delicious.
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Best one I ve had today.
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I see our hot dogs have just been delivered to our table, so rush back to see Rob.
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I m hungry.
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And these hot dogs are stacked.
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It s more condiments than hot dog.
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There s almost so much on these that they almost, you know, it s going to just be a disgusting mess to eat.
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But there s no way to get your mouth around this, right?
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No, it s like full appetizer on a hot dog.
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Yeah, I ve just got onion rings and sauce stacked all over mine.
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You ve got a lot of bacon, a lot of chili, a lot of real nasty cheese.
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Yeah, unmelted crap cheese.
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I mean, the cheese is kind of overpowering everything, that s all I m tasting.
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It s a hot dog, it s good.
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Oh, and the sides.
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My god, the sides.
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I mean, can you describe what is sitting here?
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You got this as like a side, essentially.
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What the fuck is this?
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French fries with four pounds of cheese, it looks like, melted on top, like nacho cheese, and a ton of bacon crumbled all over it.
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Americans do love cheese.
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Like, cheese has come into a few of these episodes now.
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It s a popular thing here.
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I mean, cheese is great.
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You should do an episode about cheese in Wisconsin.
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Next time you re in the Midwest.
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Upcoming episode alert.
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Cheeseheads.
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Eventually, me and Robert Dunn.
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We re at capacity.
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We re wrecked.
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We re full.
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Full of bread and sausage and cheese and onions and bacon and God knows what else.
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Just like many things in America, everything s delicious.
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But I am worried that it is slowly taking days and weeks and months off my life.
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You get that feeling, right?
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Yeah, I feel like we re dying a week earlier after this meal, for sure.
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At least.
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And you know what?
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Today, it feels like a price worth paying.
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It was really delicious.
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Would you go back to Pink s Row?
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Or just once in your life?
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I wanna go, I ve never been, and it s been on my list.
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It s at LA Institution.
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I ll go back there with you.
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Rob s out, he s done.
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He s too.
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Yeah, I think once was enough.
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It s the foodie and I m talking.
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A couple of things.
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Yeah.
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I came across a video on YouTube called How It s Made, Hot Dogs.
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Oh, yeah.
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And I suggest you Google that at home and watch it.
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I m just gonna play it for you, Monica.
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Okay.
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Just a little bit of it.
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The mechanics of hot dog making.
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To create a homogenous mixture, the ingredients are combined in a large mixing tank.
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This mixture is then loaded into a sausage stuffer, which creates a continuous stream of hot dog meat.
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I mean, this is how all sausage is made, by the way.
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Yeah, you just, you forget sometimes about, it s sort of a slurry.
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It is.
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It s nasty.
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It s nasty.
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The wiener, the sausage, it s really nasty stuff.
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I know, but it tastes so good.
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Well, you know what, Monica?
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What, David?
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I ve been recording a Costco episode for a while.
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Oh!
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And just before I got here, I met up with your friend Andy.
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Andy Rosen!
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Our friend Andy now, who is a big Costco enthusiast.
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Yes he is.
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So he took me for my first Costco experience, which will be an upcoming episode.
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I can t wait for that.
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But of course, Costco, I learned, has the cafeteria and the $1.50 hot dog.
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People are obsessed with it.
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Did you have it?
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They re obsessed.
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I had it.
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And?
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And I, well, I bought some in for you.
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You did?
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Yeah.
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So I m just going to abandon my mic.
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That s really nice.
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Thank you.
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I thought it s crazy to do a hot dog episode without letting you have a hot dog.
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I really am grateful.
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And we had just had Jersey Mike s, but I am still excited.
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Oh, wow.
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Do we have condiments?
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Oh, look at you.
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Okay, this is controversial.
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What do you put on your hot dog?
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Do we get into this?
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No, we can get into it now.
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I want to know.
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So I will say that Costco dog has been sitting in the car for about three hours now.
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But look, I just want you to have a hot dog in your hand.
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I appreciate it.
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I m going to take a photo of you.
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I m going to take a photo where you ve got that dog.
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OK, this will be a controversial photo because I m choosing... You ve got the ketchup.
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You ve got the Heinz.
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I m a mustard Heinz combo.
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SPEAKER_04
Wait, you mean you like both?
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I like both.
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I ll put the mustard and the tomato sauce on.
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I might do both, but I used to, as a kid, I would only do ketchup.
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I was like, ew, mustard.
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The older you get though, you realize it s childish to like mustard.
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I mean, I m sorry, ketchup.
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I just like ketchup.
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Yeah, it s so sweet.
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Allison Roman would be mad at me for putting, she will be mad at me for putting,
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But I feel like this is like, a hot dog can be a happy place.
1
SPEAKER_03
You can be a child and you can just live your best life, you know?
1
SPEAKER_03
That s probably been in my fridge for a while.
1
SPEAKER_04
Is it old?
1
SPEAKER_03
No, it s not old.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s not by us it s used by.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s fine.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, it ll be all right.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, it s good.
1
SPEAKER_04
It is passed.
1
SPEAKER_04
No, is it?
1
SPEAKER_04
But only barely.
1
SPEAKER_03
By how much?
1
SPEAKER_04
This is passed by a month.
1
SPEAKER_03
Oh, that s all right.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s fine.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, it ll be all right.
1
SPEAKER_04
I think it s fine.
1
SPEAKER_04
It s all, it s all.
1
SPEAKER_03
It s refrigerated.
1
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_03
It ll have a lot of chemicals in there.
1
SPEAKER_04
Exactly.
1
SPEAKER_04
Yeah.
1
SPEAKER_04
All right.
1
SPEAKER_03
Here we go.
2
SPEAKER_01
of the hot dog.
2
SPEAKER_01
How is it?
2
SPEAKER_02
It s really good.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s good, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, dog s really good.
2
SPEAKER_01
So it s $1.50 at Costco for one of these things.
2
SPEAKER_02
I feel like it s an all beef hot dog.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s all beef, yeah.
2
SPEAKER_02
Which is good.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think so.
2
SPEAKER_01
I just googled the whole Costco $1.50 phenomenon
2
SPEAKER_01
When longtime Costco president W. Craig Jelinek once complained to Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim that their monolithic warehouse business was losing money on their famously cheap $1.50 hot dog and soda package, Senegal enlisted, nodded, and then did his best to make his take on the situation perfectly clear.
2
SPEAKER_01
If you raise the price of the fucking hot dog, I will kill you, Senegal said.
2
SPEAKER_01
So figure it out.
2
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
2
SPEAKER_01
And that s sort of taken on, I mean, this like does around every couple of years of story, but it s such like a great bit of Costco myth making.
2
SPEAKER_02
Doesn t Costco also have pizza?
2
SPEAKER_01
They do.
2
SPEAKER_01
This Costco episode is going to be fun.
2
SPEAKER_01
It was so delicious.
2
SPEAKER_01
I ate so much.
2
SPEAKER_01
I was eating ice cream.
2
SPEAKER_01
I was eating pizza.
2
SPEAKER_02
Did Andy get a hot dog too?
2
SPEAKER_01
He got a hot dog as well.
2
SPEAKER_02
Oh my God.
2
SPEAKER_02
We had a really good time.
2
SPEAKER_01
But yeah, the Costco hot dog is allegedly one of the best hot dogs in the United States.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I have to agree after having one.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s very good.
2
SPEAKER_01
They re really good, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
I m impressed.
2
SPEAKER_01
Another thing, after I wrote this documentary, I found this book about hot dogs, which I love.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s called Raw Dog, which is a great title, by Jamie Loftus.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s such a fascinating deep dive into the hot dog.
2
SPEAKER_01
It put me to shame.
2
SPEAKER_01
I can t compete with this stuff.
2
SPEAKER_02
David, do you wear condoms when... What is this?
2
SPEAKER_01
Do we got raw dog in here?
2
SPEAKER_01
David, do you raw dog is what you wanted to say.
2
SPEAKER_01
I wear condoms, absolutely.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m a big condom user.
2
SPEAKER_01
Whenever I haven t used condoms, it always leads to trouble.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s my motto.
2
SPEAKER_01
Always leads to trouble.
2
SPEAKER_01
Just use them.
2
SPEAKER_02
I think that s right, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, look, it depends what your situation is, obviously, whether you use them or not.
2
SPEAKER_01
But I think unless you re in like a long term partnership, in my experience, stop using condoms, something s going to happen.
2
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
You know?
2
SPEAKER_02
And do you show up to the date with your, you bring it in your new wallet?
2
SPEAKER_02
In your condom wallet?
2
SPEAKER_01
I haven t used any of those condoms you gave me, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
Are they still in that wallet?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, they might still be in the wallet.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s good to keep in there.
2
SPEAKER_01
I ve been too busy raw-dogging.
2
SPEAKER_02
But really, do you bring...?
2
SPEAKER_01
No, that s a really good question.
2
SPEAKER_01
I definitely have occasionally bought condoms if I think sex might be on the table, on the cards.
2
SPEAKER_01
But also, I ve definitely been in situations where I haven t had condoms, and they ve had condoms, so it s been fine.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m trying to think if there s ever been an instance where it s like, oh my gosh, we ve got to go and find some condoms.
2
SPEAKER_02
Right.
2
SPEAKER_01
Cause that s a bit of a mood killer when suddenly you re on a shopping trip.
2
SPEAKER_01
And when you turn up at like a gas station and you re just buying condoms, I find it s embarrassing.
2
SPEAKER_01
Like everyone knows what you re doing.
2
SPEAKER_01
You re up to.
2
SPEAKER_02
But I kind of feel like this is old school of me, but I wish men would come with the condoms.
2
SPEAKER_01
I do.
2
SPEAKER_01
It should be.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think it s sort of the responsibility.
2
SPEAKER_01
Like, I feel like if you have a penis, have the penis cover.
2
SPEAKER_02
Well, it happened to me.
2
SPEAKER_01
You were expected to have the condom?
2
SPEAKER_02
I get, I mean, we didn t end up using one.
2
SPEAKER_01
And I don t like that.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah.
2
SPEAKER_01
No, I think my general philosophy is, yeah, if you have a penis and you re gonna use it, you should have your little penis cover ready to go on there.
2
SPEAKER_01
I think it s just kind of like that.
2
SPEAKER_01
No, completely reasonable, 100%.
2
SPEAKER_01
But isn t raw dogging such a horrible, like a horrific term to use?
2
SPEAKER_02
Yes, it is.
2
SPEAKER_01
That s why this book got my attention.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s called Raw Dog, The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs.
2
SPEAKER_02
A hot dog really does look like a penis.
2
SPEAKER_01
I mean, penises are horrible things.
2
SPEAKER_01
They re such awful.
2
SPEAKER_01
They look either hilarious or disgusting.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s not often you look at a penis and go, wow, God did a really great thing with that, you know?
2
SPEAKER_01
It s a fun appendage.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it s fun.
2
SPEAKER_01
I love having one.
2
SPEAKER_01
So I just want to quickly read you a little excerpt from Raw Dog, because there s this great bit about the history, because obviously it came from Germany, but there was a great line in here going even further back, just sort of about sausages.
2
SPEAKER_01
She writes, the ancestral sausage goes back 20,000 years to the Paleolithic era.
2
SPEAKER_01
The primordial dog pops up again in the Middle East during the first millennium BC, appearing in Assyrian texts, and then again when Homer s The Odyssey turned blood sausages into a metaphor for you tell me what.
2
SPEAKER_01
And the metaphor was this, as when a man near a great glowing fire turns to and fro a sausage full of fat and blood, anxious to have it quickly roast Homer right.
2
SPEAKER_01
I don t know what the hell he meant.
2
SPEAKER_01
It s a really weird sentence.
2
SPEAKER_02
Wow.
2
SPEAKER_02
And blood sausage has real blood in it, right?
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, look, I m not gonna just suddenly read this book out to you on the podcast, but it s a really good book.
2
SPEAKER_01
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_01
And if you wanna know more about hot dogs, Raw Dog is the shit.
2
SPEAKER_01
It goes very deep.
2
SPEAKER_01
She goes and spends time at the hot dog eating contest in Coney Island, which is something I d quite like to get to.
2
SPEAKER_01
Me too.
2
SPEAKER_01
Next year.
2
SPEAKER_02
I wanna know so much about that personality type.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, that person that can down 62 hot dogs at a time and wants to, kind of incredible.
2
SPEAKER_02
And finds real glory.
2
SPEAKER_02
It s all about glory.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, it s all about the glory.
2
SPEAKER_01
Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird.
2
SPEAKER_01
We ll be right back after a word from our sponsors.
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All right, back into the journey into the world of the dog.
2
SPEAKER_01
When I googled hot dogs in America, I was very pleased to find an organization called the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.
2
SPEAKER_01
It was a very serious sounding name for such a silly thing.
2
SPEAKER_01
So of course, I gave them a call.
2
SPEAKER_01
Eric picked up.
2
SPEAKER_00
I m Eric Mittenthal.
2
SPEAKER_00
I am president of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, the hot dog top dog.
2
SPEAKER_00
And I lead the council s efforts to share facts and bust myths about hot dogs.
2
SPEAKER_01
I should note that the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council is hardly a neutral platform.
2
SPEAKER_01
They re very pro-hot dog.
2
SPEAKER_01
The council was established in 1994 by the American Meat Institute and is funded by hot dog and sausage makers across America.
2
SPEAKER_01
In short, big meat is pulling their strings.
2
SPEAKER_01
If there was a hot dog scandal, they d be the ones pushing it under the carpet.
2
SPEAKER_01
I m so curious now, what is a typical myth that you find is very prevalent about the hot dog that people might have slightly wrong in their minds?
2
SPEAKER_00
Well, the biggest myth about hot dogs is how they re made and what s in them.
2
SPEAKER_00
People have all kinds of crazy ideas about both.
2
SPEAKER_00
The answer for both is very simple.
2
SPEAKER_00
How they re made is they are pieces of meat that are cut away from steaks and roasts.
2
SPEAKER_00
They re ground up really finely, mixed with spices, stuffed into a casing, and cooked.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so it s a very simple process.
2
SPEAKER_00
What s in them is what you see on the package as far as the ingredients are concerned.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s meat, beef, pork, chicken, turkey, and various spices.
2
SPEAKER_00
It can be garlic, nutmeg, things like that.
2
SPEAKER_00
And then it s put in the casing.
2
SPEAKER_00
And so that s it.
2
SPEAKER_00
So people have ideas about various other things that might be in there, but that s just not true.
2
SPEAKER_00
They re not in there.
2
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I feel like hot dogs in people s minds are sometimes mythologized in a similar way.
2
SPEAKER_01
In New Zealand, the McDonald s soft-serve cone was always said that the ice cream was like all the other bits of animal thrown in, which is clearly just incorrect.
2
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, no, I mean, it s a similar idea with hot dogs.
2
SPEAKER_00
People say it s everything but the oink.
2
SPEAKER_00
But in the U.S., there s actually specific laws around what can go in hot dogs.
2
SPEAKER_00
And for the most part, it is meat.
2
SPEAKER_00
If there were to be things like organ meat,
2
SPEAKER_00
which in some parts of the country, it s a delicacy where you would find organs like liver in a hot dog.
2
SPEAKER_00
It s required to be labeled on the package.
2
SPEAKER_01
Do you eat hot dogs yourself occasionally?
2
SPEAKER_01
I imagine it s not the only thing you eat.
2
SPEAKER_00
No, certainly not the only thing I eat, but I love hot dogs.
3
SPEAKER_03
To be the president of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, you have to be able to eat a few hot dogs.
3
SPEAKER_04
What s your typical go-to?
3
SPEAKER_04
What are you putting on your hot dog?
3
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, I m from the South, and one of the fun things about hot dogs is that really depending on where you are in the country, there s a lot of different varieties.
3
SPEAKER_03
You can have a very different experience with hot dogs depending on where you are.
3
SPEAKER_03
In the South, we love hot dogs with chili, so I m a chili dog guy.
3
SPEAKER_03
Mustard and onions, that to me is a perfect hot dog.
3
SPEAKER_03
But whenever I m in a different part of the country, I like to go enjoy the hot dogs in that region.
3
SPEAKER_03
And you can really find some great hot dogs no matter where you are in the country, but different varieties depending on where.
3
SPEAKER_04
According to the Hot Dog Council s website, over the last year, Americans spent more than $8.3 billion on hot dogs and sausages in American supermarkets.
3
SPEAKER_04
Now I would have assumed that New York ate the most hot dogs, but turns out LA consumes more hot dogs than any other city, about 30 million pounds of hot dog, leaving cities like New York and Dallas in their meaty dust.
3
SPEAKER_04
When it comes to airports, ding ding ding airports episode, Chicago s O Hare International Airport consumes six times more hot dogs than LAX and LaGuardia combined.
3
SPEAKER_04
And on Independence Day, ding, ding, ding, the Independence Day episode, Americans eat 150 million hot dogs just on that one day.
3
SPEAKER_04
Stretch all those hot dogs out and then make it from D.C.
3
SPEAKER_04
to L.A.
3
SPEAKER_04
more than five times.
3
SPEAKER_03
I think hot dogs are uniquely intertwined in American history as an American food because, like many Americans, it came over as an immigrant from Europe and they grew up through immigrant populations spreading out throughout the country.
3
SPEAKER_03
And so it just grew up with American culture.
3
SPEAKER_03
Americans certainly like convenience when it comes to their food, of course, delicious foods.
3
SPEAKER_03
And so hot dogs fit the bill on both of those.
3
SPEAKER_03
And so it just was a very natural fit.
3
SPEAKER_03
And the tie to sports is really important too.
3
SPEAKER_03
Baseball is America s pastime.
3
SPEAKER_03
from a sporting perspective, and hot dogs and baseball have been associated really since the early days of baseball in the late 1800s.
3
SPEAKER_03
The immigrant populations coming over at that time, introducing hot dogs into American culture, baseball taking off as part of American culture.
3
SPEAKER_03
They really grew up together and just became a key part of American culture.
3
SPEAKER_04
Apparently, peak hot dog season is from Memorial Day to Labor Day.
3
SPEAKER_04
Over that time, Americans consume about 7 billion dogs.
3
SPEAKER_04
That s 818 hot dogs consumed every second over that period.
3
SPEAKER_04
With those hot dog stats banging around in my head, and now your head, I decided it was time to visit one more hot dog place with Rob.
3
SPEAKER_04
We re done Pink s, the tourist trap option, but this was Rob, a foodie, and so we decided to go to a hot dog place at the other end of the spectrum.
3
SPEAKER_04
It s found downtown in the Arts District, which is a trendy part of LA I guess.
3
SPEAKER_04
There are a lot of trendy people walking around, so I assume it is.
3
SPEAKER_00
Alright, so we re at Wurstküche in downtown LA.
3
SPEAKER_00
It s an exotic sausage place, so it s a fancy hot dog.
3
SPEAKER_04
The word means sausage kitchen in German, and seeing as hot dogs had their origins in Germany, it seemed appropriate to go there.
3
SPEAKER_04
Plus it might be fancy, but they serve their sausages on buns with condiments, so I think it s a hot dog.
3
SPEAKER_04
What are you getting today?
3
SPEAKER_00
I really like their vegetarian Mexican Chipotle sausage.
3
SPEAKER_00
Their Louisiana hot link s really good too.
3
SPEAKER_04
The options available are pretty out there.
3
SPEAKER_04
Options certainly not on the menu at Pink s.
3
SPEAKER_04
I guess this is less hot dog, more sausage.
3
SPEAKER_04
Rabbit and pork, we ve got pheasant, duck and bacon.
3
SPEAKER_04
Rattlesnake and rabbit, that s extreme.
3
SPEAKER_04
Have you had that?
3
SPEAKER_00
I have, that s good.
3
SPEAKER_00
You should definitely get that.
3
SPEAKER_00
Sort of gamey?
3
SPEAKER_04
How would you describe Rattlesnake?
3
SPEAKER_00
Uh, yeah.
3
SPEAKER_00
A little gamey.
3
SPEAKER_00
I mean, it still tastes good.
3
SPEAKER_00
They season it well.
3
SPEAKER_00
I do feel like you need to go with the most bizarre.
3
SPEAKER_00
Like, I think you need to do the buffalo with cherries and the rattlesnake and rabbit.
3
SPEAKER_00
Do you have rattlesnake in New Zealand?
3
SPEAKER_04
We don t have rattlesnake in New Zealand.
3
SPEAKER_04
No, nothing can kill you in New Zealand.
3
SPEAKER_04
There s no rattlesnakes allowed in.
3
SPEAKER_04
Robbie ends up ordering the vegetarian Mexican Chipotle with some caramelized onions, and I get the buffalo and a rattlesnake and rabbit.
3
SPEAKER_04
I try to talk to the man serving us to inquire if I can interview them about their amazing food, but he looks at me with a sort of disdain that I don t see too often.
3
SPEAKER_04
It s like a podcaster murdered his puppy, and I ve just brought those memories crashing back.
3
SPEAKER_00
I ve been coming to this place for almost 10 years.
3
SPEAKER_00
It was one of the first things in the arts district.
3
SPEAKER_00
My friend lived about a block over from it and you d come walk over this way and it looked like there was a club because there d just be a huge line of people waiting for sausages and it was just a really good sausage place.
3
SPEAKER_04
This is a really interesting thing, and it s something I m curious about.
3
SPEAKER_04
What makes a hot dog different from a sausage?
3
SPEAKER_04
Because arguably, at its very best, it s like a high-end hot dog place, right?
3
SPEAKER_04
Or it s not at all.
3
SPEAKER_04
But what s the difference?
3
SPEAKER_04
I mean, I m not an expert on it.
3
SPEAKER_04
I think it s probably the meat.
3
SPEAKER_04
I think a hot dog meat is just everything, just beef mashed together, like a thousand cows thrown into the one dog.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, I think it s just beef.
3
SPEAKER_00
And then sausages, like here they re mixing different kinds of meats and seasonings within the casing.
3
SPEAKER_00
But I mean, it s still just meat ground up into a casing.
3
SPEAKER_04
Probably similar health benefits as well.
3
SPEAKER_00
Yeah, no health benefits.
3
SPEAKER_04
Ok, so sidebar, to settle this debate once and for all, the difference between a typical sausage and a hot dog, I went to a butcher that Monica recommended, McCall s Meat and Fish, to get their take.
3
SPEAKER_01
My name is Randy Saviejo and we re at McCall s in Los Feliz.
3
SPEAKER_01
There s many differences between the two.
3
SPEAKER_01
The difference between the hot dog comes from like the grinding, how much you re grinding down.
3
SPEAKER_01
It s more of like a puree sausage.
3
SPEAKER_01
Also smoked, cured, will last a lot longer than a raw sausage.
3
SPEAKER_01
With the sausage that we carry here at McCall s, they are handmade, only grinding down once.
3
SPEAKER_04
So really it s mainly a consistency thing, right?
3
SPEAKER_04
The hot dog is like a paste and a sausage is much more, I guess, chunky.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, consistency also parts.
3
SPEAKER_01
We use pork shoulder for our sausage and for hot dogs, depending on who you get them from, could be using
3
SPEAKER_01
sinew, chicken parts, pork parts.
3
SPEAKER_01
If it s all beef, I mean, it s just a certain specific parts they re using that are much different from a classic sausage over a hot dog.
3
SPEAKER_04
Would you ever eat a hot dog over a sausage?
3
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, absolutely.
3
SPEAKER_02
Absolutely.
3
SPEAKER_02
I love hot dogs.
3
SPEAKER_02
There is something about them, isn t there?
3
SPEAKER_02
There s something about that taste.
3
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, I grew up around Tucson, Arizona, where they make Sonoran dogs, where they wrap it in bacon.
3
SPEAKER_01
And yeah, they top it with amazing ingredients.
3
SPEAKER_01
So it s hard to say no to those.
3
SPEAKER_01
And they re just a staple, I mean, everywhere.
3
SPEAKER_04
Okay, so with that cleared up, back to Rob.
3
SPEAKER_04
Where do hot dogs sit on the nutrition scale?
3
SPEAKER_04
How often would you feed your kids hot dogs?
3
SPEAKER_00
We don t feed the kids hot dogs often.
3
SPEAKER_00
I ve been told by my wife that they re very high in sodium, so that s why we don t feed them them a lot.
3
SPEAKER_00
But I mean, you can get healthy hot dogs.
3
SPEAKER_00
They re plain, and kids like them.
3
SPEAKER_00
Calvin loves chopping them up, eating them with ketchup.
3
SPEAKER_00
Some people like to slice it down the middle, too.
3
SPEAKER_04
Our hot dogs arrive, and we eat.
3
SPEAKER_04
As Rob said, he s been coming here for about a decade, and he s as happy as ever.
3
SPEAKER_04
And me, well, I ding into my big old buffalo dog.
3
SPEAKER_04
Buffalo.
3
SPEAKER_04
It s delicious.
3
SPEAKER_04
It s not too gamey, it s not too crazy.
3
SPEAKER_04
Rattlesnake is the thing that I m nervous about.
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SPEAKER_04
I needn t have worried.
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SPEAKER_04
It was fine.
3
SPEAKER_04
A bit tart maybe?
3
SPEAKER_04
But at the end of the day, it all just tasted very meaty.
3
SPEAKER_04
With the buffalo and rattlesnake and rabbit combined in the outdoor heat, I was starting to get the meat sweats.
3
SPEAKER_04
Rattlesnake is a really unusual flavour.
3
SPEAKER_04
It s good,
3
SPEAKER_04
but it s not something I d rush back to.
3
SPEAKER_04
I mean, eating this rattlesnake, I just think of the rattlesnake that was hypothetically on the path with Monica that I wouldn t kill to save her, you know, and now I m eating a dead rattlesnake.
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SPEAKER_04
I feel somewhat guilty for that.
3
SPEAKER_04
I ve never asked you this, where do you think you got your love of food from?
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SPEAKER_04
Because you do, you like food more than your, I think, your like typical bog standard middle-of-the-road American.
3
SPEAKER_04
Where did that come from?
3
SPEAKER_00
When I get interested in things, I go very hardened to it.
3
SPEAKER_00
And I like to know a lot about it.
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SPEAKER_00
So I think it was really just that.
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SPEAKER_00
I mean, I got into watching Top Chef and then nicer restaurants and wanting to taste all of these different places that were featured on these things.
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SPEAKER_00
And then once you go in, there s really no going back.
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SPEAKER_00
Best hot dog.
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SPEAKER_04
You ve had.
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SPEAKER_04
Is there a memory or a location or a city?
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SPEAKER_04
Where are you going to go?
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SPEAKER_04
It s your last day on earth.
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SPEAKER_04
You got to get one good hot dog.
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SPEAKER_04
What are you doing?
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SPEAKER_00
There s a Chicago chain Portillo s that for me, I don t know that I would say it s the best hot dog.
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SPEAKER_00
No, I would.
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SPEAKER_00
I would.
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SPEAKER_00
I would.
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SPEAKER_04
There is a Portillo s in LA and we were debating going, but we were too full.
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SPEAKER_04
I was full of animals I d never eaten before.
3
SPEAKER_04
And while they were delicious, I
4
SPEAKER_03
I also felt kind of shitty about it and started considering vegetarianism.
4
SPEAKER_03
Maybe I should take a leaf out of Rob s book.
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SPEAKER_01
I m pretty full too.
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SPEAKER_01
I had a lot of these truffle fries and I had this vegetarian sausage.
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SPEAKER_01
They make really good vegetarian sausage.
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SPEAKER_01
I m not vegetarian, but I choose their vegetarian chipotle sausage over their meat ones.
4
SPEAKER_03
Before we wrap up this little audio documentary, we must address that one big question.
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SPEAKER_01
You re gonna ask me this question?
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SPEAKER_01
We ve had this debate.
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SPEAKER_01
I don t think it s a sandwich.
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SPEAKER_03
To get the final word, I return to Eric from the Hot Dog Council.
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SPEAKER_03
I know I can t trust big meat, but this is an episode about hot dogs, so to the Hot Dog Council, I return.
4
SPEAKER_00
Well, the number one question that we get these days is, is a hot dog a sandwich?
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SPEAKER_00
And the answer is no, the hot dog is not a sandwich.
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SPEAKER_00
People argue with me that that s an opinion, but as the president of the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, I can say that s a fact.
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SPEAKER_00
A hot dog is not a sandwich because if it s on a bun, it s a hot dog.
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SPEAKER_00
And when it s not on a bun, it s a hot dog.
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SPEAKER_00
The bun is irrelevant.
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SPEAKER_00
It s just a hot dog.
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SPEAKER_00
It s its own category and doesn t fit into the sandwich category.
4
SPEAKER_03
And that is that question answered once and for all, no arguments.
4
SPEAKER_03
Wow.
4
SPEAKER_03
Not a sandwich.
4
SPEAKER_02
I agree.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, when I was eating that rattlesnake, I did remember that sort of scenario with you where I refused to kill a rattlesnake to potentially save you.
4
SPEAKER_02
Did not want to protect me.
4
SPEAKER_02
You were lying, right?
4
SPEAKER_02
You had not eaten that.
4
SPEAKER_01
I ve had the rattlesnake sausages.
4
SPEAKER_01
You have?
4
SPEAKER_02
In the rabbit?
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
I thought you were doing a rascally prank.
4
SPEAKER_01
No, no, no.
4
SPEAKER_02
And you were gonna get David to order it, and then you were gonna reveal that you have not indeed had it.
4
SPEAKER_01
No, I ve had most of the sausages they have there.
4
SPEAKER_02
You have?
4
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
I know the owner, Tyler.
4
SPEAKER_03
Oh, no way.
4
SPEAKER_02
Shout out.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_03
The particular staff member I talked to, certain people, which is completely fine, just don t want to be interviewed.
4
SPEAKER_03
Sure.
4
SPEAKER_03
And it was an amazing look of death as I posited the idea of asking him a few questions.
4
SPEAKER_03
But yeah, that place was delicious.
4
SPEAKER_03
Both were delicious for like very different reasons.
4
SPEAKER_02
Definitely.
4
SPEAKER_01
Did you have the urban legend in Georgia that there was rat hair in hot dogs and like all hot dogs?
4
SPEAKER_02
I ve heard there s everything in it, brains and guts and stuff.
4
SPEAKER_01
I have heard that.
4
SPEAKER_02
I thought you were gonna say the horrible urban legend that circulates all high schools where a girl got a hot dog shoved up her vagina.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, I ve heard that one too.
4
SPEAKER_02
Everyone has that.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yes, where it s like, oh, there was a senior in my high school and they were at a party and they,
4
SPEAKER_02
Well, it can get, it can range like horribly of like she passed out and then they shoved a hot dog up her pussy.
4
SPEAKER_02
Or she did it herself.
4
SPEAKER_02
I know.
4
SPEAKER_02
But it turns out everyone thinks that about their school.
4
SPEAKER_02
So it s like made up.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s just this deeply embedded urban legend everywhere.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_03
I don t think that made it to New Zealand, which I feel sort of grateful for.
4
SPEAKER_03
Maybe via this podcast it will.
4
SPEAKER_01
Yeah, mine was more tame.
4
SPEAKER_01
It was that there s like six rat hairs in every hot dog.
4
SPEAKER_02
And it was like, where s Waldo?
4
SPEAKER_02
Like, find it.
4
SPEAKER_01
Just like, don t eat hot dogs because there s rat hair.
4
SPEAKER_02
Oh, I see.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah, I have heard the whole animal is in the hot dog.
4
SPEAKER_03
Well, if you watch that How It s Made video, it s funny because it s got this beautiful voiceover that makes it sound really idyllic and beautiful, but the imagery you re watching is so just viscerally awful.
4
SPEAKER_03
Disgusting.
4
SPEAKER_03
So yeah, it s hard not to watch that video and think, God knows.
4
SPEAKER_02
I ll never eat that.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, what s in there?
4
SPEAKER_03
Also love that there is a sausage council.
4
SPEAKER_03
Their whole job is to spread the gospel about how great hot dogs are.
4
SPEAKER_02
Well, they need a PR department when there s videos like that going on.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yeah.
4
SPEAKER_02
I think that about the pink, we won t say the brand, but the pink sludge video.
4
SPEAKER_02
You know it.
4
SPEAKER_03
I know it.
4
SPEAKER_02
The pink sludge video, man, that did put a damper.
4
SPEAKER_02
And I think the PR department has done a great job at that institution of building it back.
4
SPEAKER_03
Pulling things back.
4
SPEAKER_03
I mean, it s amazing how quickly things can go wrong for a brand.
4
SPEAKER_03
I mean, like Subway having their main spokesperson be like a pedophile.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s so dangerous basing your whole brand on one individual.
4
SPEAKER_03
It is.
4
SPEAKER_03
Because that individual, they re probably going to go and do something.
4
SPEAKER_03
And that s why.
4
SPEAKER_03
But I think Subway s bounced back.
4
SPEAKER_03
They re doing okay.
4
SPEAKER_02
I love Subway.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, I used to eat fresh.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yum, yum.
4
SPEAKER_02
Well, this was really fun.
4
SPEAKER_02
I enjoyed this little venture.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, I think it s important to tick off.
4
SPEAKER_03
Still got quite a few American foods to go.
4
SPEAKER_02
Great.
4
SPEAKER_03
I am really keen to do a cheese episode.
4
SPEAKER_03
The Costco episode is going to include some more food as well.
4
SPEAKER_02
If I could eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be cheese.
4
SPEAKER_02
If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, it would be cheese.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s good.
4
SPEAKER_03
The cheese aisle in Costco.
4
SPEAKER_02
What s your favorite cheese of all time?
4
SPEAKER_03
It s good, I m a blue cheese guy.
4
SPEAKER_02
Oh, not for me.
4
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, just that horrific, smelly, awful stuff.
4
SPEAKER_03
I love blue cheese, just a little dash of it, you know?
4
SPEAKER_02
Okay.
4
SPEAKER_03
But not while I m raw dogging.
4
SPEAKER_03
All right, that s an awful thing to leave everyone.
4
SPEAKER_02
That s, I think, a perfect way to end.
4
SPEAKER_03
Go and enjoy hot dog in your day, wherever you are in the world, have a little hot dog.
4
SPEAKER_02
You got more American, this is an American episode.
4
SPEAKER_03
It s very American.
4
SPEAKER_03
I like it.
4
SPEAKER_03
10% more, 5% more.
4
SPEAKER_02
I ll give you seven and a half.
4
SPEAKER_02
Let s meet halfway.
4
SPEAKER_02
Yes.
4
SPEAKER_03
Thanks, Monica.
4
SPEAKER_02
Bye.
4
SPEAKER_03
Bye.