11.01.2008

"Delicious on Bread"


Hot Dogs in a Can, originally uploaded by jimturbert.

I was in the supermarket earlier today, and I saw hot dogs in a can. The idea of hot dogs in a can is not a pleasant one for me. I understand that hotdogs are a pretty low-brow food in general, but there are some examples of non-schwaggy wieners out there. When I was growing up in CT, my parents used to buy Mucke's, and they were really good. Boston has Pearl and Kayem, not to mention a wide assortment of national (and maybe international) brands that make an equally high-quality product (Hebrew National, Maple Leaf). Hot dogs don't need to be nasty mystery meat that was going to get tossed out anyway. The better ones are made from fine cuts of beef or a mixture of beef and pork. It's true that there is a lot of cartilage, fat and other ingredients that I don't care to discuss in most varieties of the hot dog, but I'd like to let everyone know that quality dogs do exist. Of course, the existence of hot dogs in a can does not help my case. Putting any meat in a can does not inspire folks to say things like, "Now this is good stuff!" Meat in a can is historically undesirable. Think of Spam, or anything made by Dinty More. Having canned hot dogs bearing the label "According to the original American recipe" on the shelf of Dutch supermarkets just reinforces the stereotype that Americans are a classless people with no culture or cuisine. I love eating hot dogs, and I love eating hamburgers. It appears to me that bastardized versions of delightful foodstuffs (like canned hot dogs and MacDonald's hamburgers) ruin an otherwise glorious thing for the rest of the world. Read my words. Tell your friends. Let everybody know.

Sincerely,
Jim Turbert

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