Joey Chestnut once ate 76 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes at the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, or that is what most people would call those cylinders of beef inside the non-sandwich buns. For decades, people have debated whether hot dogs are sandwiches or if they are their own thing. We’re inclined to go with the second option for now. If hot dogs were sandwiches, they would have been known as such since their invention. However, they were hot dogs then and they remain hot dogs in present times.

“A sandwich must consist of: 1(one slice of bread with filling placed upon it; or 2(two or more separate slices of bread with filling between the two pieces; additionally, 3(single or multiple pieces of bread cannot be rolled together”. The hot dog barely meets any of these conditions. According to the dictionary, a hot dog is a sausage served in a sliced roll. This definition does not meet the standard of having two or more separate slices of bread, this differs it from a sandwich. McCann Erickson from the American global advertising network says, “A hot dog is its own thing, a cylindrical-shaped protein that sits in a bun, and is not a sandwich”. This proves that even experts believe hot dogs are under their own classification and are not sandwiches. Based on the definition of a sandwich and its necessary components, there is a clear difference between the two.

It’s true that hot dogs are somewhat like sandwiches in certain ways, such as how a hot dog is meat flanked by bread and smeared with condiments like mustard and ketchup. These are also characteristics that apply to sandwiches. Despite this, hot dogs still have their own characteristics, such as what type of meat they consist of or how they are put into their own unique bun.

Although not everyone will agree, we have shown that dogs are not sandwiches. They are their own classification and very unique in the fast-food world. By definition, a hot dog does not meet the standards to be called a sandwich. In conclusion, history tells us that a hot dog is a hot dog. It is not a sandwich today, it wasn’t a sandwich yesterday, and it will not be a sandwich tomorrow.

Credit to Ellise Wilson as well