Is cereal a soup? Are wraps essentially a taco? Is the earth flat?
None of these questions hold the same value as this age old question: Is a hot dog a sandwich? (Ok, I’ll admit, this last part is a joke.)
Before you answer that question from your own preconceived notion, this article is here to educate you on why a hot dog IS a sandwich. If you refuse to open your mind to this world of understanding the fundamental similarities of foods, I suggest you click onto the next article. However, if you are able to realize that these fundamental similarities are a way to aid our understanding in categorizing foods, then you’ve come to the right place.
Hot dogs fulfill the requirements of a sandwich
According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a sandwich is defined as “two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between.” The key phrases in this definition are “a split roll” and “filling in between.” Now, let’s move on to the definition of a hotdog. In that same dictionary, a hot dog is “a frankfurter with a typically mild flavor that is heated and usually served in a long split roll.” The key phrases in this definition are, and don’t be too shocked here, “a split roll” and “a frankfurter usually served in [the roll].” We can now agree here that sandwiches don’t necessarily have to be in two pieces of bread and that the definition of a sandwich extends to having filling in a split roll. That seems to sound exactly like what a hot dog is.
But let’s not get it confused: all hot dogs are sandwiches but not all sandwiches are hot dogs. People tend to raise concerns of hot dogs being sandwiches because they feel that if that were the case, sandwiches would be considered hot dogs. But that is not the argument we are making today. Sandwiches are considered a category, a category in which hot dogs fall under, leading to the point that a hot dog IS a sandwich.
If a hot dog is not a sandwich, is a sub SANDWICH a SANDWICH?
Have you ever visited a Subway or a Jersey Mike’s thinking that you really wanted a foot long sub sandwich? You expect this long split roll that is able to perfectly hold and wrap together all of the filling inside, only to be disappointed when what you receive instead is two individual pieces of bread that can barely contain the filling because the person making the sandwich does not believe that a sub sandwich using a split roll is a sandwich? That they believe that it is only a sandwich when the bread is cut all the way through?
Which draws to the concern that a hot dog is not a sandwich is a sub sandwich a sandwich? If you believe a sub sandwich is not a sandwich, I cannot help you there. But if you do believe a sub sandwich is a sandwich, then can’t you extend that same logic to how a hot dog is a sandwich?
Repeat it with me now, a hot dog IS a sandwich.
“A hot dog is called a hot dog by name, not a sandwich”
Some argue that hot dogs are not considered sandwiches because if it was, it would have sandwich in the name. But if that’s the case, what’s a Po’ Boy? What’s a panini? What’s a BLT? Just because a sandwich doesn’t have “sandwich” at the end of its name doesn’t mean it’s not a sandwich. Come on guys, let’s not discriminate here.
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As a passionate believer in the ‘hot dog is a sandwich’ movement, I think it’s time that us hot dog sandwich believers stand in solidarity as we end this debate once and for all. A hot dog IS a sandwich. I rest my case.
