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Saturday, June 10, 2006
 

Hot Dogs in Berlin

The ongoing mystery of why Berliners seem so keen on American-style hot dogs, when they have their own venerable Bratwurst-in-Broetchen, has led me to this page, full of no-doubt apocryphal legends of the hot dog's German heritage. The timeline goes all the way back to "850 BC," when Homer supposedly works "sausage" into the Odyssey -- the first instance of product placement in western narrative? Anyway, here's one Likely Story about transatlantic hot dog relations:
1880 - A German peddler, Antonoine Feuchtwanger, sold hot sausages in the streets of St. Louis, Missouri. He would supply white gloves with each purchase so that his customers would not burn their hands while eating the sausage. He saw his profits going down because the customers kept taking the gloves and walking off with them. His wife suggested that he put the sausages in a split bun instead. He reportedly asked his brother-in-law, a baker, for help. The baker improvised long soft rolls that fit the meat, thus inventing the hot dog bun. When he did that, the hot dog was born. He called them red hots.
Nothing but good times at the Mr. Miller stand under Alexanderplatz.

Submitted to Carnival of German-American Relations

posted by Michael Scott Moore | 12:30 PM
Comments:
And the legend I heard had him at the World's Fair, unable to sell sausages because they were so hot, and the guy next to him trying to sell waffles which no one wanted, so he bought the waffles and wrapped the sausages in them.

Yeah, sure.

So now someone explain Danish hotdogs to me: bright red! with raw cucumbers! and crisp-fried onions! Good, but freaky-colored.
 
I refuse to believe that Feuchtwanger is a real surname. OK, I don't refuse, because I've googled it and there are a gazillion examples, but it's just too good here. Or maybe I'm getting double entendre-ish without a cause...
 
No, Leon ("Lion") Feuchtwanger got there before you did: Lion Feuchtwanger (pseudonym: J.L. Wetcheek)
 
That is so cool! Thanks.
 
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