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Today is National Hot Dog Day in the U.S.
Last reviewed: 01.07.2025
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No one really knows where the term "hot dog" came from, but it is known that 1893 was declared the big year of the "sausage in a bun."
National Hot Dog Day was officially established by the United States Chamber of Commerce in 1957.
In 1994, the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council was created to study the quality of the product, taste it, and promote the hot dog.
Traditionally, members of the Hot Dog and Sausage Council hold hot dog cooking competitions, proclaiming 4 basic rules:
Persons over the age of 18 are not allowed to put ketchup on a hot dog;
A hot dog in a bun cannot be eaten from a plate, but only with your hands;
Any seasoning that remains on your hands should not be washed off; you should lick your fingers;
Under no circumstances should you place a hot dog on fine china, this is simply incompatible with the concept of "hot dogs are a national American food."
Statistics show that hot dog consumption has increased in recent years, with the average American eating approximately 60 hot dogs per year.
On Independence Day, Americans consume approximately 150 million hot dogs. If you stretched that hot dog chain out, you could cover the distance between Washington and Los Angeles five times.