By William Rogers

Throughout the course of history, mankind has invented many different kinds of sandwiches for the consumption and enjoyment of all kinds of different people. According to the University of Washington, Americans eat over 300 million sandwiches every day. 

From the classic grilled cheese sandwich to open faced tuna melts, sandwiches come in many different forms. But one type of sandwich is criticized every second for the way it is. This poor sandwich faces oppression every day for the way it is shaped and the contents that fill its bread. I believe that hot dogs should not have to face this kind of trauma and should be allowed to coincide with their fellow bread brethren.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a physical bread sandwich two different ways. The first way is defined as “one slice of bread covered with food.” Under this definition we find various sandwiches such as “open faced” sandwiches, garlic bread and pizza.

The second definition is where much of the controversy surrounding hot dogs appears. The second definition states that a sandwich is “two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between. Under this definition we find stereotypical deli sandwiches, sub sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs. Under this definition, hot dogs would fit in under the “split roll having a filling in between” definition.

A hot dog is no different from the typical meatball parmesan submarine sandwich in shape or form, yet one is considered a sandwich while the other is not. Logan Stolberg, a junior at SUNY Oswego, believes that the issue lies within the type and shape of bread used within the sandwich. 

“A sandwich is like, in my opinion, if you have one piece of bread, you have another piece of bread and you put something on them,” Stolberg said. “That’s what a bread is. I don’t consider a hot dog a bread, it’s a roll, like a hamburger is a bun. I don’t consider that to be a sandwich.”

So the issue then becomes the type of bread and the shape that the bread takes. But what type of bread constitutes a sandwich? What is bread? Merriam-Webster defines bread as “a usually baked and leavened food made of a mixture whose basic constituent is flour or meal.” Under this definition bread would include not only bread made from flour milled from typical grains such as wheat, but also those made from meal such as cornmeal, such as cornbread.

By this definition a corn based snack chip such as a tortilla chip is considered bread. Every time you dip a chip into salsa you are effectively creating a tiny sandwich based on the first definition of a sandwich and the definition of bread.

However, Merriam-Webster is not only the only source of this definition. Oxford Dictionary defines bread as “a type of food made from flour, water, and usually yeast mixed together and baked,” while defining a sandwich as “an item of food consisting of two pieces of bread with meat, cheese, or other filling between them, eaten as a light meal.” However, under the definition of “wrap” we see that Oxford Dictionary defines a wrap as “a sandwich in which the filling is rolled in a soft tortilla,” thus deprecating their initial definition of a sandwich.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council has also weighed in their own ideals, claiming that a hot dog is more than just a sandwich, but “…an exclamation of joy, a food, a verb describing one ‘showing off’ and even an emoji. It is truly a category unto its own.” This definition further strengthens that a hot dog is a type of specialty sandwich.

Many government bodies also agree that a hot dog is a sandwich. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance considers hot dogs as well as other controversial sandwiches such as gyros, burritos and wraps under their sandwich tax. The USDA defines a sandwich as “…a meat or poultry filling between two slices of bread, a bun, or a biscuit,” which includes hot dogs.

Shelby Peplowski, a senior at SUNY Oswego believes that it is foolish to suggest a hot dog is not a sandwich. “The argument of a hot dog being a sandwich is completely ridiculous because it’s always been a sandwich,” Peplowski said. “It’s between basically two slices of bread that’s just cut down the middle. You just stick the hot dog in there so I guess it’s always been a sandwich.”

Photo via Flickr