
The hot dog is one of the iconic modern American foodstuffs. Though the full account of its origin and evolution has been lost to history, sketchy details have emerged. It can be traced back to 13th century Germany, to a pork sausage served on a bun called “Frankfurter Würstchen.” It was given out to the citizenry to celebrate imperial coronations. In either the 18th or 19th century, a German butcher took this variety of sausage to Vienna, added pork to the mix and called it a “Frankfurter.” During the mass migration to the US in that same time period, the Frankfurter also made the journey. The first hot dog stand opened in Coney Island in the 1860s, and by the 1890s ballparks began selling them. Calling a Frankfurter a “dog” was a German invention, as dog meat was sometimes used to make the sausage. The first time the “hot” part was added was in an 1892 New Jersey magazine article about a traveling vendor nicknamed “Hot Dog Morris.”