Puzzling: Did Hungarians invent the hot dog?

Today, the hot dog enjoys a world-wide popularity as meatlovers’ favourite fast food. People all around the world know and love this mouthwatering treat. It can be eaten with cheese, ketchup, mustard or with crispy fried onions. The hot dog is an important part of the United States’ national cuisine. However, not many know the roots of this tasty food. The hot dog’s history goes back centuries before Columbus had even set out to explore the New World.

The Frankfurter

Mindmegette writes that the sausage, an integral part of the original hot dog, can be traced back to sometime before 700 BC. Although some historians believe that the first sausage was created in the 1st century AD. Their claim is backed up by a legend that Gaius, Emperor Nero’s cook, stuck a knife into a roast pig that had not been properly prepared. This caused the empty intestines to fall out of the pig. The story goes that the cook then had the idea of stuffing those intestines with minced meat and spices. The concept proved to be a genius one, as in the following centuries it travelled and conquered almost all over Europe. Germany now claims the Vienna sausage as its own, and Vienna is also claiming it as its own. It seems like everyone wants to be regarded as the creator of this delicious treat.

Putting the sausage into a bun

It is still widely debated who was the first to put those sausages into buns. In Vienna, the known scenario is that Emil Reichel and Samuel Ladany (Sámuel Ladányi), who emigrated from the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy to Chicago, were the inventors. The two men presented their food creations at the 1893 World’s Fair, where they were so successful that they later opened their meat processing plant. It still operates to this day under the name Vienna Beef Company. It may seem surprising, but there might be a Hungarian connection in the development of this popular street food as we know it today.

Hot dog in the US

Many Germans emigrated to the New World in the 19th century in the hope of a better life. Of course, they did not leave their culinary traditions at home. According to some sources from that time, Germans started selling “dachshund sausage” from food carts in New York in the 1860s. This story provides an explanation for how the hot dog got its name. The real breakthrough came in the second half of the 1800s. Charles Feltman, also a German immigrant, opened the first hot dog stand in Coney Island. He was very popular, selling over 3,600 frankfurters in his special bun the year he opened. In 1880, a St. Louis sausage vendor also started selling his product in a white bun since he had run out of the white gloves he gave his customers to hold the hot sausage.

We might not know for sure whose idea it was to put the sausage into a bun. However, the only important thing is that nations can enjoy this quick meal all over the world. As Bors wrote hot dog was so popular that it was added to the White House menu in 1939. The hot dog arrived in Hungary in the 1960s, and by the late 1970s, it had conquered the capital. Here is a photo of a hot dog stand in Budapest:

Source: Fortepan / Bauer Sándor