How many hot dogs do Americans eat?
Hot dog consumption could hit it out of the park this year with MLB fans expected to eat nearly 19m hot dogs and a further 4m sausages during the baseball season, which began on 2 April 2017 and ends in October.
If one were able to defy physics and place each hot dog vertically above the other, the sausage tower would be higher than the One World Trade Center, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.
The US-based National Hot Dog & Sausage Council (NHDSC), an organisation set up in 1994 to run scientific research linking sausages and hot dogs products to insightful intelligence, produced the analysis.
Hot dog champions
“Year after year, hot dogs continue to hit it out of the park at the concession stand,” said NHDSC president Eric Mittenthal, who is also vice-president of public affairs at the North American Meat Institute.
“As teams innovate to offer more food choices and inventive creations, one thing is certain: hot dogs and baseball are inseparable.”
Fans of Los Angeles Dodgers are expected to eat the most hot dogs in 2017, with 2.5m dogs set to be consumed. Texas Rangers are tipped as runners-up, with their fans set to increase hot dog consumption by 17.2% compared to 2016. Cleveland Indians are also set to eat more than 1m hot dogs this year, alongside the Chicago Cubs.
When it comes to sausages, frankly speaking, the San Francisco Giants are not in the ‘wurst’ position with the side’s fans expected to eat 475,000 sausages. Fans of the St. Louis Cardinals and the Boston Red are expected to eat over 400,000 and 300,000 sausages respectively.
With the popularity of the dog going strong, many baseball teams are relishing the opportunity to exhibit a creative streak.
Los Angeles Dodgers, for example, will offer a different style of hot dog during every home game to reflect the cuisine of their opposing team. Dogs in the pipeline include the Chicago Dog, Philly Dog, Miami Cuban Dog, Milwaukee Dog and the New York Dog.
