There must be a reason I chose this food to study this time of year. Summer and wieners feel synonymous – they’re associates. They go together as well as any other tried and true seasonal treat combo. Some analogies to further explain:

Hot Dogs are to Summer as Pumpkin Spice is to Fall.

Hot Dogs are to Summer as Hot Chocolate is to Winter.

Hot Dogs are to Summer as Shamrock Shakes are to March (ok – maybe this one is just for me, but I hope I’ve made myself clear).

As a “seasonal offering” girlie, I do also know that there are multiple “in season” items for Summer – the bounty of fruit, the superabundance of ice cream cones – however, in my opinion the hot dog stands strongest as the symbol of those “dog days*” of the year.

*Noting here that I believe “dog days” refers to an astrological placement which occurs annually in August, but because the term is so on the nose, I will use it here to defend my position.

So, why is this? I took to the collective to help me answer and the reasons are many:

Holly, original champion of my blog, feels that glizzies are, “best when grilled at the BBQ.” I shun no dog as we will soon learn, but I do agree with Hol here. Something about an open flame crisping up the outside of those faded, gelatinous tubes takes their flavor and snap to the next level. But when is BBQ time? – Yes, BBQ season is most often equated with summer and the summer holidays.

This recalls another wiener-related movie quote. Any millennial girlie is familiar with Legally Blond and it’s many, notable quotes. From Elle Woods herself – “What? Like it’s hard?” and “the bend and snap!” – a move as I child I was led to believe I would use a ton as an adult woman, but never did. That might be why I’m here writing about goddamn meat-waste tubes every week instead of doing something…else, but I digress. The one quote that stands out to me and rings in my ears every summer is from Jennifer Coolidge’s character Paulette Bonafonte. When Elle is going down to D.C. to join a Representative to work on a new bill and set up the plot for Legally Blonde 2, she is wearing a starred and striped scarf around her neck. Paulette sees her and says, “oh my God. You look like the Fourth of July!” She proceeds to sigh through the next line, “makes me wanna hot dog real bad.” Honestly, same.

Please also see, “camping.” Kafi of my MBA cohort praised the campfire dog and Rob (Holly’s boyfriend) sent me a gorgeous photo of a dog against a tree-lined, summer sunset. Camping, while the brave and more adventurous of us will go any time of year, I think is also closely related to the summer season.

Me and a group of friends take an annual camping trip to Knoebel’s every summer. These trips are the only experience with camping I have ever really had which is why my mind goes camping --> summer. In our younger years, we used to bring packs upon pack of dogs to share. All kinds! Smart dogs, spicy dogs, regular degular dogs. At the end of the night, once us city kids finally got a fire rolling, we would slice those limp, watery packs. With some fresh, wooden (sometimes we’d spring for metal) roasting skewers, we would take turns stabbing the dogs up the center with the skewers (so satisfying) and twirl them above the flames (so entrancing). Maybe we even had hot dog sword fights. Try to make your opponent drop their dog from their skewer down into the fiery depths. We are always the only childless adults on the campground we can do what the fuck we like! Quiet hours, who? Alas - nowadays, 8 or 9 Knoebel’s summers later - we all just sit around that same fire, full on park food, drinking beer and trying to stay up until at least midnight. Please see photo of me below trying to keep my sagging eyes open just not to be the first person to retire their tent. Still in my aging, sleepy brain - the memories of the bubbling, charred meat whistles live on.

They are “closely associated with baseball games” says Holly and Steve (one of Jim’s good buddies, on my side of the hot dog debate and the first to put me on to the Royal Tavern Dog Days) agreed. Baseball is the most important (only?) American sport of the summer season, with wieners starring as the “flagship” food of the game. I mean, there’s a whole brand called “Ball Park”! Dollar Dog nights at the games became so outrageous last year that Citizen’s Bank Park had to downgrade to a BOGO Dog night which is an outrage. Too much of a good thing? Though I still participated in a BOGO dog night this year, my heart is heavy with rue at the loss of Dollar Dog Night. Can you feel it? One of my later entries will be about the September Phillies v. Rays game that I spent dedicated to trying all the ~special~ dogs in the park so stay tuned for that.

Virginia (Holly’s childhood friend) concurred with all of the above points and noted one more – portability! “You can eat it with one hand with a drink in the other.” Choosing a hot dog at the BBQ is a choice for freedom which is funny since I’m pretty sure that all those summer holidays represent just that in one way or another. They can be eaten “any and everywhere” not to mention quickly, (I can easily finish a standard frank in 3-4 bites; no spillage) so that you can keep on partying. And is that not the overall vibe of the summertime?

Lastly, is there another time of year you would even dare consider a corn dog? State Fairs, boardwalks and amusement parks – all the places you might be lucky enough to find yourself in the summer – offer these cornmeal coated, deep fried beauties.

I don’t want to pigeon-hole the mighty hotdog. I am simply trying to both understand and illustrate why hotdogs are so crucial to the summer gourmand such as myself. However, with yesterday marking the first day of fall here in Philadelphia and new & more suggestions of where to get a glizzy cropping up from my peeps every day, it seems my experiment – nay - my duty to the dog must continue! Hot Dogs: quintessential year-round food? We shall see.