I will never understand what compels others to dictate what, how, and when they may or may not eat something they like.
As my profile says: “Life’s nasty, brutish and short. Eat what brings you joy.”
That includes not giving two Fs about other people’s notions of what is appropriate for any given dish
It’s frankly none of my business whether someone likes A1 steak sauce on their well-done steak, or loves cream in their alfredo, or prefers certain dishes in non-traditional ways.
And vice versa.
It reeks of snobbery to me, TBH, and of trying to control other folks or feeling superior for “doing/eating it the right way.”
Don’t go to Chicago and order it that way. They might ban you. Personally I say eat how you like, even if I agree to some degree with the logic. Same with pineapple on pizza, although I understand the distain.
And who am I to argue with the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council? Sounds like baloney…which is simply a different form of hot dog.
When we were kids, we were allowed to have soda if we had fish because drinking milk with fish would make you sick. Dont ask me why,especially since I’m not Italian!
According to some quick googling, the Canaanites and “other pagan tribes” regularly ate pork and used pigs as ritual sacrifices. Thus distinguishing Jews from Gentiles.
I don’t have any knowledge about how/why Islam imposed similar rules. One imagines it was for much the same reasons.
Depends on what one thinks the reasons actually were.
I was taught that food restrictions, like many other religious “tenets” were based on scientific or practical reasons, but it was easier to get a lay person to go along by making it about “God”. Whether Judaism, Islam (which shares the Old Testament), or Hinduism.
Pigs lived in filth, hygiene was hard. Cows are worth more alive than dead. And so on.
Go to Wiener Circle and order it that way…mockery and ridicule might ensue. Other places it might be fierce yelling. I think it’s on the level of pineapple on pizza being illegal…or the EU’s Protected Designation of Origin.
Midwestern charm is real…but might not apply to hot dogs.
But no one is expecting “classical” italian pasta in America. I’m sure shrimp parm is not classical italian either. Even carbonara is not “classically” italian — in any form.
Neither is palak paneer made with kale and tofu classically indian, but it doesn’t stop people from calling it Indian. Or vindaloo not made with pork.
I enjoy chicken Adana kabab served in Turkish restaurants in the US, even having eaten lamb Adana kabab in Turkey. Doesn’t stop people from self-righteously commenting that it’s not “real” Adana kabab unless it’s made with lamb tail fat.
At the end of the day, it’s about what dishes’ and cuisines’ “authenticity” (the other word for “classical”) must be protected and transgressions against them protested, and while that varies, but doesn’t make the “protectors” right irrespective of the culture.
Back to that “authenticity” thread that got shut down because people cared so deeply and vociferously, but about only some things.
The Weiner Circle is a… “special” place. The attitude is not a standard Chicago thing. At MOST hot dog joints (and they are properly refered to as joints, as opposed to huts, stands, etc.) ordering a dog ‘with everything’ will not get you ketchup. If you order one SPECIFICALLY with ketchup, you will be met with some side eye unless it is obviously for a child in your party.
Most of the time they’ll do it just fine. Occasionally they’ll direct you to the ketchup bottles/packets/dispenser and tell you you are free to add it yourself.
The great thing about a Chicago hot dog is that just about every joint will serve you an identical product. A natural casing all beef sausage from the Vienna company, on a steamed poppy seed bun made by S. Rosen bakery. The bright green relish is similarly sourced from one of a couple of vendors.
Some places vary this. The biggest chain, Portillo’s, started commissioning their own special version of the Vienna hot dog. The spice mixture is slightly different, and I dislike its texture. I do NOT recommend them for dogs. For anything else (Polish sausage, burgers, Italian beefs) they’re fine, and the chocolate cake shake IS yummy, even if it’s a bit silly and will provide dessert for 3 normal adults.
Why not - depending on the background, ambitions, quality of the chef I expect “classical” Italian pasta dishes in certain restaurants ? Of course not from every Italian restaurant and chef but there are a significant number of chefs in the US which specifically want to create their Italian dishes based on the traditions of Italian cooking. In that case you won’t find cream in Alfredo or carbonara sauces, no heavily over-sauced pasta dishes etc. We have to distinguish between Italian and American-Italian restaurants in the US and they have very different dishes and quality but I expect in an Italian restaurant in the US classical Italian pasta dishes
, a hot dog probably won’t be a priority.
