Meat + Poultry - September 2010 - 59

Introduction

Hot Dog lunch a
'wiener' on Capitol Hill
BY TOM SUPER
meatpoultry@sosland.com

hile Washington, D.C., was
enduring one of the most intense heat waves in memory, the real
Dog Day of Summer took place on
Capitol Hill...home of the American Meat Institute's annual Hot
Dog Lunch.
Capitol Hill staff, lawmakers, meat
industry representatives and members
of the media came together on July 21
at the Rayburn House Office Building Courtyard to once again celebrate
National Hot Dog Month. The event
drew nearly 1,500 attendees - including more than 100 members of the
House of Representatives and Senate
from both sides of the aisle.
The hot dog is an American and
cultural icon and year after year, this
social event on Capitol Hill, which is
one of the most widely attended of
the summer, is a reflection of the hot
dog's unwavering popularity.
Those attending the annual lunch
did not go back to their offices hungry. The 4,000 hot dogs, corn dogs,
brats and other sausages served, if laid
end to end, would equal the height of
three Washington Monuments and are
enough to circle the U.S. Capitol dome
four times. This event helped Washingtonians contribute to the nation's
substantial hot dog consumption, estimated at 20 billion hot dogs annually.
And lunch attendees were not the
only beneficiaries. All uncooked and
pre-packaged leftover food was donated to D.C. Central Kitchen, which
turns leftover food into millions of
meals for at-risk individuals.
The 2010 Hot Dog Lunch was cohosted by Rep. Collin Peterson (DMinn.) and Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Ok-

la.) and sponsored by the American
Bakers Association, American Beverage Association, DIAGEO, Hormel Foods Corp., International Bottled Water Association, MillerCoors,
Snack Food Association and Unique
Vending Carts. Hot Dog and Sausage
vendors included Farmland Foods,
Hatfield Quality Meats, Hormel Foods
Corporation, Kraft, Kunzler & Company, Sara Lee, Smithfield Foods and
Tyson Foods.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce
designated July as National Hot Dog
Month in 1957. AMI has been hosting
its annual Hot Dog Lunch on Capitol Hill in some form since the 1970s,
when it started out as just a couple of
chafing dishes filled with steaming water and hot dogs on top of a committee
room table. But in 1991, the Hot Dog
Lunch started paying homage to the
extraordinary relationship and history shared by hot dogs and another
American icon - baseball.
Year after year, hot dogs are the
top food served at ballparks. In fact,
ballparks around the country will
serve 21,378,064 hot dogs this season, according to the National Hot
Dog Council's annual survey.
Attending this year's lunch to greet
fans, sign autographs and nosh on
some dogs were three former Major
League All-Stars: Ron Guidry, a former New York Yankees pitcher; Lee
Smith, a former Chicago Cubs pitcher, and Dale Murphy, former Atlanta
Braves outfielder.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) perhaps
summed up best why hot dogs and
baseball hit a home run on Capitol Hill
year after year. "It makes me feel like

a little boy," he said. "I've met presidents and prime ministers and kings,
but when I meet baseball players, it's
always the biggest thrill for me."
We've heard a lot of talk over the
years about how difficult it is to get
lawmakers to "come together." If the

Former AMI Chairman and Phillies fan Phil
Clemens presides over the Hatfield Quality Meats
vending station while Rep. Henry Teague (D-NM)
dresses his dog at AMI's annual hot dog lunch.

Annual Hot Dog Lunch is any indication, perhaps we would make more
progress if legislation was discussed
over a picnic table instead of a conference room table, with a hot dog in
hand rather than a heavy gavel.
Frankly, that might be a good
idea. ■
Tom Super is the director of media outreach
with the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council.
For more information on the NHD&SC, go to:
http://www.hot-dog.org/.
We would like to hear from you - to comment
on this story or to request reprints, contact us
by e-mail at meatpoultry@sosland.com.

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