Hot Dog Trivia

• The world’s biggest hot dog was 1,996 feet long, created by Sara Lee Corp. in honor of the 1996 Olympics. A 1,983 foot hot dog was made in May 1983 by Bill-Mar Foods of Zeeland, Wis. A 2,377-foot chicken dog was made in 1985 by Maple Lodge Farms in Norval, Canada. In 1978, David Berg of Chicago made a six-foot, 681-pound beef hot dog in a 100-pound poppy seed bun covered with two gallons of mustard.

• The most popular hot dog topping among adults is mustard (87.6%). Among children, it is ketchup.

• Marlene Dietrich said that her favorite meal was hot dogs & champagne.

• Babe Ruth once ate 12 hot dogs & 8 bottles of soda between games of a double header. He was reportedly rushed to the hospital after the game with a severe case of indigestion.

• Al Capone’s favourite food was Nathan’s Coney Island hot dogs, as was Cary Grant’s.

• The average hot dog is consumed in 6.1 bites.

• On July 4, 1916 four Irish immigrants held a hot dog eating contest to decide which of them was the most patriotic. The winner, James Mullen, ate 13 dogs & buns in 12 minutes.

• The 2001 world record for hot dog eating is 50 wieners with buns in 12 minutes

• The Canadian champ, Chris Eyres of New Westminster, BC, ate 18 in 12 minutes in 2001.

• Chicago's O'Hare International Airport sells more than 2 million hot dogs a year.

• Baseball fans will enjoy "in the ballpark" of 26.8 million hot dogs at US baseball stadiums this season. That's enough to circle the bases 36,000 times.

• More hot dogs will be eaten at Jacob's Field, home of the Cleveland Indians - 1.8 million in 2001 - than in any other ballpark.

• President Franklin Roosevelt served King George VI of England hot dogs & beer during a White House visit in 1939. Mrs. Jimmy Carter served hot dogs at a White House picnic in 1977. Queen Elizabeth II served hot dogs at a royal banquet held for the American Bar Association.

• Americans consumed 20 billion hot dogs in 2000. The 7 billion eaten just during the summer months are enough to stretch from Chicago  (the hot dog capital of the universe) to Frankfurt, Germany (where it all began) 125 times.

• Weight Watchers includes hot dogs in its medically-approved diet regimen.

• NASA has approved hot dogs as a regular item on Apollo moon flights, Skylab missions & space shuttle flights.