Alaska News

Meet Anchorage's biggest hot dog fan

Is there any act more iconic on the Fourth of July than roasting a hot dog over a campfire?

Not for Melissa Houston.

Houston began a lifelong appreciation of hot dogs, a staple of her childhood in northern Illinois, during visits to her grandma's farm. Those hot Midwestern summer days were spent playing and doing chores. She'd look forward to the wiener roast at the end of the day, a reward for helping out. Houston says her favorite way of eating a hot dog can be traced back to those times. "Ballpark hot dog cooked on a stick over a fire. Ketchup only."

Houston attended Loyola University Chicago, and it was there that she experienced what is known as the "Chicago Dog" -- a colorful creation loaded with toppings like tomatoes, onions, peppers, a signature neon-green relish, mustard, pickles and celery salt. Vienna beef is mandatory, as is a poppy-seed bun. Houston explained that eating a Chicago-style dog in Chicago is a serious stuff. This is not a place you get away with adding ketchup to your hot dog.

"At the time, it was a new twist on my favorite food. I was willing to add toppings I didn't even like very much because it was part of the cultural experience," Houston says.

Houston, 25, is an entrepreneurship program specialist at the University of Alaska Center for Economic Development. She moved to Anchorage in 2011. A lover of skydiving, traveling and the outdoors, she says her Alaskan adventures have upped her hot dog consumption. "I still can't go camping without eating a hot dog," she laughs.

No matter where Houston goes, she seeks out a hot dog stand or makes one herself. During college, Houston studied abroad in Costa Rica. She made hot dogs for her host family that year on the Fourth of July. Last spring, on a trip to Iceland, she tried her first lamb hot dog. She even celebrated her 25th birthday at Anchorage restaurant Johnny Chicago's, wearing a full-length hot dog costume. In case you haven't caught on, Melissa Houston is a hard-core hot dog aficionado.

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According to the National Sausage and Hot Dog Council (yes, really), in 2013 Americans ate 150 million hot dogs over the July 4 holiday. To put things into perspective, that's enough hot dogs to stretch from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., five times over. In the course of an entire year, about 20 billion hot dogs are consumed in the United States. Whether you love or hate it, it's undeniable that from the ballpark to the backyard barbecue, the hot dog is still one of our country's favorite foods.

From North to South and coast to coast, there are dozens of regional variants in hot dogs cuisine. They range from the street cart simplicity of a New York dog to the ballpark pleasure of a pickle and poppy-seed Chicago dog. Sonoran-style Mexican dogs are grilled and wrapped in bacon before being loaded like a burrito. We Alaskans are loyal to our reindeer sausage.

No matter where you are or how you like them, the smell and taste of a hot dog is sure to evoke strong memories of place and home. In that spirit, Houston celebrated the Fourth of July like millions of other Americans this weekend. She ate a hot dog roasted over a campfire. Ketchup only.

Shannon Kuhn lives in Anchorage, where she writes about food and culture.

Shannon Kuhn

Shannon Kuhn lives in Anchorage and is co-founder of the Anchorage Food Mosaic. She writes about food and culture and can be reached at play@alaskadispatch.com (subject line: Shannon Kuhn).

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