Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs
Overall Ranking 2) Recommended Reading
What is the book about?
Jamie Loftus is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer, New York Times bestselling author, webby-winning podcaster and self-reported gum disease haver. If you are a fan of animated tv, you would recognize her work as a writer for Star Trek: Lower Decks, Teenage Euthanasia, Robot Chicken, Magical Girl Friendship Squad, Human Kind Of, and StuGo.
In this book, Loftus takes us on a road trip from the summer of 2021, sampling the country’s most famous hot dogs. From JJ’s Red Hots in North Carolina to Nathan’s Famous in Brooklyn. Along the way, she dives into hot dog history, from how Polish and German immigrants created the hot dog for cheap sustenance to its rise to prominence during the Great Depression. You'll hear about how some hot dog stands became cultural institutions, how some became gentrified, and how some lean into sexuality to sell a wiener.
Why would a comedian care about hotdogs? Because why not I guess. Loftus is a writer who is periodically fascinated by a wide range of subjects. Her projects are thematically all over the place, and she often explores them by combining podcasts, articles, standup routines, and books. Previously, she's taken deep dives into everything from Zambonis (she tried to get them to make a Zamboni emoji) and Mensa (she joined it to write a podcast series) to more serious topics like Lolita and American spiritualism. From this point of view, hot dogs just make sense.
And when she goes after something, she commits. By the end of her journey she lost a relationship, published a well-researched book, and fell in love with Joey Chestnut, the current hot-dog eating champion (she may or may not be his wife according to her one-woman show and he may or may not be aware of this).
Would I recommend reading it?
I aspire to be this entertaining in my writing. Somehow Loftus is able to turn what should be a tale of rinse and repeat (i.e. find hotdog place, eat, and say if she liked it) into an ever-changing adventure. While traversing the country trying hundreds of hotdogs, she tears some establishments to bits for not toasting their buns, laughs at how sexualized some establishments manage to be with their branding, and tells you the crazy histories of 100-year-old hotdog establishments.
Raw Dog’s sillier moments are balanced with a weighty critique of the meatpacking and food service industries woven throughout the book. Loftus’s road trip took place during the Great Resignation, the second wave of COVID all in the midst of a failing relationship. You'll learn how only two federal laws protect livestock, why hotdogs should be cheap, how they are manufactured and why female hotdog eating champions are being pushed to the shadows despite being just as competitive as the male hotdog eaters (yes, even Joey Chesnut who has lost to Sonya "Black Widow" Thomas in hot dog eating. She still holds the records for asparagus, cheesecake, chicken nuggets, chili, crab cakes, eggs, jambalaya, Moon pies, oysters, pizza, tacos, Tater tots, and turducken)
So much of our food system feels designed to hide where the things we eat come from. But hot dogs are honest.
Jamie Loftus is cool, smart, funny and the perfect amount of weird. She tackles both hotdogs and societal issues with unique wit and prow. She is incredibly personable and does not hold back from speaking what is on her mind. For example, while witnessing the infamous Sausage Race where "five people in seven-foot-three mascot suits shaped liked sausages" at a Brewers home game in Wisconsin says that the Italian coded hot dog mascot "makes me horny, and that makes me a Cultural Problem."
The only "problem" with Raw Dog is that I ended up craving a hot dog, with a toasted bun of course. Its entertaining, informative, and accomplishes all it sets out to do. I originally was going to categorize his as a level 3) Consider Reading, but I have already re-read the chapter on professional eating because it made me smile. For that reason, I have bumped it up to level 2) Recommended Reading. I hope that you get as much of a kick out of it as I did.
Books to Bowls OUT!
*This post contains affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you make a purchase through my links. Don't worry, it doesn't cost you anything extra, and it helps keep the lights on here. Plus, I only recommend stuff I actually like. I'm not trying to sell you a bridge here... unless it's a really cool bridge
Comments
Post a Comment