Changes

The American hot dog, which is now the hot dog that influenced other countries in adopting this type of food, likely developed from the dachshund sausages that was served by some German immigrants in the United States. In 1860s, German immigrants were known to sell dachshund sausages with milk rolls and sauerkraut. In 1871, a German baker, Charles Feltman, opened the first known stand in Coney Island that specifically selling sold or focused on the dachshund sausages with milk rolls. In the 1893 exhibition in Chicago, a city with many German immigrants, visitors to the city became acquainted with this type of sausage. It proved popular as vendors could sell them from their carts, put them in a bun, which was in the German tradition, and serve to customers at a low cost as they were easy to make and preserved well (Figure 2).<ref>For more on the development of the dachshund sausage and its influence on hot dogs, see: Kraig, B., & Carroll, P. (2014). <i>Man bites dog: hot dog culture in America</i>. Taylor Trade Publishing, pg. 44.</ref>

In the same year of 1893, the first baseball team began to sell the predecessor to the modern hot dog (dachshund sausages) at baseball games. The Saint Louis Browns were the first team to sell these sausages at their games in buns. The owner, Chris Von de Ahe, was a German-American who saw an opportunity in selling these products at games, where they were easy to eat while sitting and watching the game as they required to knife or fork to eat given the shape of the sausages being long and thin. While the sausage buns were not a standard size, in 1904 Anton Feuchtwanger, at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, helped to develop a bun that fit the shape of the sausage. However, some dispute this and state that Feltman in 1871 had already developed a specialized bun that fit the long, thing shaped sausages. Regardless, this innovation made it even easier to hold and consume the sausage as people sat and watched the exhibition or other events. The origins of the term 'hot dog' is not fully clear. The most likely story is that in the 1890s, at Yale, German immigrants selling dachshund sausages became associated with dachshund dogs, which were thin and long dogs. The association of the dogs with the sausage vendors could have been a play on words that associated the two, as pronouncing dachshund was not easy for many Americans and the term 'hot dog' in reference to the shape and vendors became easier. Other origin myths could have been that 'hot dogs' were a derisive reference to the accusation that dogs were sometimes used as the meat of the hot dogs.<ref>For more on how the sausage became the hot dog, see: Bly, R. W. (2007). <i>All-American frank: a history of the hot dog</i>. Baltimore, MD: PublishAmerica.</ref>