Über Takes Have a take
Food · Chicago has rules · Take No. 025

Ketchup on a hot dog?

In Chicago it's a crime. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council says no one over eighteen should. And yet the bottle is right there on every table in America.

The case for each side, then the verdict. Then the floor is yours.
The case for

Yes, it's your hot dog

The case for the bottle

  • No. 1Condiment in America by sales, on everything from fries to eggs. The hot dog is not a special case.
  • 1Rule of eating: you eat what you like. Nobody polices your burger.
  • KidsLearn to love hot dogs with ketchup, and most never un-learn it. That's a tradition too.
vs
The case for

No, and Chicago is right

The case for the rulebook

  • 18The age at which the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council says you should stop. They put it in writing.
  • 7Toppings on a Chicago dog, from sport peppers to celery salt. Ketchup isn't one, and it's not an accident.
  • SugarKetchup is sweet. A hot dog is salty and smoky; the sweetness flattens everything mustard sharpens.

Cast your take

——
The verdict

It's No. Not because of Chicago. Because of the sugar.

The yes side's argument, that it's your food and your business, is true and nobody here will take the bottle from your hand. Rules about toppings are mostly snobbery.

But this one has a reason behind it: ketchup is sugar, and a hot dog is the one sandwich whose whole appeal is salt and snap. Mustard sharpens it; ketchup drowns it. Try a week without, and you won't go back. No, politely.

Disagree? That's what the buttons are for.

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