Make a story up about something that took place a long time ago and tell it to as many people as possible over and over, and they’ll start to believe it. It becomes history. But one that’s far from the truth. The story behind Coney Island’s Annual Hot Dog Eating Contest was said to be about four immigrants who were deciding who among them was most patriotic, by eating hot dogs.
Listen beautiful relax classics on our Youtube channel.
According to Nathan’s Famous hot dogs, this was the beginning of the annual contest’s rich American history. That must be it then. Whichever Irishman could eat the most frankfurters — an Austrian food, popularized by Poles, that takes its name from a German city — would be the most American.
The first record of the most gluttonous sporting event of the year is from 1972, not 1916. Comparing the story that is told to what actually happened reveals how this famous cookout food took over American cuisine and how the contest became a tradition by convincing people that it already was one.
(Image credit: Ajay Suresh/Flickr; Wikimedia Commons)
Source: neatorama