It's the question that's been dividing families apart and causing upset at the workplace! At WBSM, our traffic guru, Colleen, disagreed with me. I said a hot dog IS a sandwich and Colleen said no, a hot dog isn't a sandwich! When I went around asking others, most pondered the question and came to the same conclusion I did. But I wanted to get some professional expertise on this argument, so I went to New Bedford's most successful hot dog vendor, Gary's Best Hot Dogs at 958 Ashley Blvd. The consensus at Gary's Best was no, a hot dog is a separate item from their sandwich menu. Plus they told me that a sandwich is two pieces of bread with a filling, and a hot dog has only one piece of bread that's split! The definition of sandwich, aside from a Cape Cod town known for glassmaking, is  TWO pieces of bread with something (such as meat, peanut butter, tuna salad, etc.) between them! What do you think?

Well, here is the official answer. A hot dog is NOT a sandwich! the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council ruled on Friday, November 6, 2015 after days, or perhaps decades, of sizzling debate. The issue was particularly contentious last week, as some Americans celebrating National Sandwich Day were unclear whether hot dogs could properly be consumed on this most joyous of occasions.

The council, an authority on the matter, ruled that hot dogs in fact transcend sandwiches, occupying a higher level. "Limiting the hot dog’s significance by saying it’s ‘just a sandwich’ is like calling the Dalai Lama ‘just a guy.’ Perhaps at one time its importance could be limited by forcing it into a larger sandwich category (no disrespect to Reubens and others), but that time has passed," the council's president, Janet Riley, said in a statement. "We therefore choose to take a cue from a great performer and declare our namesake be a 'hot dog formerly known as a sandwich." Well, there you have it folks! the experts have spoken. And as for me, I'll be buying Colleen lunch from Gary's Best Hot Dogs.

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