The History of Frankfurters

Claims about where and when the first frankfurter was invented are plenty and difficult to prove. It has been argued that it was not a real frankfurter until it was placed in a bun and eaten by hand, while others argue that it is the combination of thin casing and spices that make it a true frankfurter. Nonetheless, the modern frankfurter has a long and glorious history.

Ancient Rome

It is widely accepted that in 64 A.D., the Emperor's chef, Gaius, discovered how to make the first sausage when he cut open a pig to discover that the intestines had ballooned. He cleaned the entrails and stuffed them with ground meat and spices, then tied them into sections. However, sausage is mentioned in Homer's "Odyssey," written almost a thousand years earlier. Nonetheless, without the sausage there would be no frankfurter.

15th Century

Frankfurt, Germany, claims that the first frankfurter was invented in 1484. According to legend, this new kind of pork sausage was given to the common people during imperial coronations. In 1987, Frankfurt celebrated the 500-year anniversary of the frankfurter.

17th Century

Another popular legend about the beginnings of the frankfurter date back to 1690 when Johann Georghehner, a butcher living in Coburg, Germany, created the now famous sausage. He then apparently traveled to Frankfurt to promote this revolutionary new kind of sausage.

19th Century

In 1852, a butcher's guild located in Frankfurt began selling a sausage that was spiced and smoked and stuffed into a thin casing. It had a slightly curved shape, and they called it a Frankfurter.

On Coney Island, around 1870, an immigrant by the name of Charles Feltman started a business selling sausages on a roll. Likewise, around 1880, a German named Antonoine Feuchtwanger began selling sausages in rolls because the customers had been walking off with the white gloves that were handed to them in order to hold the hot sausages while eating them.

20th Century

At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904, a Bavarian began selling sausages in rolls again under the pretext of losing too many white gloves. In 1916, Nathan Handwerker, who was an employee of Charles Feltman, began selling hot dogs in competition with his old employer. Handwerker charged 5 cents per frankfurter while Feltman charged 10 cents, and Nathan's Famous was born. Nathan's hot dogs were served to King George VI when he and the queen visited Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife in 1939.

21st Century

Today the frankfurter is a North American iconic food, and Americans consume nearly 60 of them each per year. They are omnipresent and sold at sporting events, convenience stores and on busy streets.

References

• Hot Dogs: History and Legends of Hot Dogs
• History of the Hot Dog

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