For years now, people in our nation and even our local community have been arguing about hotdogs and whether they are a sandwich or not. This discussion has been going on for too long; it is time for someone to put an end to it. Here, I will explain to you all the reasons that a hotdog is, indeed, a sandwich.

First, I’d like to know: how is a hotdog not a sandwich? What criteria does a sandwich need to have to earn the name? A sandwich is meat or some other sort of filling that is encapsulated in bread. It stays together on its own, and it is edible. I frankly can’t see how anyone would have any way to argue against the fact that a hotdog meets all of this criteria.

Let’s start with the basics. We first need to define a sandwich. Our definition of a sandwich is a meal that consists of meat, cheese or some other filling that is placed in bread or a form of bread, such as bagels, buns, etc. Many people believe that a hotdog cannot be a sandwich because the meat isn’t between two pieces of bread, but that isn’t the case.

Aidan Canfield ‘18 works at Stateline Subs in Brookline, NH, so it’s safe to say he knows his sandwiches. Canfield works with subs all day long and said, “I’d say it’s like a sub, so yeah, it’s a sandwich.” There we have it. A hotdog is a sub, and obviously a sub is sandwich, however, to some that’s not so obvious.

There have been many debates surrounding this issue, and  I would argue that a hotdog and a sub are no different. Do you want to know what I hear in response? “A sub is not a sandwich!” To which I normally reply, “Are you kidding me?!” It is mind-boggling to hear someone tell me a sub is not a sandwich. I have two main points to counter this argument. First, the term ‘sub’ is an abbreviation for the technical term, submarine SANDWICH. If that doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will. My next point involves one of the largest sandwich shops in the world, Subway. When people tell me a sub isn’t a sandwich, I can’t help but to bring Subway up. I like to ask people, “What does Subway make?” they typically reply with, “Subs” and then I have to explain to them that sub means submarine sandwich and that everyone always says “Subway sandwiches.” The thing that really grinds my gears is when people tell me that a sub is a sandwich, and that’s all fine and good, but somehow a hotdog isn’t a sub. Local sandwich enthusiast John Champa of Nashua claims, “There is no two ways about it, [a hotdog] is a sub, so it has to be a sandwich.”

The other main argument I hear all the time is that a sandwich has to have two pieces of bread. To that I say, “Then what does Subway make?” That is when I can typically trap people in their own delusion. Patrick Close ‘18 stated, “When I see the word ‘sandwich’ in the term, for example a submarine sandwich, I most certainly believe it is a sandwich.”

The bottom line folks: a hotdog is a sandwich, for one simple reason. It is identical to a sub, aside for the shape of the meat, and a sub is a sandwich.