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Chicago is no stranger to controversial food tastes and opinions. From deep-dish pizza to the uniquely flavored Malört liqueur (you simply must try it to believe it), it seems there's no shortage of unique food items in the Windy City. But one of Chicago's most distinctive food takes involves hot dogs.
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In fact, the Chicago-style dog, which consists of an all-beef frankfurter topped with celery salt, relish, sport peppers, a pickle, tomato slices, chopped onions, and yellow mustard on a poppy seed bun, is one of the most iconic food items to come out of the city. Chicago natives and hot dog enthusiasts alike love the unique, if not topping-heavy, food. But there is one topping that Chicagoans simply don't tolerate, and that's ketchup.
Nothing brings the city together more than its united disdain for the sweet, tomato-based condiment on a dog. From the Chicago landmark Jimmy's Red Hots' ban on serving ketchup to former Chicagoan Barack Obama's declaration that ketchup is "not acceptable past the age of 8," it seems the condiment has garnered universal hatred from the city.
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A city that takes dogs seriously
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There is no one concrete explanation why Chicago residents loathe ketchup, but some theories have emerged regarding the city's ketchup aversion. For one, meat was — and to some extent still is — the backbone of the city. In the early 20th century, Chicago was the meat-packing capital of the United States. So naturally, hot dogs, among other meat products, are taken very seriously in the Midwestern city. And this focus on quality meats might just be the reason for Chicago's ketchup aversion.
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This is because the flavor of the red sauce, which is sweet and tangy, can overwhelm the taste of a good hot dog, pulling focus from the flavor of a quality sausage and covering up the taste of a subpar, or potentially spoiled, dog. Jimmy Faruggia, the owner of the Chicago staple Jimmy's Red Hots, was a strong believer that ketchup was used to cover the taste of spoiled meat, and famously refused to serve the condiment at his restaurant, a policy that still stands. And though many diners simply enjoy putting ketchup on their hot dog, ketchup does indeed tend to pull attention from other flavors.
The Chicago dog's toppings work in harmony
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Of course, this doesn't explain the rather topping-heavy Chicago dog, which is piled high with condiments and flavor-packed ingredients. One explanation for the Windy City's ketchup hate could be the sauce's flavor similarities to the toppings present on a Chicago-style dog. And it's hard to dispute that the toppings found on a Chicago dog do approximate many of ketchup's flavor profiles, which lean on vinegar, sweetness, and, well, tomatoes, to create its unique taste. However, ketchup is sweeter and arguably more potent than Chicago's signature toppings, and the city's signature dog does offer a more complex and interesting taste than plain ketchup, which tends to overwhelm all other flavors.
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Maybe Chicago natives simply don't want their signature hot dog style to stand against the saucy, tangy taste of ketchup, but would rather have their own, uniquely flavored dog be able to stand alone in its unique identity, second to none (not even New York).
