The United States has developed over the years a disarming way to put its foreign guests at ease. It is to offer that most unassuming of American food items, one long associated with baseball, barbecues and occasional gastrointestinal distress. Yes: the hot dog. In the formal language of diplomacy, perhaps, the presentation of a hot dog may say: “On behalf of the United States of America, may we offer you this tubular delight of meat, meat byproducts, curing agents and spices?Ž But what it really says is: “How ya doin’? Wanna beer?Ž Such is the democratic charm of the hot dog.
Last week, the State Department informed its embassies and consulates that they could now invite officials from Iran to their Fourth of July receptions, all in keeping with the Obama administration’s policy of openness to communication. Iranian diplomats have been off the invite list ever since a certain faux pas, the 1979 seizure by protesters of the American Embassy in Tehran. But now, finally, representatives of the Iranian government are welcome to annual Independence Day parties.
Royal guests There is no record of the founding fathers ever eating hot dogs, no trace, for example, of mustard on the Declaration of Independence. But the hot dog has played a role in American foreign relations since at least June 1939, when the king and queen of England attended a picnic at President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s estate in Hyde Park, N. Y., while soliciting American support for England in the war about to consume Europe. The next day, a front-page headline in The New York Times shared the news: KING TRIES HOT DOG AND ASKS FOR MORE And He Drinks Beer With Them.
Bob Clark, the head archivist at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library, says that a sample tray of hot dogs was served on a silver tray; the royal guests nevertheless joined everyone else in eating off paper plates; King George VI ate two hot dogs. A more delicate diplomatic matter concerned Queen Elizabeth. According to “The Roosevelts and the Royals,Ž a 2004 book by Will Swift, the queen turned to President Roosevelt and asked: “How do you eat it?Ž He is said to have answered: “Very simple. Push it into your mouth and keep pushing it until it is all gone.Ž But the Queen of England is said to have used a knife and fork.
No more than five bites
Twenty years later, in 1959, a hot dog again figured in American foreign relations when Nikita Khrushchev, the unpredictable leader of the Soviet Union, toured the United States. At one point he stopped in Des Moines, where he ate his first hot dog. The hot dog, it seems, figures in American diplomacy only when absolutely needed. In 1999, for example, President Bill Clinton gathered at a table with Prime Minister Ehud Barak of Israel and the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat to eat hot dogs. Kosher, of course.
Now it is needed again - on Independence Day, to help the Obama administration with the delicate matter of Iran. And if things do not go as well as planned, the administration might consider contacting the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, a project of the American Meat Institute and conveniently located in Washington. Its officials can suggest recipes beyond the traditional dog in a bun.
The council also has a cheeky list of etiquette tips that could come in handy for foreign heads of state. Among them: use paper napkins, not cloth napkins, when wiping one’s mouth while eating a hot dog; take no more than five bites in consuming a hot dog; and never, ever, use utensils to eat a hot dog on a bun. One more thing, Your Majesty. Wanna beer?
The New York Times
