There are many unanswered questions in today’s society. Some of these questions can really keep people up at night. Questions like, what is the meaning of life? Or, more importantly, is a hot dog a sandwich?  

When surveying about 50 students and staff on Wheaton’s campus, 18% of the participants surveyed agreed that a hot dog is a sandwich, leaving the remaining 82% to believe that a hot dog does not qualify as a sandwich.

One argument as to why a hot dog should be considered a sandwich was, “because you can put anything in it,” said Jorge Peña ’23.

In support of a hot dog being considered a sandwich, many posts on the internet claim that “the idea that a hot dog is a sandwich is heresy.” But given that the definition of a sandwich according to Webster’s Dictionary is, “two or more slices of bread or a split roll having a filling in between,” there is no sensible way around it. If you want a meatball sandwich on a split roll to be a kind of sandwich, then you have to accept that a hot dog is also a kind of sandwich.”

An argument as to why a hot dog should not be considered a sandwich are, it’s just “one piece of bread,” claimed Jackson Dyer ’23. Furthermore, a student, who would wish to remain anonymous, claimed, “a sausage in a bun that is connected at the bottom doesn’t count as a sandwich.” This reasoning follows the definition that a sandwich is an item of food consisting of two pieces of bread with meat, cheese, or other fillings between them, eaten as a light meal.

Nicole Janerio ’23 exclaimed that a hot dog could not possibly qualify as a sandwich “because if it were a sandwich it wouldn’t be called a hot dog. It would be called a damn sandwich.” Mike Pepin ’22 agreed with Janerio’s opinion and said that a hot dog is “its own entity.” 

I believe a hot dog should not be considered a sandwich. It is explained clearly in this diagram I created: 

In conclusion, when assuming the stance of the preferred definition of a sandwich: “an item of food consisting of two pieces of bread with meat, cheese, or another filling between them, eaten as a light meal,” a hot dog in a roll is not a sandwich when the roll holding the hot dog is only one piece of connected bread.