Ellis Island celebrates immigrant roots of American hot dog

Nathan's Famous

28/06/2017 21:49

By Gabriella Borter 
    NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - When Americans think of 
summer, a few standbys come to mind: Baseball games, fireworks 
shows and hot dogs. 
    Like many American families, the humble hot dog can trace 
its roots to New York's Ellis Island, where an exhibit called 
"Hot Out of the Melting Pot: A History of the Hot Dog in 
America" is set to run through July at the National Museum of 
Immigration. 
    Twelve million people took their first steps on U.S. soil at 
that island's immigration processing center from 1892 through 
1954, including those who went on to found hot dog makers Hebrew 
National, Nathan's Famous, Sabrett, Vienna Beef, and Walter's.  
    "The focus is on the American hot dog, which would not exist 
if our forefathers had not come over here from Europe," said 
Scott Ladany, Vienna Beef's vice president of sales and grandson 
of the company's Hungarian founder. 
    Samuel Ladany and business partner Emil Reichel came through 
Ellis Island from Hungary in 1893 before introducing the first 
Vienna Beef hot dog at that year's Chicago World's Fair. 
    Called wieners, frankfurters, and dachshund sausages in 
their native countries, hot dogs came with the great wave of 
European immigrants in the late nineteenth century. The American 
hot dog was born when these immigrants began selling their 
sausages in buns. 
    They found eager eaters. Americans are expected to consume 
some 7 billion hot dogs from Memorial Day in May through Labor 
Day in early September, according to the National Hot Dog and 
Sausage Council. 
    Some of the most enthusiastic -- and fastest -- hot dog 
eaters can be found each July 4 at Nathan's Famous hot dog stand 
in New York's Coney Island. The 101-year-old beachfront shop, 
started by Polish immigrant Nathan Handwerker four years after 
he landed at Ellis Island, now hosts an annual hot dog eating 
contest that draws competitors from around the world. 
    The founders of Sabrett and Hebrew National were Greek, 
German and Russian immigrants to Ellis Island and also started 
business in the early 1900s. 
    For Gene-Christian Baca, whose great grandfather Walter 
founded Walter's Hot Dogs when he came through Ellis Island from 
Italy in 1919, the exhibit celebrates an important family 
legacy.  
    "It is an overwhelming feeling," Baca said. "Just to know 
the history behind it and to know what he went through and that 
he came here virtually with nothing from Italy as a 
three-year-old boy." 
 
 (Reporting By Gabriella Borter; Editing by Scott Malone and 
David Gregorio) 
 ((Gabriella.Borter@thomsonreuters.com)) 
 
Keywords: NEW YORK HOTDOG/