It is a busy time for sports fans. We have the NFL draft and the Kentucky Derby on the horizon. But the biggest news, for me, is about Dodger Dogs.
Nothing feels more notable than the fact that the hot dog supplier at Chavez Ravine is changing for the first time since 1972. Farmer John, a meatpacking plant in Los Angeles, is no longer the supplier for this iconic ballpark food at Dodger Stadium.
Smithfield Foods, the parent company of Farmer John, told the Los Angeles Times that their contract with the club was not renewed after the 2019 season. Due to COVID-19, no fans were permitted at the stadium in 2020 — a season in which the Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988.
The meatpacking plant, meanwhile, was reportedly hit with upwards of $58,000 in fines given for safety violations that exposed more than 300 workers to the coronavirus.
The two parties were unable to reach an agreement for the 2021 campaign.
Say it ain’t so, Vin: Farmer John Dodger Dogs are no more https://t.co/hCxzKEH8BZ
— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) April 26, 2021
According to hot-dog.org, which is my new web browser home page, Dodger Stadium sells 2.7 million hot dogs per season — the most of any ballpark in the United States.
In fact, according to a 2019 report from the trade association National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, L.A. actually consumes 30 million pounds of hot dogs per year, which is more than any other city. Street hot dogs wrapped in bacon compose a large share of that, assuredly.
The late Farmer John Dodger Dog, typically served grilled at the stadium, was also available at some supermarkets around Southern California as well as convenience stores. Due to trademark issues, those have also since been discontinued.
By all accounts, Dodger Dogs were a national treasure. How many other specific stadium food items were used as an insult in the cult classic film The Sandlot (1993)? No one could hear legendary baseball announcer Vin Scully talk about this delicacy without wanting one of their own…immediately.
Los Angelinos take pride in their hot dog and since moving to New York, I’ve gotten into serious debates about whether the Dodger Dog was superior to the classic Nathan’s dog sold at Citi Field.
Full disclosure: I typically argue in favor of Nathan’s because they’re a lot smaller and thus I can eat more without getting full, and that makes many of my friends very upset.
Farmer John’s will no longer be making Dodger Dogs. A difficult day for Dodgers fans, who will be forced to recognize that Dodger Dogs are exactly the same as all other hot dogs and it is weird that people in LA talk about them like they are made of beluga caviar or something.
— Jesse Thorn (@JesseThorn) April 27, 2021
But I grew up in Los Angeles and have stored countless memories of myself enjoying Dodger Dogs.
The ketchup and the mustard and the onions blend together as vibrantly as the picturesque orange, pink and violet sky I am eating beneath in this imaginary scenario. At least, that is how it looks in this messy montage that I have created in my head that surely ends with a new stain on my shirt.
Maybe I remember the Dodger Dog a bit more fondly than ever before considering that it has been more than eighteen months since my last baseball game, which is by far the longest stretch without live baseball in my life.
(As you have probably picked up on by now, I was obsessed with hot dogs when I was a child and still have a not-so-small soft spot for them even now. I’ve had everything from what is available under the heating lamp at 7/11 to a more extraordinary bratwurst and I’ve loved it all.)
Time does march on, though. After “an elaborate process“, the Dodgers have already reportedly found a new hot dog supplier in Papa Cantella’s, per CBSLA, and are using a recipe designed to taste like the old frankfurters. Some who have tasted it already have disagreed.
I hope they continue to have more adventurous offerings, like the Mexican-cuisine option that featured an al pastor sausage topped with pineapple salsa and cilantro lime crema.
But no matter which direction they decide to go with the New Dodger Dog, they have a customer whenever I am back in Los Angeles. So cheers to the Farmer John Dodger Dog, which lived a long life, and welcome to the Dodger Dog 2.0.
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