America will celebrate Independence Day while teaming up as a nation to participate in some of the activities that make us great. That’s right; mattress sales, car sales, electronics sales and anything a retailer can think of to get you and your credit card into their establishment. Shopping for bargains is one of our longest, most cherished traditions. This buying binge started with a boat sale commemorating General Washington’s crossing of the Delaware.

On Independence Day, many Americans will also stoke up the BBQ and enjoy 150 million hot dogs, or enough to stretch from D.C. to L.A. more than five times. What’s interesting about that fact is that someone took the time to calculate it. Remember, that’s 150 million hot dogs in only one day.

Eating 150 million hot dogs may not include hot dog eating contests where afterwards, participants consume 12 times more Pepcid AC®, Pepto-Bismol® and Zantac® than the rest of the civilized world and get no relief.

Being awarded a certificate as a participant doesn’t balance the ledger of stomach upset. No one actually knows what percentage of chicken lips the lowly hot dog contains yet over the years it has achieved mythical status due to the relentless press releases of the NHDSC.

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (A real industry council) says Americans consume 20 billion hot dogs a year. That works out to about 70 hot dogs per person each year. Do you know someone who eats that many? Would they admit they eat that many? How can you tell they eat that many? Answer: the constant burping and the extra relish and sauerkraut in their cabinets.

The NHDSC reminds us that July is National Hot Dog Month and National Hot Dog Day is Wednesday, July 19. National Hot Dog Hour is 6PM on that date and National ‘I can’t Believe I Ate So Many Hot Dogs Night’ is later that evening. At bed time you’ll struggle to think about why you fell for the marketing slogan “Eat More Hot Dogs and Enjoy Life” as you spend a sleepless night having weird dreams of giant buns chasing you down the street and catching you, because you can’t run fast enough in a dream, and slathering you with ketchup, the worst addition to a hot dog in history. (9 out of 10 who dream this particular dream agree that even if you were slathered with mustard, it doesn’t make any difference)

One of the most asked ‘hot dog’ questions is, “Why are hot dogs sold in packs of 10 while buns are sold in packs of 8? I refer back to the first paragraph as to what makes America great. It’s marketing!

(To save you from the bread aisle anxiety of doing the math, you need to purchase five bags of eight-to-the-pack buns and four 10-to-the-pack hot dogs to break even.)

Another obvious anomaly has conflicted America since the corn dog came into regional prominence. It begs the question is National Corn Dog Day in March equal in scale to any hot dog holiday??? NO! Rest easy hot dog lovers; your beloved fare is safe, at least until sausages go on sale.

If I may use a metaphor here, just like many of our ancestors, it emigrated from a foreign country as a sausage, and quickly became a working-class street food sold at stands and carts in cities across the nation. In other words, just like us, it was blended into this vast land with all its traditions and foods in the great melting pot within our beautifully varied population.

Have a wonderfully joyous Independence Day and cherish all the freedoms we enjoy!