Hot Dogs and Sausages
Written on Apr 25, 2026
Before I continue, I must emphasize that the hot dog is an American invention. It doesn't describe the animal meat sausage contained within the bread bun, even though some of the packaging uses the same terminology.
I rarely eat hog dogs for the same reason I rarely eat any kind of sandwich. Bread, pasta, potatoes, and rice contain too many carbohydrates. Every blood test I've had in the past two years indicates my blood sugar is too high.
I will sometimes eat the meat with condiments, but without any bread. The same goes for burgers. I will not eat processed pork of any kind, including the sausages used in hot dogs.
Sausages
The sausages were culturally imported from Europe. The modern "wiener" was originally called a "vienna sausage", which is a completely different product from the modern American version.
The modern "frankfurter" was originally called a "Frankfurter Würstchen". Frankfurters are commonly called "franks" in the United States. Although packaging in the Philippines follows American trends, the people use the term "hot dog" regardless of the packaging.
The Sausages I Prefer
I can probably find the sausages I like in metro Manila, Philippines, but I'm not going to spend what it costs to travel there and back from Olongapo City. They're called "Hebrew National All Natural Uncured Beef Franks" in the United States.
The Filipino sausages I prefer are the "Purefoods Deli Spicy Pepper Beef Franks". If those are out of stock, which isn't often, I'll buy other beef sausage products from Purefoods. They have to be made of beef or beef and chicken.
Processed Meat Products
It's hard to find meat products that haven't gone through some form of processing. Like everything else we eat, we take our chances with anything we don't kill and prepare ourselves. Butchered cuts of meat are probably the least processed.
Other processed meat products are commonly linked to health problems. Ultra-processed foods, which are mostly snack products, are far worse, and yet they're consumed more often than unprocessed foods of any kind. I avoid those products as much as possible.
Czar, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons