Hot Dogs? Really?
It’s hard to explain how much I hate hot dogs. The mere smell of a hot dog turns my stomach in a hundred ways. I don’t care if we’re outside and someone is grilling hot dogs. I can simply move away from it. I cannot breath when I’m in a closed space and someone is cooking hot dogs. Everything about hot dogs is just disgusting to me.
My father used to own a butcher shop. Let me just confirm that the old saying, “you wouldn’t eat it if you saw it made” is completely true when it comes to hot dogs. I’ll spare you the details, but having watched my father make hot dogs is not the reason I dislike them so. It’s the smell and the taste and the texture and, well, just everything.
Hot dogs are a big topic of conversation in our house lately. Our previously vegetarian daughters have started experimenting with meat. The brunette twin will eat the occasional bite of steak or hamburger. The blond twin eats a little turkey and corned beef. (I know…corned beef? It’s true.) They both have decided to eat hot dogs, especially since Daddy likes them.
There are some upsides to this. Most children’s menus have hot dogs as an option, so it gives them an option besides mac-n-cheese or spaghetti. It’s easy to drive through a fast food place and get a hot dog when we’re on the run. It’s not as easy to find drive through mac-n-cheese. It’s portable, so they can eat while we drive.
Still, we’re talking about hot dogs. Even writing this makes me gag.
The girls are obsessed with why I hate hot dogs. Last night at dinner, the blond twin waved a piece in front of my face and said, “You make me try everything. I think you should try it for me.” I responded by threatening to take away some of her allowance.
Someday they will understand that the only reason I ever made hot dogs for them was because I love them so much. Outside of our girls and my husband, I cannot think of anyone else I’d cook hot dogs for.
Before they were born, I would never have equated hot dogs with love. Every time I cook them now, I just keep reminding myself that sometimes we have to sacrifice for our children.
Shari is a work-at-home mom with twin first grade daughters. She is glad she doesn’t have many other food aversions.
