Alex Guarnaschelli's Position On The Controversial Is-A-Hot-Dog-A-Sandwich Debate

Hot dogs are an American staple. They are convenient, customizable, substantial, and satisfying. They are the go-to grub of quick and easy desk lunches, baseball games, tailgates, backyard barbecues, and bustling city sidewalks. Like many different types of fare (pizza and barbecue sauce, for instance), cities across the country like to boast about their unique styles of hot dog with mouthwatering combinations of condiments and local toppings.

But, of course, the age-old question persists: "Is a hot dog a sandwich?" It's truly one of the most divisive conundrums of our time. Some people say no way. A hot dog is just that, a hot dog. Nothing more, nothing less. Yet some people believe that the true definition of a sandwich is anything between two pieces of bread — whether it's meat, peanut butter and jelly, cheese, sliced and diced veggies, what have you. A hot dog, as we all know, is a frankfurter wedged inside a sliced bun that typically remains connected on one side. The aforementioned question has sparked debate among average Joes and Janes, as well as trusted food experts around the globe. Heck, even Betty White loves 'em.

New York City-based chef Alex Guarnaschelli considers herself a hot dog fan. She even claims that the best thing she has ever eaten was a deep-fried hot dog from Rawley's Drive-In in Fairfield, Connecticut (via Food Network). But back to our original question: What is the chef and "Chopped" judge's stance on whether or not a hot dog falls into the sandwich category?

In a recent tweet, Guarnaschelli responded to a fan's question on the topic with an affirmative one-word answer: "Yes." In an interview with The Takeout, she responded to the question with, "People see a sandwich as sitting flat on a plate. This is a part of the criteria we don't discuss enough, about how people perceive sandwiches," she explained. "People think because you can see the hot dog and it's upright that if it were a sandwich it'd be turned on its side. I think that's ridiculous. I think that's sandwich discrimination. It's a piece of meat with condiments between two pieces of bread."

On the other hand, Alton Brown, another world-famous chef, once said that a hot dog is a taco. Whatever culinary genre a hot dog falls under, we can all agree that they are delicious. (P.S. Ketchup does not belong anywhere near a hot dog.)