This 4th of July, America is still bullish on hot dogs

Despite it being an exceptional year for America (and really, what year isn’t exceptional in the most exceptional nation on earth?) — with prosperity just around every corner, the promise of peace in our time, and a spirit of cooperation spreading across the land — the times are less stellar for one of America’s favorite foods: the hot dog.

Hot dog consumption has been in a slump over the last couple of years, and no one is really sure why. Hot dog sales at supermarkets were down by about 1 percent last year, and down nearly 3 percent the year before that, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

And while you can’t really think of “America” without thinking of the words “hot” and “dog,” the U.S. has in fact long played second fiddle to Norway in terms of hot-dog-like food consumption. Norwegians eat about 220 pounds of pølse (their hot dog equivalent) per year per person. Compare that to Americans, who annually only manage to choke down about 10 pounds of hot dogs per capita.

But the decline of the American tube steak doesn’t have to mean the decline America! America’s boundless optimism allows American patriots to celebrate American things even when those things are not going so well. So, this Fourth of July, let’s honor America and celebrate the hot dog … even as we eat less of them.

To be fair, America still has a long way to go before it becomes a nation of vegetarians.

From Memorial Day to Labor Day, Americans will consume 7 billion hot dogs — 818 per second, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, a beefy arm of the mighty American Meat Institute, an industry trade group.

More than 1 billion packages of hot dogs were sold last year. That works out to about 70 hot dogs per person in the U.S., according to the Institute.

And despite fewer hot dogs being sold, the choices of hot dogs are increasing, thanks in part to the increased immigration.

“The increasing ethnic diversity of the U.S. is increasing demand for full flavor,” said Janet Riley, the head of the Hot Dog and Sausage Council and the self-proclaimed “Queen of Wien.” “Especially,” Riley was hot to add, “with the jalapeno variety.”

But the diversity immigrants brought to the hot dog aisle hasn’t saved the industry as a whole. Higher raw meat and rawer material costs have made hot dogs more expensive, and that has turned off some consumers.

In a meaty interview with Al Jazeera, Riley said the decline of the industry had nothing to do with Americans finally getting fed up with the festering fact that the number of hot dogs and the number of buns in a package never seem to match up. (Riley blamed this on tradition, and said it was up to the bun people to catch up with the innovation of the hot dog industry, which has started offering hot dogs in a variety of package sizes.)

Still, even longer-term trends in dog-hound demographics don’t bode well for the industry.

America may be soaring, but its birth rate is declining. According to the latest census figures, the births are back to the same level they were in 1998. Fewer children born means fewer hot dogs eaten, according to Roland Plain, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Missouri.

Plain also theorized that the changing immigration patterns — the self-same ones that have given us the gorgeous mosaic of new hot dog flavors — may be partially to blame for the decline of the dog. Immigrants have different tastes, and may just buy differently shaped meats.

But perhaps the biggest reason for the hot dog industry’s struggle is America’s changing appetite. Meat consumption, in general, but especially red meat consumption, has been down year after year in the U.S., as Americans search for ways to eat a more healthful diet, and gourmet food trends sweep across the country.

But the slow decline doesn’t mean the dog’s day is done. No! Why, people have been predicting the end of this meat-meets-bun delicacy for decades. Time Magazine even predicted doggie doom way back in 1972.

The changing face and the changing waistline of America might mean fewer franks flying into every face, but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t celebrate them the way America always has.

Through the recession and two wars, America’s faith in the country increased, and so, too, through the hot dog crisis, should our faith in processed meats.

As Janet “Queen of Wien” Riley put it: “By-and-large, Americans feel that hot dogs are such a patriotic food, so I’m not worried that there’s a threat to hot dogs.”