{"id":37373,"date":"2026-07-05T05:00:34","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T09:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/?p=37373"},"modified":"2026-07-04T22:37:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T02:37:36","slug":"papaya-jerry-papaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orionscoldfire.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/05\/papaya-jerry-papaya\/","title":{"rendered":"Papaya, Jerry, Papaya!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here it is the Fourth of July and Camera Girl and I are home alone with the dogs and various other captive living organisms.\u00a0 The kids and the grandkids have headed for the ocean and we must fend for ourselves.\u00a0 And we had a nice dinner and finished up our chores (except this one) so I said let\u2019s watch a movie to celebrate the Fourth.\u00a0 And I left the choice of movie up to her.\u00a0 What would she pick?\u00a0 Independence Day?\u00a0 Yankee Doodle Dandy?\u00a0 Ah, Wilderness?\u00a0 No, her pick was inspired.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hot Dog Program\" width=\"783\" height=\"440\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/t6Tu9I5gc2A?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Hot Dog Program.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a documentary from a guy from Pittsburgh who did documentaries for PBS (boo!!!).\u00a0 The show travels across the country from Coney Island in Brooklyn to Anchorage, Alaska describing the local variations in the toppings, condiments and preparations of hot dogs in various places in the United States.\u00a0 And to tie it into the Fourth, the show features the Fourth of July hot dog eating contest at Coney Island.<\/p>\n<p>But the real reason why this movie was a brilliant selection for the holiday is because back in 1999 when this special was made there were people in all parts of the country who were excited to describe hot dogs as the most American of American foods.\u00a0 And even the foreigners who were interviewed were visibly excited about associating with the American culture that the hot dog was emblematic of.<\/p>\n<p>In place as different as Chicago IL and a small town in Alabama everyone thought of their local hot dog stand or store as a touchstone to their childhood memories and local life.\u00a0 It linked up with summer barbecues, baseball games and summer fun.\u00a0 And everyone from lawyers in Manhattan to Hollywood actors in Los Angeles to small town policemen in Georgia were sure that they knew the best place to get a hot and a drink.\u00a0 Of course, they wouldn\u2019t agree whether that drink was papaya juice in Times Square or a Coke in a glass bottle in small-town South Carolina.\u00a0 But the disagreement is the point.\u00a0 It\u2019s local flavor.<\/p>\n<p>And the movie was also highly educational.\u00a0 We saw the awful cut of beef that is used in their manufacture and watched as the disgusting puree that eventually becomes hot dog is shaped, cooked and shot at high speed into a storage bin.\u00a0 What could be more appetizing?<\/p>\n<p>But what makes this movie most enjoyable is seeing Americans from 1999 talk about an America that was still the one we all remember as kids.\u00a0 A place full of happy people who can enjoy a simple thing like having a hot dog for lunch without there being any political, cultural or ethnic baggage associated with an iconic American food.\u00a0 Back then no one was making the point that we should consider the taco or the egg roll (or even worse some vegan grass burger) should be the new American cuisine and we all should renounce the hot dog as anathema and bad for the planet.\u00a0 And that\u2019s probably why we both enjoyed watching this so much.\u00a0 Happy Independence Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here it is the Fourth of July and Camera Girl and I are home alone with the dogs and various other captive living organisms.\u00a0 The<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2501,5,3366,1263],"tags":[2503,2636],"class_list":["post-37373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-americana","category-current-events","category-life-in-dunwich","category-stuff-that-personally-interests-me-miscellaneous","tag-americana","tag-hot-dog"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Papaya, Jerry, Papaya! 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