A lot of people of my/your/our generation rag on the US for lacking culture and authenticity, for being a suburban wasteland of tract housing and strip malls. Often the contributions of the United States are only counted in the 'crappy mass culture' and 'improved mechanized processes' areas. American cuisine is subjected to the same critique – fast food being the glaring example of how useless, cheap, and efficiency-obsessed our nation is.

But this evening I had a patriotic moment watching a PBS special on hot dogs. The show – I promptly forgot the name – covered regional hot dog restaurants from all over the county. From the Fourth of July hot dog eating contest on Coney Island, to the reindeer hot dogs served at the Iditarod in Alaska, hot dogs are truly amazing. They remain a unifying force in American cuisine: everyone has some part of hot dog in their past, be it a simple big bite from 7-11, a spicy grandeur of a Demon Dog underneath the el in Chicago, or some Baudrillard inspired dog from the Farms of the Morning Star. But they also have managed to fend off the homogenization that plagues a lot of popular American foods. Regional flare litters the hot dog landscape. Be it coleslaw on dogs in the south, hot peppers and tomatoes in Chicago, or the wonderful chili and cheese from Ben’s in DC, hot dogs have managed to retain a folksy authenticity that that sophisticated, citizen-of-the-world type Americans fetishize and seek out, but maintain the unassuming quality that allows them to be popular among the Git-r-done crowd.

So, where are the good hot dogs in Baltimore? Or in your home town?