{"id":98603,"date":"2016-05-25T17:10:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T21:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=98603"},"modified":"2016-05-25T17:26:31","modified_gmt":"2016-05-25T21:26:31","slug":"hot-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/05\/25\/hot-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

From an ad for \u201cSwift\u2019s Premium\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n

I had a brief layover in Chicago. I was starving, slightly shaky with hunger, and getting to the point where any option seemed wrong. In that state, it seemed I didn\u2019t deserve food, and probably I would never eat again. People talk a lot about the rage of hunger. I\u2019m more acquainted with the despair.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I was in a small corner of the terminal without many shops. It seemed hopeless. I was staring blindly at a kiosk of prepackaged, chilled sandwiches, fat-free yogurts, and Red Delicious apples\u2014I had tears in my eyes\u2014when a man popped his face out from somewhere and said: \u201cWe have hot dogs.\u201d An angel\u2019s chorus could not have been sweeter to my ears. \u201cWhat do you want on it?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything,\u201d I whispered. \u201cEverything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

And so he dragged that Vienna-beef dog through the garden, anointing its steamed poppy-seed bun with yellow mustard, bright piccalilli, the dignity of a pickle spear, the jolt of sport peppers, chopped onion, tomato, celery salt. Nothing has ever been so beautiful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHunger is the best spice,\u201d says Ma Ingalls. Perhaps. Or perhaps this hot dog was just the finest dish ever composed. The joy I felt made the despair worth it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There was nowhere to sit down so I ate it standing, ravenously, bits of onion and relish sliding down my front, mustard speckling my sweatshirt. \u201cHaha, I think you\u2019d better slow down!\u201d said a cheerful woman whom I instantly hated more than anyone in the world. She continued to watch me, grinning broadly. \u201cShe\u2019s got more than she can fit in her mouth!\u201d she announced loudly to whatever strangers were sitting around her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy happiness,\u201d as Laurie Colwin writes, \u201cturned to ash.\u201d Private joy had slid instantly into perverted spectacle. I didn\u2019t care if people saw me with mustard on my face and\/or celery salt on my bag. But my intense pleasure had felt private and glorious, and now it had been degraded. I longed intensely for the surly disinterest of the sidewalks of New York, where I could\u2019ve made my mess in peace.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou better wash your face!\u201d she said now, laughing gaily. \u201cHalf of that ended up on your shirt!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never wanted to be invisible. If I had to choose a superpower, I guess I\u2019d fly, just because I have a horror of snooping. But in that moment I wished intensely that no one could see me. Besides, I was already flying, and it was terrible.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sadie Stein is contributing editor of <\/em>The Paris Review, and the <\/em>Daily\u2019s correspondent.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a brief layover in Chicago. I was starving, slightly shaky with hunger, and getting to the point where any option seemed wrong. In that state, it seemed I didn\u2019t deserve food, and probably I would never eat again. People talk a lot about the rage of hunger. I\u2019m more acquainted with the despair.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13115],"tags":[938,115,22515,18297,22514,22516,11768],"class_list":["post-98603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-our-daily-correspondent","tag-chicago","tag-food","tag-hot-dogs","tag-hunger","tag-layovers","tag-public-life","tag-voyeurism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Joys of Eating a Hot Dog Standing up at the Airport<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Don\u2019t judge. 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