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When I was growing up the four things you had to know about to be a good American were Baseball, Hotdogs, Apple pie and Chevrolet, especially if you grew up near the Mets. Times have changed. Hotdogs sales are stagnating. I thought that was odd, because my son eats so many hotdogs the hot dog vendors call him to gauge whether to open up another production line.

In June, there were stories about the wiener wars. Oscar Mayer was trying to improve their hotdog so as to appeal to the palate more than the other brands. Hotdogs for kids are the cheapo variety, kids don’t care how they taste as long as they go in fast and digest well. However, if an adult is going to buy a hotdog for themselves, then the hotdog has to have better flavor, so that adults will spend a little extra to buy the good stuff. I can attest to that. For my son, who doesn’t spend a lot of time on the chewing, tasting and digesting portion of the meal (mostly bite and swallow so he can talk again), I usually buy the cheapo variety. I’ve tasted the improved Oscar Mayer beef hotdogs . Since this has been pointed out, I am paying attention to the taste of the hotdog and I do like the better taste. I also know that pre-4th of July sales on hotdogs are a good time to buy it more inexpensively. So I’m going to go out and stock up on better hotdogs…. And I might hide them from my 15/almost 16 year old, 6 foot 2 inches, size 13 shoe (when he wears them) son. Maybe not, I’d like his opinion of food to be more than he eats it because he has to.

Truthfully, I do pay extra for the better chocolate and for better coffee beans. I pay extra for organics and I try to get things on sale so that when I do pay extra, it’s not such a big hit on my wallet. What kinds of things are worth paying more for? Oscar Mayer wants hotdogs to be on that list. What’s on your list?