Meet The Hot Dog Of The Future
The much-beloved hot dog has been on the receiving end of a host of bad press as of late. Warnings from the American Association of Pediatrics on the hazards of kids choking due to the cylinder-with-hemispheres-on-both-ends shape of the offending lunchtime fave have put parents into a frankfurter frenzy. Sure you want, and yes, deserve your weenies, but as any parent worth their salt knows, safety should always come first. Cutting the franks up is the obvious quick-fix, but then, is that unrecognizable pile of pink really the dog that we all know and love? How can we preserve the integrity of this staple of beaches, ballparks and barbecues? How can we have our hot dog and eat it too?
It may be time to start from scratch.
Designers readily come up with clever ideas to solve specific problems. Sippy cups haven’t been around forever–they arose from a visceral parental need to not mop up the floor every half hour. Moms everywhere now rejoice in the simple genius of no–okay, less–spills.
Clearly it’s time for someone, anyone, to come up with a kid-friendly dog. The folks at RKS Design evidently thought a change was needed, too, and so a project was born: Extreme Makeover, Wiener Edition. Designers toiled for hours, and in the end, an ingenious blend of 10% inspiration, 80% perspiration and 10% Play-Doh created what they feel is the perfect, child-friendly dog, shaped like this:
The creators describe the final design as a “Slinky-esque Spiral”. I think the AAP, moms and dads and ketchup manufacturers everywhere would approve.
Awrk! Maybe it’s just me, but I have to say, that really looks unappetizing. (I really don’t like hot dogs, so it’s never been an issue in our house, unless dad sneaks ‘em out for a cut-up dog that I don’t know about) – If we ate ‘em, it sounds good on the safety front, but is anyone else squicked out by the shape, there?
gross!
How about just cutting up both ends, thus eliminating the dreaded hemisphere? This is what I do and the kids don´t miss the tips!
Slinky Dog is a character from Toy Story, not a food.
How would you barbeque something coiled? Wouldn’t it “bunch up”? Would it break and fall between the grill grooves when you tried to flip it?
Mine likes them cut up, with veggie chili on top. (Anyone else notice that the Trader Joes nitrite/ate free kind are a LOT smaller in diameter than say, a Ballpark Frank?)
[...] for a redesign of the standard cylindrical wiener to make it choke proof. Answering that call was RKS Design, who came up with the brilliant “Slinky-esque Spiral,” a coiled hot dog that, while still bun-friendly, is much more [...]