Hot dog! After 140 years, a new, meatless hot dog will be on the shelves later this year.

Hot dogs are part of American culture.
(Kraft Heinz photo via Scripps News)

Hot dogs. Poor people created them. Rich people found a way to charge $15 for them. They're high culture, they're low culture, they're sports food, they're kids' food. . . . You can love them, you can hate them, but you can't avoid the great American hot dog. ~ Raw Dog by Jamie Loftus

Even though Loftus traveled America snarfing down hot dogs from coast to coast, she didn't get to try Oscar Mayer's newest weiner. "For the first time in 140 years, Oscar Meyer will be making meatless dogs," reports Justin Boggs of Scripps News. "The hot dog maker's parent company, Kraft Heinz, announced a new line of plant-based hot dogs and sausages soon hitting store shelves. The company says it projects plant-based meat alternatives will go from an $8.3 billion market in 2023 to $19 billion by 2030."

While some plant-based "meat" companies have struggled to make a profit, "Kraft Heinz says the Oscar Mayer NotHotDogs and NotSausages will have a 'smoky, savory taste, meaty color, and thick, juicy bite,'" Boggs writes. Lucho Lopez-May, CEO of the Kraft Heinz Not Company, told Boggs: "We know people are hungry for plant-based meat options from brands they know and trust."

Oscar Mayer will showcase their new dogs at the Expo West event in Anaheim, California this month. "The company said major retailers will receive product shipments later this year," Boggs reports. "According to a 2022 poll by the Vegetarian Resource Group, 6% of the U.S. adult population considers themselves vegan or vegetarian. In 2015, a similar poll found that 3.4% of Americans said they never eat meat, indicating that there is a growing number of Americans opting not to eat meat."