Dog won’t hunt
BY BEN BRACHFELD
Nathan’s Famous added
a vegan hot dog to its
vaunted menu this week,
becoming the latest legacy
eatery to enter the fastgrowing
plant-based food
market.
The veggie frank, the result
of a partnership with
British plant-based food
company Meatless Farm,
was rolled out on Monday
at 13 locations in the tristate
area, including at its
century-old Coney Island
fl agship.
The vegan dog has been
available to order online
since April, but only as
part of a six-piece meal kit
including buns and mustard
retailing for $44.99.
Six dogs alone costs $39.99.
The wieners are made
with Nathan’s secret spice
recipe, the chain says.
They are also “rich in protein,
low in saturated fat,
low in sodium, and gluten
and soy free,” per signage
at the restaurant.
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Brooklyn Paper sent
vegetarian correspondent
Ben Brachfeld to the Coney
Island fl agship to try one
of the newfangled frankfurters
on Tuesday. He
got a vegan hot dog with
mustard and sauerkraut,
cheese fries, and a lemonade
for $14.69, which he
promptly enjoyed at one of
the tables outside the establishment.
While he wasn’t sure
what hot dogs were supposed
to taste like after a
long hiatus in consuming
them, he gave high marks
to the new dog. “That was
a good, ethical weenie,”
Brachfeld said after fi nishing.
He afterwards rode the
Thunderbolt.
While vegetarians and
vegans can rejoice about
getting to fi nally have the
full Nathan’s experience,
they may have to wait at
least another year before
they can join its celebrated
hot dog eating contest.
A spokesperson for Major
League Eating, the contest’s
promoter and organizer,
said that the July
4 contest will not allow
competitors to eat vegan
dogs, as they have not researched
whether the contents
of the vegan dog lead
to a comparable level of
fullness as does the traditional
frank; if they don’t, a
vegan dog eater could be at
either an advantage or disadvantage
over traditional
hot dog consumers.
“From Major League
Eating’s perspective, it
would be hard to have one
person competing with a
different product than another
person,” said spokesperson
George Shea. “You
could argue that it’s not apples
to-apples.”
“The issue is that the
vegan dogs are just now
coming to market,” he continued.
“So we’re in very
early days on that.”
A vegan hot dog from Nathan’s covered in mustard and sauerkraut.
Photo by Ben Brachfeld
Nathan’s adds vegan wiener to its menu
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