The "American" Food At NFL Games In The U.K. Is Not Not Accurate
See that hot dog up there? That's being enjoyed by an American football fan at Wembley Stadium, whilst he watches the Tennessee Titans play the Los Angeles Chargers on October 21. Just a good old-fashioned frank. Not so crazy, right? But get a load of the monstrosity below, first brought to our attention by Grub Street:
This what the British are being told is authentic American football fare: A two-foot long Mac & Cheese dog at Wembley today. pic.twitter.com/R9upUcAFIs
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 21, 2018
That is, as you'll see from the caption, is a two-foot long hot dog with just a little dollop of mac and cheese on top. It's basically the kind of thing you'd find on the menu at The Good Place's "Cowboy Skyscraper Buffet," the show's depiction of an "American" restaurant. Apparently they had the right idea, because that thing is absurd.
Or is it?
The Daily Mail chronicled responses to Darren Rovell's (an ESPN reporter) tweet, which includes a murderer's row of righteous bloody marys and loads of people pointing out that, hey, actually, that doesn't seem that far off.
You can get a crab mac and cheese hotdog at Stuggy's in Baltimore (and also from their stand at Camden Yards). So not particularly inaccurately American, but for sure not as good. pic.twitter.com/lTIO53pyX9
— Emily Hahn, MD (@EHahnMD) October 21, 2018
Other people were just pissed that there's ketchup on top of the mac and cheese. We assume those folks are fellow Chicagoans.
Rovell's point is well-taken—that isn't anything resembling a typical American hot dog. But it sure as shit looks like typical American stadium food. And it's not the only "That's not us but well actually, that kind of seems like us" item on the menu. Ticket-holders can tailgate (okay, that's just accurate), dive into a Subway-sponsored ball pit to try to win stuff, and buy overpriced chicken tenders, flat Coke Zero, and disappointing beer.
The most important question is, of course: Is a two-foot hot dog covered with mac and cheese a sandwich?