Earlier this week New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a Green New Deal for the city, an ambitious plan to reduce NYC emissions by nearly 30 percent in the next 10 years. While it sounds like a good plan on paper, social media was abuzz when early reports made it appear as though the mayor was to get New York's third-most iconic food: hot dogs.
De Blasio's Green New Deal intends to improve the health New Yorkers by lowering the number of processed meats, such as hot dogs as found in city-run locations, like prisons, schools and hospitals.
Processed meats are often high in saturated fat and sodium, making the consumption of those foods quite carcinogenic and certainly not ideal for anyone to eat regularly.
Despite the food portion of the Green New Deal exclusively affecting city-run locations, early reports on the topic by websites like iHeartRadio, among other outlets, implied in headlines that this was a city-wide ban on hot dogs. While that isn't the case, were it true, the ban would put 1000s of New Yorkers out of work, and destroy businesses like the Brooklyn and East Village-based hot dog-centric restaurant chain, Crif Dogs.
The false sentiment behind the headlines was disliked enough to spread the idea across social media like wildfire and Twitter users were not happy with the idea of a hot dog-less New York.
One user joked on Twitter: "The world famous Nathan['s] Hotdog eating contest will NOW move from Coney Island to Atlantic City"
Many comments similarly criticized the idea of a city-wide hot dog ban for being un-New York.
Luckily for vendors and the various businesses that sell hot dogs, this "ban" only applies to city-run establishments. Hot dog stands, restaurants grocery stores and other privately owned businesses will still be able to sell hot dogs in New York to their heart's content.
