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amusedmuse 's review for:
Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs
by Jamie Loftus
I think about reading travelogues only slightly more than I think about eating hot dogs: and I do both rarely. I bought "Raw Dog" because I was charmed by Jamie Loftus' guestings on "Behind the Bastards" and I figured I would like it and find it at least interesting. I loved it and found it fascinating.
Loftus writes with the insight and wit that you find in Mark Twain and Hunter S. Thompson's travelogues, but in a vulgarly female and bisexual way that neither man probably knew could be possible. Amid descriptions and sexual omission that often come as too much information, in the memoir portions she manages to touch on, but withhold dwelling on or unpacking the trauma of her father's lung cancer, the breakup with her boyfriend, and her disordered eating issues. It's not presented as a tease though, so much as a "by the way, that's a factor here" with limited elaboration. Loftus rather explain the fan fiction she pieced together from cartoon pickle jars, and I am here for it.
The biggest surprise for me was discovering that Loftus' Hot Dog Summer sojourn doubles as an account of what it was like to return to The World for the first summer since the pandemic lockdown. I didn't realize how already ephemeral that summer two years ago was until I heard her describe the "no one wants to work" signs in service businesses. Ultimately, it's the account of that singular summer that thoroughly hooked me on this book.
The only major piece of criticism I have with "Raw Dog" is that despite Loftus thoroughly detailing the systemic harm committed by bigoted government and heartless capitalism against indigenous and BIPOC communities in the various cities and locations she visits, she misses a notable case in her adopted hometown of Los Angeles: the Battle of Chavez Ravine. She covers the way poor and minority communities were forcibly relocated to construct LA's Staples Center in the 1970s, but omits the earlier 1950s episode in Chavez Ravine. Had she not gone to a ballgame at Dodger stadium to sample their famous Dodger Dogs, or spent a few pages discussing the Latino owned, unlicensed food trucks and carts, it may not have occurred to me. I am disappointed she didn't pull that narrative thread to connect these elements and further reinforce the themes of community destruction at the hands of American business interests. Granted, based on all the other historical information discussed throughout the book, she may not have had time, but still it's a missed opportunity in this tapestry of the American experience.
Loftus writes with the insight and wit that you find in Mark Twain and Hunter S. Thompson's travelogues, but in a vulgarly female and bisexual way that neither man probably knew could be possible. Amid descriptions and sexual omission that often come as too much information, in the memoir portions she manages to touch on, but withhold dwelling on or unpacking the trauma of her father's lung cancer, the breakup with her boyfriend, and her disordered eating issues. It's not presented as a tease though, so much as a "by the way, that's a factor here" with limited elaboration. Loftus rather explain the fan fiction she pieced together from cartoon pickle jars, and I am here for it.
The biggest surprise for me was discovering that Loftus' Hot Dog Summer sojourn doubles as an account of what it was like to return to The World for the first summer since the pandemic lockdown. I didn't realize how already ephemeral that summer two years ago was until I heard her describe the "no one wants to work" signs in service businesses. Ultimately, it's the account of that singular summer that thoroughly hooked me on this book.
The only major piece of criticism I have with "Raw Dog" is that despite Loftus thoroughly detailing the systemic harm committed by bigoted government and heartless capitalism against indigenous and BIPOC communities in the various cities and locations she visits, she misses a notable case in her adopted hometown of Los Angeles: the Battle of Chavez Ravine. She covers the way poor and minority communities were forcibly relocated to construct LA's Staples Center in the 1970s, but omits the earlier 1950s episode in Chavez Ravine. Had she not gone to a ballgame at Dodger stadium to sample their famous Dodger Dogs, or spent a few pages discussing the Latino owned, unlicensed food trucks and carts, it may not have occurred to me. I am disappointed she didn't pull that narrative thread to connect these elements and further reinforce the themes of community destruction at the hands of American business interests. Granted, based on all the other historical information discussed throughout the book, she may not have had time, but still it's a missed opportunity in this tapestry of the American experience.