Is a hotdog a sandwich? This question has been making its way through the chatrooms and forums of the internet for a while now and is considered to be one of the larger food debates of our time. That is what the podcast, A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich, is all about: food debates.

Hosted by Josh Cher and Nicole Hendizadeh, two published cookbook authors and part of the popular YouTube channel Good Mythical Morning, A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich is an exploration of food debates from across the web.

The YouTube channel Good Mythical Morning, or GMM, frequently features bizarre and wacky culinary creations. I had always wondered who was making these sometimes delectable, sometimes disgusting meals. It just happened that the cooks behind the meals had not only their own channel Mythical Kitchen but also their own podcast.

I’m not one for podcasts, and I usually find them rather dull and boring. I found that A Hot Dog Is a Sandwich is not only hilarious but also a great way to think more about my own life and habits. 

The hosts, Josh and Nicole, are both culinary masters, and not only do they strive to be better chefs, but they also aim to learn about the cultures that the food they make comes from. The two chefs use their deep wells of cooking knowledge alongside their own personal experiences when discussing the day’s topic.

The episodes of the podcast are usually structured where Josh, often the more rambunctious host, holds to the more radical side of the debate, making claims like “cake should be considered lasagna.” Nicole can be viewed as more of a traditional cook as far as her food opinions go. Both chefs respect and listen to each other’s ideas but almost always end up disagreeing. 

Some of my favorite episodes are ¨Are Cheetos Chips?¨ and ¨The Great Chicken Wing Debate: Drums vs. Flats.¨ What I like about the podcast is how they make me think about my own opinions, and I can see if they change throughout the episode. 

Episodes like ¨What Makes A Perfect Burrito¨ and ¨Does Ketchup Belong On Hamburgers¨ usually have me make my opinion within the first few seconds of the show, but hearing the history and original recipes for such foods can often sway my thinking a little bit. The hosts are always there to restate that people should like and dislike what food they want; it’s their mouth that‘s doing the eating.

For those opposed to podcasts much like I was, treat them like music. In the days before the mid-November shut down, I would start my drive to school with Josh and Nicole arguing about french fries over onion rings. I never listen to every word they say; it’s just a background noise that fills up the silence and gives me something to think about when driving. 

The last part of every week’s show is a segment they call “Opinions Are Like Casseroles.” I’m not quite sure what that means, but this is the time where the hosts take to Twitter to see what other people have to say. Oftentimes, these tweets are homemade snacks that people enjoy such as eating slices of tomatoes with sugar or mixing Mountain Dew and Redbull instead of drinking coffee. The hosts either agree or disagree with the statement, providing their own reasoning and preference. 

The longer I’m a listener to the show, the more I feel connected to the hosts and the more I feel like I’m there in the recording booth discussing that weekend’s topic. Hearing what crazy idea that Josh came up with while Nicole is trying to break it down is wildly entertaining. With all the tedium and monotony that comes with online school, it’s nice to be able to hear someone try and prove that soup does not exist.