Corndogs are found in the frozen food aisle at Walmart and served as a part of a healthy lunch in middle schools across the US (the cornmeal is considered a vegetable). It is found nowhere else. Popcorn, soda, burgers, fries, pizza—these are nearly universal. The Big Mac and the smash burger alike exist equally ubiquitously in McDonald’s and brick-walled breweries from Prague to Phuket. The corndog can only be found served for breakfast, lunch, or dinner in the home of a lower middle class family from Nebraska.

Corn is subsidized by the American government. The subsidies are measured in billions of US dollars and approximately match the GDP of Belize. What’s more American than that? Only a hotdog—the end result of corporate attempts to figure out what to do with the byproducts of normal meat production. The other solution is Spam.

To combine them, and then skewer them on a stick for convenience is the most American thing of all. Sheer efficiency meets unconstrained consumption. The condiment? Ketchup, of course. Heinz, if you have it. Great Value if you don’t. The children’s hands are already sticky from their Welch’s fruit snacks. They wash their corndog down with a Capri-Sun pouch.