Like consuming the flesh of ruminants in convenient tube-steak form but worry that the anuses and hooves you're eating might not be first quality? Well, if you went to a barbecue this weekend run by the kind of twat for whom grass-fed is a mantra and organic is a way of life, you may very well have been consuming "the politically correct frankfurter," a trend to whichThe Times devotes vast Dining In acreage this morning. Hot dog sales, as it turns out, have been in decline, what with consumer concern over the safety of the udders and nitrites they are essentially composed of (hot dogs, we mean, although if you take a look inside the average American consumer we doubt there's a whole lot of difference). Pasture-fed animals who live lives of gentle ease before having their lips and udders ground up and stuffed into natural casing are the wave of the future: Now you can have your hot dog, eat it too, and still be the kind of sanctimonious prick who complains about cruelty to lobsters while you stuff your Whole Foods canvas bag full of organic radicchio that was picked by some kid making five cents an hour.

God, we love this country.

For Natural Dogs, a Growing Appetite [NYT]