U.S. embassies this year can invite Iranian officials to their Fourth of July receptions for the first time since the 1979 seizure of the American Embassy in Tehran. The receptions often include hot dogs, which apparently have a long history in U.S. foreign relations:
There is no record of the founding fathers ever eating hot dogs, no trace, for example, of mustard on the Declaration of Independence. But the hot dog has played a role in American foreign relations since at least June 1939, when the king and queen of England attended a picnic at President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s estate in Hyde Park, N.Y., while soliciting American support for England in the war about to consume Europe.
A more delicate diplomatic matter concerned Queen Elizabeth. According to “The Roosevelts and the Royals,” a 2004 book by Will Swift, the queen turned to President Roosevelt and asked: “How do you eat it?”
He is said to have answered: “Very simple. Push it into your mouth and keep pushing it until it is all gone.”