Raw Dog

The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs

By: Jamie Loftus

Narrated by: Jamie Loftus

Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Long-listed, Barnes and Noble Best New Books of the Year 2023

Long-listed, New York Magazine Best Books of the Year 2023

One of BookPage's Best Audiobooks of 2023

"Loftus is a charming narrator...goofy, engaging, and always game to do a silly voice."—The New York Times

"There’s something terribly irresistible about her narration, which is often incredibly funny."—BookPage

Part travelogue, part culinary history, all capitalist critique—comedian Jamie Loftus's debut, Raw Dog, will take you on a cross-country road trip in the summer of 2021, and reveal what the creation, culture, and class influence of hot dogs says about America now.

“Wise and funny”—ANDY RICHTER • “Gonzo yet vulnerable”—GABE DUNN • “Hot dog Moby-Dick”—BRANSON REESE • “Revealing, funny, sad, horny, and insatiably curious”—SARAH MARSHALL • “A wild ride”—ROBERT EVANS • “Deeply incisive and hilariously honest”—JACK O’BRIEN

Hot dogs. Poor people created them. Rich people found a way to charge fifteen dollars for them. They’re high culture, they’re low culture, they’re sports food, they’re kids' food, they’re hangover food, and they’re deeply American, despite having no basis whatsoever in America's Indigenous traditions. You can love them, you can hate them, but you can’t avoid the great American hot dog.

Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs is part investigation into the cultural and culinary significance of hot dogs and part travelogue documenting a cross-country road trip researching them as they’re served today. From avocado and spice in the West to ass-shattering chili in the East to an entire salad on a slice of meat in Chicago, Loftus, her pets, and her ex eat their way across the country during the strange summer of 2021. It’s a brief window into the year between waves of a plague that the American government has the resources to temper, but not the interest.

So grab a dog, lay out your picnic blanket, and dig into the delicious and inevitable product of centuries of violence, poverty, and ambition, now rolling around at your local 7-Eleven.

“One of the freshest and most insightful new comedic voices of this decade.”—LINDSAY ELLIS

A Macmillan Audio production from Forge Books.

©2023 Jamie Loftus (P)2023 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Raw Dog will leave you nourished."—BuzzFeed

“Jamie Loftus is a wise and funny storyteller, and her enthusiasm is inspiring. There’s so much about hot dogs that you need to know, and Jamie is here to teach you!”—ANDY RICHTER, actor and writer

“A moving, gorgeously written and lovingly researched dive into the world of hot dogs, American nationalism, in-group scandal, and delicate human relationships. This gonzo yet vulnerable trek is meaty, fun, critical, and evocative all at once. Jamie Loftus is the hot dog generation's Joan Didion.”—GABE DUNN, New York Times bestselling coauthor of I Hate Everyone But You

Brilliant performance

Some of the best food writing out there. Loftus reads like it's a true performance.

Kind of Like Fear & Loathing, but with Hot Dogs!

This was great. Kind of like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but with Hot Dogs. The author travels across the USA, from hot dog stand to hot dog stand, in a brilliant deconstruction of America itself. Along the way, we learn some history and get some investigative reporting. It's smart, funny, and insightful.

When an author narrates their own book, it can be hit or miss. This one is definitely a hit. Jamie Loftus is as good a narrator as any I've ever heard. She could be a professional audiobook narrator. Her humor and personality really shines thru in her writing.

I loved this book. As the author goes from a hot dog stand to hot dog stand to the famous "Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest" to finding out what really happens in the "Weinermobile", I'm here for all of it. To quote the press for this book, it's "part travelogue, part culinary history, all capitalist critique".

It’s a pleasure to be Rawdoged by Jamie

The book is great. Jamie Loftus is great. It made me crave hotdogs a lot.

rawdogged this bad boy in fewer than 48hrs

one of the best audiobooks i’ve ever listened to. inhaled it in a couple days of a road trip. hilarious and oddly moving.

A charming and fascinating trip through hotdog Americana

This is a fantastic book, well worth every minute spent enjoying the incredibly clever prose and skilled narration. If you look for the personal stories inside a travelogue, you cannot go wrong here.

A (non) American Saga

Transported all around a country I’ve never visited, craving a proper snap, this book is worth sinking your teeth into. The beautiful story of the most interesting road-trip one could imagine with the Herculean task of finding a hotdog worth both your money, and the blood, sweat, and tears, to make it. You will feel the need to buy a plane ticket just to eat a hotdog worthy of filling the void in our souls left by ‘the plague.’ Jamie’s truly unique narrative style is oozing all over this book, and is totally worth licking your fingers for.

Has a nice snap

Everything Jamie does is weird and funny and cool and interesting. So is this book. You should read/listen to it. Maybe not if you’re vegan. Or sure, if you’re like vegan and enjoy pain. But I digress. Read it, give it 5 stars, subscribe to Jamie’s podcast (Bechdelcast) and go to her live show near you. We need her to make more things.

Jamie Loftus Rocks :)

Jamie Loftus brings us unique & fascinating stories. Love her podcasts & loved this book. Absolutely devoured it.

JL is top dog

At first I thought I didn't want to hear a book about hot dogs. But it's Jamie Loftus. It's about so much more than hot dogs, kind of. Her brain makes anything interesting. Loved the listen, had a great time.

Love love love love

So interesting, had me listening for hours on end (and I don’t read!) Chuckled a bit too! Well done Jamie :)