The Chicago hot dog didn't start in a restaurant. It started at the 1893 World's Fair, where two brothers-in-law from Vienna sold an all-beef sausage on a bun for ten cents. The loaded seven-topping dog you know today came later — Maxwell Street, 1929, the height of the Great Depression. A 20-year-old named Abe Drexler converted his family's vegetable cart into a hot dog stand. To make a nickel feel like a meal, he piled on everything he had. He called it the Depression Sandwich. If you didn't have the nickel, he fed you anyway. Every topping on a Chicago-style hot dog has a documented origin — the mustard, the relish, the sport peppers, the celery salt, even the poppy seed bun. And the ketchup rule isn't snobbery. It's architecture. This is the full story behind the sandwich Chicago built its identity around. Want to make the real thing at home? Get the Vienna® Beef Chicago Style Hot Dog Kit → LTKfoodie LTKstorytime