I’m always found the affinity between street meat vendors and the university students they serve interesting.
Why do students (and staff) become fond of their local barbecuer of the high sodium high fat meat product?
I first encountered this phenomenon in 2006 when Dalhousie and the City of Halifax attempted to remove the Dawgfather from his sidewalk perch outside the campus.
The student union passed a resolution demanding the City stop its actions – the Dawgfather is a Dalhousie icon and even appeared in a recruitment video commissioned by the University.
Around the same time, Ryerson students were celebrating the production of a stage play about their famous hot dog man – Ernie the hot dog man. “Ernie’s” death – his real name was Ronald Alexander – was a national post-secondary education story that both myself (Maclean’s) and The Globe and Mail covered.
My fascinate may stem from attending the University of Manitoba. We had no street meat vendors on campus or nearby (the 7-11 a 30min walk away did offer a great street meat/slurpee combo). This could be related to the fact that it’s always minus forty-something there.
Today, comes the news from Halifax the Dawgfather is planning a run for City Council. He plans to focus on student issues telling the ChronicleHerald: