For the Love of Sausages -
"Forget love, forget war, forget decency and kindness or cruelty and apathy—it’s sausages that all of us, all over the world, have in common. Virtually every culture, tribe, nation, ethnic group has a sausage; most of them have many. In Taiwan, where Bompas & Parr are unleashing a sausage onslaught, roving sausage sellers offer patrons the chance to double their sweet, garlicky sausage take by betting on dice in called “sausage gambling” or xi ba la; in China, there’s lap cheong, a smoked pork sausage sometimes flavored with rose water or rice wine, or yun chang, a duck liver sausage; in Kazakhstan and other Central Asian nations, people eat a traditional horse meat sausage called kazy; the Greeks have long enjoyed loukanika, a pork sausage mixed with orange peel and fennel; Britons love sausages, from breakfast chipolatas to the classic Cumberland to black pudding, a blood sausage, possibly a hold over from Roman occupation; and Americans revere the hot dog, a German import, right up there with apple pie."
Food, food, wonderful food - Article about the links that binds us all:
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-mysterious-origins-of-a-food-thats-always-been-funny-the-sausage
Growing up in Pennsylvania it was Kielbasa done in wonderful ways and smoked in even more wonderful ways. Apple smoked, cherry wood smoked infused, slowly crisped over oak - what memories. But my mother had a thing for blood pudding sausage bound with rice that I refused to eat.
= new reply since forum marked as read
I say still seem to be as I have not been in Berkeley since 2003 but spent 7 years in Berkeley for undergrad and grad school in the 70s and 80s. I lived 1973-1975 3 blocks west on at 2214 Durant. Top Dog is a walk up sausage bar.
Top Dog Menu (current menu plus one can mail order):
http://www.topdoghotdogs.com/themenu.html
top dog FRANKFURTER
All beef - kosher style
GERMAN FRANKFURTER
3/4 beef, 1/4 pork, fresh garlic
BOCKWURST
1/2 pork, 1/2 veal, milk, eggs
KIELBASA (POLISH)
2/3 pork, 1/3 beef - hearty
CALABRESE (ITALIAN)
Pork, paprika, chili, fennel — semi-hot
HOT LINK (LOUSIANA STYLE)
Beef and four kinds of pepper — h-h-hottt
BRATWURST (GERMAN)
Pork, marjoram — genuine old world taste
LEMON CHICKEN
Chicken, fresh lemon & garlic — low salt, low fat, no preservatives
SMOKED CHICKEN APPLE
Chicken, juicy bits of apple — low salt
MANGO HABANERO
Chicken, mango, paprika, cilantro, habañero pepper
THE WIENIE (VEGGIE)
Wheat Protein, Bell Peppers, Fennel, Eggplant and Fresh Garlic. No preservatives
LINGUIÇA
All pork, wine vinegar cured, smoked
Top Dog philosophy (one used to be able to read the walls and probably this is still the same):
http://www.topdoghotdogs.com/propergander.html
Top Dog at Trip Advisor (lots of reviews):
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g32066-d371486-Reviews-Top_Dog_Berkeley_Southside-Berkeley_California.html
with a sharpness to it, as a foil to the fattiness of the sausage.
There are some new varieties of sausage (sold in bulk at Costco or the like) that I have found don't really give the flavor which the packaging promises, but regardless of that, I can eat almost any kind of sausage you put in front of me 
...
It terrified me. There's nothing better than a grilled brat on a roll smothered with onions, sauerkraut and mustard. 
