Snag = nondescript sausage. If you wanted to specify a type of sausage you’d call it by name (“bratwurst” for example). if you say “snag” you’re likely referring to a cheap generic sausage purchased in bulk from a supermarket or butcher however this does not preclude referring to a specific type of sausage as a “snag” when that sausage is already present. Not to be confused with “sanga” which means sandwich.
Examples:
“Bring some snags to the barby Jacko”. Jacko will purchase some generic sausages and take them to the barbecue.
“These snags are delicious!” The exquisite homemade German style sausage that Rachael bought to the BBQ taste nice.
Note that a sausage sizzle will only have cheap generic sausages.
In the US, hot dog carts are ubiquitous (one within sight of every streetcorner in any downtown area), but they’re professionally run, not ad hoc as a fundraiser. At a school sporting event, there will be a concession stand, and it’s likely to be run by some school group or another as a fundraiser, but they’ll serve plenty of things other than sausages, and won’t be found outside of a sports venue. A cookout is a fairly common sort of social event in nice weather, and will usually include grilled sausages (but also hamburgers and steaks), but that’s just in someone’s backyard for invited friends.
So we have plenty of things that overlap with the same general conceptual space as a sausage sizzle, but nothing that’s quite exactly the same.
This is what the phrase “sausage sizzle” means to me too, but I hadn’t heard it in years! When I was in the Girl Guides in the late 1970s, we would have an annual Sausage Sizzle. This consisted of going into the nearby woods, building a campfire, sharpening a stick with a penknife, sticking a sausage on the end of the stick, and “cooking” the sausage by holding it over the fire. The result was inevitably blackened on the outside and raw in the middle, but we ate it anyway. Toasted marshmallows would follow for dessert.
It is the kind of thing that would never, never happen now! Young teenage girls trusted to build fires, sharpen sticks with penknives, and then eat salmonella on a stick?
Our kids’ fundraisers tend to feature cookies and other baked goods, or chocolate bars, when they’re of the “pop up a table in front of a store” variety. I’d trade that for a good sausage any day.
Other school, band and school choir fundraisers are not done at tables by the kids, but are done by parents begging in their office or workplace. These are enabled by catalogs full of popcorn, dried meat, candy, cheeses, or sometimes frozen cookie dough or wrapping paper. It’s considered good form to order at least something small from each panicked parent, as you’ll need them to order from you within the next 6 months. And everyone hates and resents everyone else for it.
However, it’s worth noting that our encased meat needs are indeed met at many of our huge hardware chain stores, but it’s by a professional permanent food stand at the exit, and the sausage is specifically hot dogs (or, in Chicago, you may have the option of Polish Sausage or sometimes Bratwurst.)
Not directly relevant to the OP, but you’d be surprised. That’s definitely not the case in the city that prides itself on hot dogs – Chicago. I’m not sure the last time I’ve even seen a cart around here.
But, back to the OP, I am familiar with sizzles via Aussie and Kiwi friends, but we don’t have the same fundraising tradition here. I mean, yeah, there can be charity cookouts, but there’s nothing engrained in the culture specifically around a sausage cookout. And in and around my neighborhood, raffle tickets seem to be the main fundraising vector. I’m trying to think of the last fundraising cookout I’ve seen – I think our church had an Oktoberfest party. Now it being Lent, you’ll also find Friday night fish fries at some churches here, too. Oh, and we have a chili cook-off coming up, too.
The Home Depot hardware stores around here have a hot dog stand set up in the exit for any post lumber buying sausage needs. Not charity though, I don’t know if it’s store owned, or contracted out. But the kids only sell cookies or candy of some sort.
In the United States there is usually a hot dog stand operating outside the Hope Depot on warm, sunny, crowded days. So there is definitely an association between hardware shopping and sausages. But these hot dog stands are not run for charity.
However, every once in a while you see such fundraisers set up in front of grocery stores or supermarkets. Usually they have just hot dogs and hamburgers with potato chips (I.e., crisps, not French fries) and only ketchup and mustard for condiments.
And I believe the food that is served is donated by the supermarket itself.
I’ve only been to a couple cities in the U.S. where hot dog carts (or street food carts of any type) are common. And that’s being loose with it. San Francisco has hot dog carts but they’re pretty much all within 2 blocks of Union Square.
In the UK many DIY stores have a burger bar outside, but I have never heard the name “sausage sizzle” before this thread. Burger bars serve various hot sandwiches - sausage/bacon/egg/burger in any combination on bread or buns.
Sausage sizzles are something we often serve at church garden parties etc. We never realised they actually had a name. We always liked them because they have a high ratio of sausage to bread - butter/spread is optional. We did offer pitta bread once but it was not popular.
Here in Chicago, the Home Depot hot dog places are year-round and indoors, right by the exit (as far as I’ve ever seen.) However, every once in a while, a pop-up taco vendor will appear, grilling meats outside or cutting them off a spit as an al pastor taco. Their presence seems to be completely random and, I suspect, not necessarily 100% legal.
I don’t know about Chicago, but here store owners routinely call the cops whenever there’s a mobile food vendor around, even if they know perfectly well that the mobile vendor is perfectly legal. The municipalities enforce regulations on mobile food vendors much more stringently than they do on restaurants. So, illegal food carts/trucks are very unlikely to stick around very long.
I’m trying to understand what kind of sausage this compares to in the US. We have two basic styles of sandwich sausages here. There are hot dogs (aka wieners, weenies, frankfurters franks, etc.) which are pre-cooked, and only need to be reheated by steaming, grilling or boiling. They can be be consumed unheated. Then there are raw sausages like Italian sausage and bratwurst which are fresh, raw pork or beef in a casing, which requires cooking. Which is most like the sausage in a sausage sizzle?
Here I suspect it varies greatly by neighborhood. The regulations are pretty tough in Chicago, but I’d be surprised if everyone I see selling food here is completely by the book. I know our Civic Asdociation gets a bit peeved at this sort of thing, judging by their newsletters, but it’s a bit hard to keep track of, as they pop up in different places.
We have them around here for kids fundraisers. Typically hot dogs, brats and hamburgers. We also have fish frys, pancake breakfasts and spaghetti feeds that are used to raise funds. Not including specific events/benefits for a particular family that needs help.