It depends on the chewability. When I gave DS a hotdog, I cut it up smaller because biting chunks off meat is trickier than letting him bite chunks off of bread. He might have been ok, but better safe than sorry. He did handle a hard pizza crust pretty well today though.
He sometimes bites off more than he can chew, but he's always supervised while eating (and within arm's reach most of the time). If I notice he's taken a big bite, I take away what he's eating so he can work on that without shoving more in his mouth. He's gotten pretty good at regulating how much he puts in his mouth at one time. I usually still shred his meat, but he can chomp through a stick of celery and bite off bread and other softer items like banana and squash.