Bacon
Bacon is a popular food item created from cured and smoked pork, typically derived from the belly or loin of the pig. Its widespread appeal is attributed to the global availability of pigs, which are domesticated and farmed across various continents. The versatility of bacon allows it to be prepared in numerous ways, including frying, baking, and grilling, and it serves as an ingredient in a wide range of dishes. Historically, bacon has deep roots in culinary traditions, particularly in Europe, where it became a breakfast staple and a symbol of prosperity.
In recent years, bacon has gained a significant following, especially among millennials, despite concerns about its high fat and salt content. This trend, often referred to as "bacon mania," has led to an increase in bacon-related products and recipes, with bacon finding its way into burgers, desserts, and even non-food items like bacon-flavored cosmetics. However, the rising demand for bacon has also raised ethical concerns regarding animal treatment in the farming industry. While many enjoy bacon as part of their diet, others avoid it for health, religious, or ethical reasons. Overall, bacon remains a defining element of contemporary food culture, with a robust industry that thrives on its popularity.
On this Page
Subject Terms
Bacon
Hear the word bacon, and there comes to mind either the father of the scientific method of research, Francis Bacon, or the virtual cooking experience with sizzling, crackling sounds, and the wafting aroma of frying slices stimulating mouth-watering taste buds of the tongue and soft palate. The latter is our matter of interest now. The popularity of bacon has to do with the worldwide availability of the pig. There are over a billion pigs living on humanly habitable continents, but they are native to Eurasia and Africa. They are domesticated and farmed, so bacon is readily available and affordable meat. Bacon is versatile, prepared in brine for curing and then smoked, boiled, fried, baked, and grilled. Bacon is used for larding other meats and game birds. It is an ingredient flavoring other dishes. It is popular among millennials, once scared off by bacon’s high fat and salt content. Bacon is an industry and new foodie art form.
Background
Pig is mentioned in the Old Testament but not bacon specifically. People rarely make the connection. The English cut bacon primarily from pork belly and loin as far back as the first millennium. Different cuts of bacon were popular in other European countries. The twelfth-century phrase, "bring home the bacon," came to represent household prosperity and tranquility. Breakfast was the hardy European meal of the day, and bacon became a staple as it is today in America where bacon and eggs, potatoes, and pancakes are common breakfast fare. By 1770, bacon was a prosperous industry in England, the bacon capital of the world. Butchers excelled in new cuts and curing methods, but the genetic lineage of the pig became just as crucial a factor in the morphing of bacon into a gourmet delight.
Americans ate light meatless breakfasts dominated by grains, fruit, and cereals up to a hundred years ago. Bacon made its way onto the American breakfast table courtesy of a massive marketing campaign by the Beech-Nut packing company that had a big investment in bacon production. It allegedly recruited physicians to attest to the value of a heavier breakfast; it became the most important meal of the day, and bacon and eggs filled the bill nicely.
Bacon’s high fat and salt content turned off healthy-eating consumers. Other animal cuts resembling bacon became popular. Beef, lamb, chicken, goat, and turkey are cut to resemble bacon and sometimes packaged as bacon. Kosher consumers have a product called "beef fry" that looks and cooks like bacon.
Bacon rind is served with the skin left on the slices. Bacon cuts and servings have varying names from country to country: middle and shortcut bacon in Australia and New Zealand; back bacon and peameal are popular in Canada; speck in Germany, grieben in Austria, bara rashers in Japan, rasher in England and Ireland. In America, a piece of uncooked bacon is a slab. Hickory and corncob smoked bacons, sweet and salty bacons, and "streak o’ lean" made from fatback are popular. Bacon was called petaso in the days of the Roman Empire, whose armies traveled on it. Curing bacon meant preserving it without refrigeration; it was cheap, easy to cook, and soldiers enjoyed the taste.
Bacon Today
Bacon is a mainstream food. Americans consume eighteen pounds a year, despite many Americans not eating bacon because of religious or other dietary restrictions, including vegans and vegetarians, and health-conscious eaters. Bacon is finding its way into more restaurants and shops, increasing its presence by 25 percent between 2001 and 2009. Bacon has taken on a sobriquet, i.e., "bacon mania" as it began sweeping the country in the early 2000s. It is finding its way as an ingredient in food recipes and drinks and candy.
McDonald’s incorporates thick sliced, applewood-smoked bacon into some burger sandwiches. Competitors Burger King sells a bacon sundae, Denny’s restaurants sell a maple bacon sundae, and Jack in the Box offers a bacon milkshake to go with your burger. Bacon flavor lovers can buy bacon salt and baconnaise, bacon-aroma shaving cream, vodka, soap, lube, flavored soda, and bacon deodorant. For the "health" conscious, there are bacon Brussels sprouts.
The exploding popularity of bacon is partly related to price. It costs less in 2016 than in 2011. The price is down 25 percent in 2016 from 2014. Moreover, corporate profit margins are surging on bacon, so retailers and wholesalers are promoting more sales to consumers. An inspiration for bacon mania was the Hardee’s Frisco Burger debuting in 1992, when bacon was put on every sandwich. A decade later came Sara Perry’s 2002 cookbook Everything Tastes Better with Bacon. Popular in the second decade of this century is artisanal bacon: i.e., cherry-wood brown with gourmet-taste inspiration.
The most ironic aspect of bacon mania is the concomitant emphasis on healthy eating and exercise among the same bacon-loving generations. There is also an epidemic of childhood obesity sweeping the world, and heart disease is near to the number-one killer associated with high cholesterol. One exasperated nutritionist furtively confided that if they love it, they’ll eat it, and the "gourmetizing" of bacon is hard to resist.
Here are some dirty facts about bacon: 60 percent of bacon’s calories are saturated fat, containing thirty milligrams of cholesterol. One ounce of bacon contains 190 milligrams of sodium. It is the ultimate in processed meats, which are suspected of contributing to higher heart attack and cancer rates. Dr. Oz calls bacon a "sat-fat ‘bomb.’" Another negative by-product of the surge in demand for bacon is the allegedly inhumane methods pig farmers use to house, feed, and treat massive numbers of pigs needed to meet growing consumer demand. Media undercover reports and humane societies report these conditions are deplorable. Bacon is a $4b annual sales industry and a defining food trend. Bacon mania now includes T-shirts, a plethora of bacon recipes books, tens of thousands of Internet sites dedicated to bacon, chef competitions, and a cable show called United States of Bacon.
Bibliography
Colleary, Eric. "How ‘Bacon And Eggs’ Became The American Breakfast." The American Table. The American Table, 19 July 2012. Web. 4 May 2016.
Hackett, Robert. "Why bacon is suddenly everywhere." Fortune. 19 May 19, 2015. Web. 4 May 2016.
"The History of Bacon." The English Breakfast Society. The English Breakfast Society, 12 March 2016. Web. 4 May 2016.
Jacques, Renee. "9 Unfortunate Truths About Juicy, Scrumptious Bacon." HuffPost Taste. Huffingtonpost.com, 14 Nov. 2013. Web. 4 May 2016.
Perry, Sara. Everything Tastes Better with Bacon. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2002. Print.
Roizen, Michael. "Dr. Oz: The big fat truth about butter, bacon and cheese." The Hamilton Spectator, 12 Nov. 2015. Web. 4 May.
Sax, David. "The Bacon Boom was Not an Accident." Bloomberg. The Bloomberg Company and Its Products, 6 Oct. 2014. Web. 4 May 2016.
Shen, Aviva. "Why Are We So Crazy For Bacon?" Smithsonian.com. Smithsonian magazine, 17 Jan. 2012. Web. 4 May 2016. < om/arts-culture/why-are-we-so-crazy-for-bacon-20784529/?no-ist" http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-are-we-so-crazy-for-bacon-20784529/?no-ist>.
Stampler, Laura. "The Complete History of How Bacon Took over the World." Time. Time, Inc., 15 Nov. 2013. Web. 4 May 2016. <2013/11/15/the-complete-history-of-how-bacon-took-over-the-world/" http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/11/15/the-complete-history-of-how-bacon-took-over-the-world/>.