Packin' a lot of meat: Bacon explodes into Internet phenom
Bacon, glorious bacon, that fat-filled treat hewn from the side of a pig, is the new Internet darling.
Bacon’s recent flight to the top of Google’s hot trends comes on the wings of a recipe for “Bacon Explosion,” an edible log of 2 pounds of sausage encased in a 2-pound “bacon weave” created by blogging barbeque enthusiasts in Kansas City (www.bbqaddicts.com).
(Bbqaddicts.com)
A story published Tuesday in the New York Times featuring “Bacon Explosion” remained the most-emailed story on the Web site Friday morning, beating out stories on the economy, Super Bowl or the new president.
“Bacon is like the candy of the meats that the pig offers,” said Pamela Johnson of the Iowa-based National Pork Board, where they are happy as a pig in mud about all the attention paid to the humble meat.
There’s a Web site for bacon haikus — “One road wafts bacon/ One was the road less traveled/ Guess which way I go?”
Facebook pages are dedicated to bacon as “the world’s most perfect food” and feature dozens of pictures of bacon in various states of edibility — shoved in the middle of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and fried and twisted into cocktail garnishes.
Bacontoday.com promises “Daily Updates on the World of Sweet, Sweet Bacon.”
“For the Love of Bacon” at theotherwhitemeat.com suggests “Bacon Day” activities like playing “Steal the Bacon” and “Six Degrees of Separation with Kevin Bacon”.
A contestant on the current season of Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” occasionally sports a T-shirt proclaiming “Bacon is a Vegetable.” The pig-shaped “Wake n’ Bacon” alarm clock promises to wake up users with the intoxicating smell of strip of sizzling bacon, placed frozen in the clock the night before.
“In showcasing pork and talking pork, we find bacon is just revered,” Johnson said. “People have just taken this food and put it to a status that is just unbelievable.”
American per capita bacon consumption is slightly up from 2007 to 2008, Johnson said, adding “pork is hot” right now.
While the butchers at Paulina Meat Market in Lake View aren’t selling more of their own cooked and smoked bacon, owner Bill Begale said he’s been holding on to the “Bacon Explosion” recipe for a week in case anyone orders it, possibly for this weekend’s Super Bowl.
“I would make it if somebody asked,” he said. “I’d roll it up and they’d have to cook it.”