Bacon Day is observed annually on December 30th.
Everything is better with bacon. Someone said that once. Within our research, we have found very little to dispute this assertion.
In the United States and Canada, bacon is made from the pork belly. Elsewhere in the world, the side and back cuts of pork are used. The meat is cured in either a salt brine or in a salt pack. It is then either dried, boiled or smoked.
Bacon is a very popular food in the USA. You can find many items also flavored or scented with bacon including popcorn, soap, candles, air fresheners and much more.
According to the founders of Bacon Day, we are encouraged to eat a variety of bacon while watching Kevin Bacon movies, or movies with bacon in the title. Since Bacon Day was created before the Discovery Channel show How It’s Made debuted, it’s safe to say, we can eat our bacon and watch those, too. Giving and receiving gifts of bacon is also recommended. Other suggested traditions such as bacon toasts and kissing under pork fat mistletoe are mentioned as well.
Danya “D” Goodman and Meff “Human Cannonball” Leonard founded Bacon Day in 1997 as the one great day to bond everyone together.
- IT DATES BACK TO 1500 BCE. The Chinese were the first to cook salted pork bellies more than 3000 years ago. This makes bacon one of the world’s oldest processed meats.
- THE FIRST BACON FACTORY OPENED IN 1770. For generations, local farmers and butchers made bacon for their local communities. In England, where it became a dietary staple, bacon was typically “dry cured” with salt and then smoked. In the late 18th century, a businessman named John Harris opened the first bacon processing plant in the county of Wiltshire, where he developed a special brining solution for finishing the meat. The “Wiltshire Cure” method is still used today, and is a favorite of bacon lovers who prefer a sweeter, less salty taste.
- “BRINGING HOME THE BACON” GOES BACK CENTURIES. These days the phrase refers to making money, but its origins have nothing to do with income. In 12th century England, churches would award a “flitch,” or a side, of bacon to any married man who swore before God that he and his wife had not argued for a year and a day. Men who “brought home the bacon” were seen as exemplary citizens and husbands.
- THE AVERAGE AMERICAN CONSUMES 18 POUNDS OF BACON EACH YEAR. Savory, salty, and appropriately retro: The past couple years have been a bonanza for bacon, with more than three quarters of restaurants now serving bacon dishes, and everything from candy canes to gumballs now flavored with bacon. Recent reports linking processed meats to increased cancer risk have put a dent in consumption, and may have a prolonged effect. But for now, America’s love affair with bacon continues.
- IT HELPED MAKE EXPLOSIVES DURING WORLD WAR II. In addition to planting victory gardens and buying war bonds, households were encouraged to donate their leftover bacon grease to the war effort. Rendered fats created glycerin, which in turn created bombs, gunpowder, and other munitions. A promotional film starring Minnie Mouse and Pluto chided housewives for throwing out more than 2 billion pounds of grease every year; “That’s enough glycerin for 10 billion rapid-fire cannon shells.”
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