Food of the Week: Bacon

Food of the Week: Week 4 – Bacon

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Mattie Goad

I am sure that most people have had this for breakfast at some point in their life, and they have more than likely liked it or even loved it. The food for this week is bacon!

Here are some fun facts about the delicious breakfast food.

  • The word bacon means “meat from the back of an animal.”
  • 70% of all bacon in the US is eaten at breakfast time.
  • More than 2 billion pounds of bacon is produced each year in the US.
  • Some unusual products with bacon flavor are bacon toothpaste, bacon salt, bacon hot sauce, bacon coffee,  bacon tea, bacon olive oil, bacon ice cream, bacon cupcakes, bacon lollipops, and bacon candy canes.
  • The US National Bacon Day is December 30th.
  • International bacon day is September 3rd.
  • The Chinese were the first to cook salted pork bellies over 3,000 years ago.
  • During WWII, the U.S. government urged citizens to donate their excess bacon fat to the army. A whole committee was even created for it: The American Fat Salvage Committee. The fat was used to make glycerin which in turn was used to make bombs.
  • The average American consumes 18 pounds of bacon per year.
  • Speaking of apps and bacon, Oscar Mayer launched an app called Sizzl which helps “true bacon lovers….find each other and potentially meet their soulmates in life and in bacon.” Sizzl is like other mobile dating apps in that it accesses your Facebook profile to retrieve your information. It then polls you on your favorite type of bacon. And get this: instead of swiping right or left, you press and hold a “sizzl-meter” for the person you like.
  • It might not be long before your bacon is grown in a lab. Scientists have been experimenting with a technique that allows them to turn pig stem cells into strips of meat.
  •  New research shows that bacon contains choline, which plays a critical role in fetal brain development. Choline can also be found in eggs, liver, beef, salmon, cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, and breast milk. (So bacon can actually make an unborn child smarter.)
  • 11% of a standard pig’s weight is bacon
  • There’s more than one way bacon can kill you, and it has nothing to do with health. In 1543, ailing window and servant Elizabeth Browne was warming herself by the kitchen fire when she was suddenly crushed by four sides of uncooked bacon.
  • World record holder Matt Stonie ate 182 slices of bacon in 5 minutes on February 22, 2015.
  • Resources: https://lundsandbyerlys.com/fun-facts-about-bacon-bacon-is-one-of-the-most/,http://justfunfacts.com/interesting-facts-about-bacon, https://thebreakfastshoppe.com/15-facts-about-bacon/