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First, there was Bacon Salt. That was harmless enough. Then came its inevitable progeny, Baconnaise—like Bacon Salt, only with mayonnaise. Then, in quick succession: bacon maple doughnuts; gummi bacon; bacon-flavored lip balm; chocolate-covered bacon; bacolicio.us, a URL add-on for superimposing a photo of a strip of bacon onto any webpage; the Wendy's Baconator (self-explanatory); and the Bacon Explosion, a bacon-wrapped loaf of pork sausage that was the subject of an 1,100-word article in the New York Times. Not to mention bacon vodka, bacon tattoos, the bacon bra, bacon-flavored dental floss, and bacon bandages.
For a while, loving bacon was the anti-foodie food trend: snobbery (what, you don't like BACON? I guess you've never had the good stuff) disguised as egalitarianism (everyone can afford it; everyone loves it). Ostentatiously declaring one's love for, and consuming large quantities of, bacon (and its partner-in-trend, pork belly) became a sign of joie de vivre, an indication that you were spontaneous, fun, up for anything. Suggesting that a battered, deep-fried, bacon-wrapped bacon sandwich might not be the subtlest or most enjoyable food experience, conversely, meant you were a killjoy. And suggesting that massive bacon consumption might have health implications made you a food Nazi—one step up from a granola eater or, worse, a vegan.
Stranger Personals
Thankfully, baconmania has almost run its course. Trends inevitably go through their phases—early adoption, buzz, general excitement, overexposure—and bacon is in its terminal stage, clinging to relevance, grasping at any opportunity to cash in on its dwindling cachet as its 15 minutes come to an end. (Swine flu is not transmitted via pork consumption, though it doesn't make it sound very appetizing.)
One such opportunity was the recent "Baconopolis!" a Tom Douglas–hosted event at the Tom Douglas–owned Palace Ballroom, featuring Tom Douglas–branded bacon-related door prizes and 10 "bacon-enhanced bites" produced by Tom Douglas Restaurants. Several hundred people paid $20 a head to line up for bites of greasy bacon tempura; bacon-spiked, mayo-based pea salad; miniature bacon, peanut butter, and banana sandwiches; breadless BLTs; and so forth.
The snacks were fine, if totally uninspired—pork and beans may indeed be better with quality bacon, but they're still pork and beans, and if you've had one forkful of carbonara, you've had them all—but after eating 10 supersalty bacon snacks, I felt dehydrated, not deeply fulfilled. Maybe, in different hands, an ingredient like bacon could have been used to gentler effect—I'm thinking Fran's chocolates with salted bacon, say, or miniature bacon waffles with syrup—but Baconopolis! was everything that superfluous exclamation mark implies: loud, flashy, and unsatisfying.
But people weren't really there for the food—they were there to profess, with their presence and by making some noise, their LOVE! OF! BACON! The crowd—well-dressed late-twentysomethings in standard-issue Belltown uniforms (tight jeans and heels for the ladies, polo shirts for the men)—had all the affected enthusiasm of late adopters, like when your parents started texting you 20 times a day or when Seattle hipsters discovered kickball. I like free stuff as much as anyone, but does a $5 bacon wallet and a trio of Tom Douglas–brand spice rubs merit screaming as if you've won the lottery? (One woman, upon winning a bacon-and-eggs shopping bag, screamed so loud she prompted Douglas to quip, "We have a squealer! A BACON squealer!") I get it—bacon tastes good—but it isn't so uniquely delicious, so superlatively perfect, that it needs its own party, much less its own lexicon ("baconopolis," "baconitis," "bactionary," etc.).
Bacon can be wonderful, in its place—as a side order with eggs and grits, for example, or sprinkled over a wilted spinach salad—but there's only so much of it I can (or one should) eat at once, and that's not much. I'll take a nice piece of mellow soft-ripened cheese or a fresh radish dipped in butter—or, hell, a bowl of red beans and rice cooked with plain-old salt pork—over a fatty, greasy hunk of bacon any day.
And soon, so will you. Take off the "I Love Bacon" shirt, cancel
your trip to Baconcamp, and go eat a piece of celery. It's over. 
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Seriously, I'm curious what makes you think "baconmania" is coming to an end. Nothing in your article points towards a slow down or decrease in bacon related goods, foods, or events. If anything you're making the case that it's still on the rise. Unless perhaps you're making the case that it's jumped the shark (it has) and therefore it *OBVIOUSLY* must be on the way out like any other fad-of-the-month.
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So, why would you attend an event like Baconopolis - just to hate it?
No, really.
If you make a sweeping, blanket statement you must have some facts or sources to support your argument. Any journalist worth their (bacon) salt knows this.
So please be amending your article to include references and sources demonstrating the truthfulness and accuracy of your article. Show me the evidence. Otherwise it's just unsupported opinion. And we all know what that's worth.
Thanks!
Seriously, I'd prefer to see some evidence of this decline than your say-so. This is the information age and you can easily check marketing sites, trend sites, and other measures of hype.
It's fun getting unnecessarily excited and yelling about shit that doesn't make sense. That's it. Really.
Now go outside and breathe.
(But yes, like the above posters I would like the hip crowd to find something else to fawn over.)
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And speaking as one raised on bacon in all its myriad forms, and whose 90 year-old grandmother still keeps a crock of congealed bacon grease on the stove-top, that will be a long, long time from now.
Like others have pointed out you have shown no proof in sales dropping or anything of the sort to show the "bacon fad" is winding down.
What kind of hack writer doesn't even understand research and presenting facts to proove your arguement.This is just an opinion piece presented as fact.
Oh, and for all you bacon fans, the guys at Bacon Salt now have Bacon Lube!Not my thing but I'm sure some of you will be down!
Right on the money, Byrongostop! Amen---I, too, will now enjoy bacon in peace.
I'm not so sure about bacon lube, though, but for those of you turned on to it, more power to ya!
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ECB, some of your writing grates on me but on this you are completely correct. And you didn't say that nobody was going to eat bacon anymore, you just observe that a trend peaks when it reaches the polo shirt crowd and is mashed into every marketed product possible- and then people get over it, the products don't sell anymore and we go back to eating bacon with just our eggs and sandwiches.
Jesus people, WHO's the one that needs to lighten up?
"but it isn't so uniquely delicious..." um...what tastes like Bacon?
What is deserving of an event...especially a food event? Celery? I guess there is the soda CEL-RAY, we could have a Celery-a-thon, celeryopolis...I mean learn to enjoy something...oh yeah you write for the stranger...you are too cool for bacon...or maybe it just to greasy for you.
Um...ok...and you are writing about bacon? Not that bicyclists don't eat bacon.
"It's ok y'all, you can stop eating bread now...it's 'out' this season."
Again, wtf?
Well said, nice article ECB.
I'm into cream cheese. I like to put it into my scrambled eggs with lots of other goodies.
Hooray for cream cheese!!!
Tortilla chips with a dab of butter!
As a test I offered the dog two one with butter one without, she would only eat it with butter
So good, nummy
As far as I can tell, Baconmania HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN.
You are wrong: dead pig wrong. Get on the Bacon Train before it leaves the station without you, or, alternately, mows you down.
Coming next: Bacon ice cream.
Some of our customer comments have been about buying them for the older generation that love bacon but aren’t suppose to eat it anymore, the office vegan joke, etc…
Peace, Moodswings Inc
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Some of our customer comments have been about buying them for the older generation that love bacon but aren’t suppose to eat it anymore, the office vegan joke, etc…
Also by Erica C. Barnett
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