6 ms·

Non US based HNers might be confused; bacon really is a big deal in the US. Restaurants put it in salads, sandwiches, and pretty much anything they can- I've ha

by GuiA 12y ago

Non US based HNers might be confused; bacon really is a big deal in the US. Restaurants put it in salads, sandwiches, and pretty much anything they can- I've had bacon ice cream once (weirdly it was pretty tasty). Some macho people proudly eat pounds of it, claiming that it is a manly/american food- see for example this youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8u8Z3bUQfs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8u8Z3bUQfs . In stores, you can find as many items with bacon texture on them as you can find items with prints of the US flag. "Bacon bowls" are a thing. It's really more than just a food in the US- people are obsessed with it. If you spend time on reddit, you can get a glimpse of that through the ever recurring bacon posts in the mainstream subreddits.

fibbery 12y ago
It's not just the United States. According to my Swedish friend bacon-mania is the same there.
smacktoward 12y ago
As an American myself, I can explain: this is mostly just because we are really, really stupid. I mean, seriously.
- worklogin 12y ago
  There must be multiple "yous" to reference your profile, because in one thread you have some insightful content, and then this.
sudowhodoido 12y ago
This has been the case in the UK for many years as well. One of my earliest memories at the tender age of 3 (very early 1980s) was wearing one of those blue anoraks with a fuzzy collar and being wheeled to the greasy caf'[1] in a buggy and fed bacon, beans, chips (French fries) and tea. This was in Islington in London. I can't think of a single week I haven't eaten bacon since. That's just normal here. No crazy or macho rubbish. Food staple. And as I've had this argument before (on reddit...), to the Americans, we don't eat that shitty Canadian bacon or the streaky stuff you get in the US here. We use the latter to add flavour to other foods and eat the nice lean back bacon: http://www.clancysofchester.co.uk/back%20bacon.jpg http://www.clancysofchester.co.uk/back%20bacon.jpg . The streaky stuff is kind of horrible and clogs up your arteries. [1] Not café. Caf' innit (local dialect)
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- Chevalier 12y ago
  Just to update your nutrition information, the streaky stuff is great for you. Fats, especially animal fats, are pretty wonderful for human health. You lose both flavor and nutrition when you remove it from your diet. I feel like I'm letting a secret out, but if there's any crowd that we want to be healthy and productive, it's HN. Eat fat. It's great for you. What's important is to remove sugar from your diet in all its forms.
  - 001sky 12y ago
    There's plent enough fat in back bacon. Its unclear why the US doesn't sell it readily. Streaky bacon is more of a condiment than useful protein source.
  - sudowhodoido 12y ago
    Not too much. Coronary heart disease wiped out a big chunk of my family and it wasn't because they ate sugar - it was the lard on toast and chips cooked in lard... Everything in moderation is probably better advice than a single fact.
    - eropple 12y ago
      Toast and chips are still simple carbohydrates.
      - sudowhodoido 12y ago
        Aware of this. My point was purely derision. A lot of nutritional fads are indistinguishable from religion. Scales are always balanced, not necessarily visibly.
      - DanBC 12y ago
        Chips are made from potato. That's a complex carb. Wholemeal toast would he a complex carb. White bread would be a complex carb in the form of a refined starch - still not a simple carb.
potatolicious 12y ago
Funny that you chose Epic Meal Time - they're actually Canadian. But yes, not to take away from your point, bacon is a Big Deal(tm) in America (and its northern neighbor).
kens 12y ago
This article was very interesting, since I'd been puzzled by the popularity of bacon as a meme. I've also wondered about moustaches, which became a meme around the same time and with similar people and products, sort of the same "meme space". Is there something that drove the handlebar 'stache as a meme? (Reading this, it seems like kind of a crazy comment, but I do mean it seriously.)
- titanomachy 12y ago
  I think Movember was the precipitant for the moustache craze. People started plastering moustache stickers on everything to indicate their support for the popular prostate cancer fundraiser, and then decided that moustaches were cool any time of the year (but not cool enough to actually grow them.)
bane 12y ago
"Bacon" in the U.S. also means a particular kind of thin cut of pork belly, salted and cured in a particular kind of way. It generally looks like this. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Made20bacon.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Made20ba... It's different than the kinds of bacon you'll find in parts of the U.K., Ireland or Canada which usually serve a more hearty cut of meat that's processed differently and can include back bacon, or middle cuts from the pig. For example, an American might not recognize the bacon in this picture https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Englishbreakfast.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Englishb... as "bacon" and would probably just call it "ham".

by GuiA 12y ago

fibbery 12y ago

It's not just the United States. According to my Swedish friend bacon-mania is the same there.

smacktoward 12y ago

As an American myself, I can explain: this is mostly just because we are really, really stupid. I mean, seriously.

worklogin 12y ago
There must be multiple "yous" to reference your profile, because in one thread you have some insightful content, and then this.

sudowhodoido 12y ago

This has been the case in the UK for many years as well. One of my earliest memories at the tender age of 3 (very early 1980s) was wearing one of those blue anoraks with a fuzzy collar and being wheeled to the greasy caf'[1] in a buggy and fed bacon, beans, chips (French fries) and tea. This was in Islington in London. I can't think of a single week I haven't eaten bacon since. That's just normal here. No crazy or macho rubbish. Food staple. And as I've had this argument before (on reddit...), to the Americans, we don't eat that shitty Canadian bacon or the streaky stuff you get in the US here. We use the latter to add flavour to other foods and eat the nice lean back bacon: http://www.clancysofchester.co.uk/back%20bacon.jpg http://www.clancysofchester.co.uk/back%20bacon.jpg . The streaky stuff is kind of horrible and clogs up your arteries. [1] Not café. Caf' innit (local dialect)

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Chevalier 12y ago
Just to update your nutrition information, the streaky stuff is great for you. Fats, especially animal fats, are pretty wonderful for human health. You lose both flavor and nutrition when you remove it from your diet. I feel like I'm letting a secret out, but if there's any crowd that we want to be healthy and productive, it's HN. Eat fat. It's great for you. What's important is to remove sugar from your diet in all its forms.
- 001sky 12y ago
  There's plent enough fat in back bacon. Its unclear why the US doesn't sell it readily. Streaky bacon is more of a condiment than useful protein source.
- sudowhodoido 12y ago
  Not too much. Coronary heart disease wiped out a big chunk of my family and it wasn't because they ate sugar - it was the lard on toast and chips cooked in lard... Everything in moderation is probably better advice than a single fact.
  - eropple 12y ago
    Toast and chips are still simple carbohydrates.
    - sudowhodoido 12y ago
      Aware of this. My point was purely derision. A lot of nutritional fads are indistinguishable from religion. Scales are always balanced, not necessarily visibly.
    - DanBC 12y ago
      Chips are made from potato. That's a complex carb. Wholemeal toast would he a complex carb. White bread would be a complex carb in the form of a refined starch - still not a simple carb.

potatolicious 12y ago

Funny that you chose Epic Meal Time - they're actually Canadian. But yes, not to take away from your point, bacon is a Big Deal(tm) in America (and its northern neighbor).

kens 12y ago

This article was very interesting, since I'd been puzzled by the popularity of bacon as a meme. I've also wondered about moustaches, which became a meme around the same time and with similar people and products, sort of the same "meme space". Is there something that drove the handlebar 'stache as a meme? (Reading this, it seems like kind of a crazy comment, but I do mean it seriously.)

titanomachy 12y ago
I think Movember was the precipitant for the moustache craze. People started plastering moustache stickers on everything to indicate their support for the popular prostate cancer fundraiser, and then decided that moustaches were cool any time of the year (but not cool enough to actually grow them.)

bane 12y ago

"Bacon" in the U.S. also means a particular kind of thin cut of pork belly, salted and cured in a particular kind of way. It generally looks like this. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Made20bacon.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Made20ba... It's different than the kinds of bacon you'll find in parts of the U.K., Ireland or Canada which usually serve a more hearty cut of meat that's processed differently and can include back bacon, or middle cuts from the pig. For example, an American might not recognize the bacon in this picture https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Englishbreakfast.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Englishb... as "bacon" and would probably just call it "ham".