National Bacon Day

The origins of Bacon stretch back into the middle ages, with the name of this delicious meat originating in Middle English from the word “Bacoun”. Following it back, it can be found in France as Bako, Germany as Bakko, and even in old Teutonic as Backe.

All of these words mean “back”, and what does that reveal about bacon? That’s right. It’s made from the back of the pig!

But those listed above are not even the earliest example of bacon. It seems that the first bacon was known to have come from the Romans, and was known as ‘Petaso’.

With a long and delicious history, making bacon has been a popular method of preserving meat and adding a certain flavor to it by soaking it in a specialized brine.

In fact, there were even certain breeds of pigs that were specially bred for their copious back meat, including breeds such as Yorkshire and Tamworth.

Although it wasn’t always just the back meat that was referred to as Bacon. At one time the word referenced any kind of preserved pork, but that usage fell out of practice in the 17th Century.

Even today, however, there remain some questionable definitions of “bacon”. For instance, what Americans refer to as bacon is different from their neighbors to the north, the Canadians. And in England, what Americans would refer to as just “bacon” would be called “streaky bacon”, “rashers” or “crispy bacon”.

But no matter the controversy or differences in terminology, bacon is beautifully tasty meat that certainly deserves its own day to celebrate! And thats what National Bacon Day is all about.