Thursday, May 14, 2009
Eat bacon, it's good for you and America!
Posted by Stephanie Barna on Thu, May 14, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Remember the swine flu? That pig pandemic that was supposed to sweep the world, killing babies and grandmothers from here to Montezuma? Yeah, well, it didn't, but it did devastate the pork industry, costing American pork producers $17.69 per hog just during the April 24 through May 1 period. Total losses for that period reached $7.2 million a day, according to the National Pork Producers Council.
In an effort to help the pork industry, Faces of Agriculture has launched a "Pork on the Fork" contest, encouraging you to take pictures of you and your loved ones dining on swine. What do you win? Well, you get an all-expense paid trip to the World of Pork, er, the World Pork Expo in Des Moines on June 3. 
Sounds like a place not many would want to go, but I can think of a few chefs in this town who would totally dig going to a pork expo. Find out more about the Pork on the Fork contest here.
In related news, bacon is good for you!
Bon Apetit has included it in their list of "10 Surprising Health Foods."
According to a new book out called Fat by Jennifer McLagan, bacon's fat is a lot like that of olive oil: "45 percent of the fat in bacon is monounsaturated, the good-for-you fat that can help lower bad cholesterol levels. Better still, bacon's monounsaturated fat turns out to be oleic acid, the same fat found in olive oil. So that means that some could argue that bacon is about half as good for you as olive oil and about 100 times more delicious."
Finally, some good news.
We'll be doing a feature on bacon soon, so send us your favorite bacon dishes in town. We already know about the bacon dessert at Shine and the one at Center Street Kitchen. Suggest some others, please!
Comments (7)
Showing 1-7 of 7
I believe that this is Chris Haire's attempt to continue appeasing the "Swine Flu Gods"...
:)
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Before extolling the virtues of bacon, consider this:
From Wikipedia: "Pigs harbour a range of parasites and diseases that can be transmitted to humans. These include trichinosis, Taenia solium, cysticercosis, and brucellosis. Pigs are also known to host large concentrations of parasitic ascarid worms in their digestive tract.[18] The presence of these diseases and parasites is one of the reasons why pork meat should always be well cooked or cured before eating. Some religious groups that consider pork unclean refer to these issues as support for their views.[19]
Pigs are susceptible to bronchitis and pneumonia. They have small lungs in relation to body size; for this reason, bronchitis or pneumonia can kill a pig quickly.[20] There is concern that pigs may allow animal viruses such as influenza or Ebola Reston to infect humans more easily. Some strains of influenza are endemic in pigs (see Swine influenza), and pigs also can acquire human influenza."
From GoVeg.com website:
"Many people who know pigs compare them to dogs because they are friendly, loyal, and intelligent. Pigs are naturally very clean and avoid, if at all possible, soiling their living areas. When given the chance to live away from factory farms, pigs will spend hours playing, lying in the sun, and exploring their surroundings with their powerful sense of smell. Considered smarter than 3-year-old human children, pigs are very clever animals."
That's why I prefer to eat happy, healthy pigs, like Sean Brock's out on Wadmalaw or Emile DeFelice's. They're happy, smart, well-cared for, and ultimately delicious.
Wait. Pigs are smarter than 3-year-old children? Cool. We've got a whole folder full of menus here, and I don't see them in any of them. Rats.
I would hate to think about life without bacon; love it!
I picked up FAT by MgLagan a few months ago and highly recommend it (the first chapter is entitled BUTTER - IT'S WORTH IT). Great recipe's are included as is instructions for making your own lard. Yummy
Stupid article, really behind the curve of dietary knowledge. Of course, leave it to one who actually eats pigs! Oh my.
Haha, actually, momo, you're the one behind the curve of dietary knowledge! The "lipid hypothesis" of the last century is being proven more and more wrong by the study these days. You should read some new books! I recommend "Real Food" by Nina Plank, and also "Fat" by MgLagan :)
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