Forget about the Mayan calendar. The real crisis looming this year is a potential shortage of bacon.
Earlier this week, the National Pig Association in Great Britain announced that "a world shortage of pork and bacon is now unavoidable." The news that a drought-driven feed shortfall is leading to smaller herds and higher prices had the Internet and phone lines sizzling all week.
"I was talking online last night with a lot of farmers from the U.S. to the U.K. to New Zealand," said Ben Boenisch, meat manager at St. Paul's venerable Widmer's Super Market. The verdict: "Prices are gonna go really high ... just before the holidays or maybe next spring."
Over the past five years bacon has become an object of outsized ardor among millions of foodies nationally. It has gone way beyond being a breakfast favorite: Pork belly is a staple on countless local restaurant menus, and retail outlets offer up bacon-infused items ranging from vodka and popcorn to ice cream, perfume and dental floss.
"Bacon seems to be one of those trends that just keeps on being trendy," said chef Beth Fisher, whose Wise Acre restaurant in Minneapolis makes its own bacon from its owners' farm and uses it in countless guises. "It helps that it tastes so good in just about anything you put it in."
Being not-so-good for our health seems to matter little. In fact, Fisher calls it "the perfect 'naughty' treat -- with just a little bacon you get the powerful flavor of sweet, salty, smoky, earthy and meaty all over your palate. You don't need much bacon in any dish to enjoy the flavorful effects it lends to the final product."
That has helped create a cult following, with a primal food enhanced by modern technology.
"I think the Internet has a lot to do with" the bacon craze, Boenisch said. "People can get all sorts of recipes. It's mostly people 30 to 50. They're really learning how to cook, have got a little more money, want to be hip and have fun."
