The End Of BaconMania

February 20, 2009 10:14 AM

Imminent death of baconmania predicted.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey (137 comments total)

OH THANK GOD. Enough with the damn bacon already.

Does the me-too portion of the internet now move on to ruin another foodstuff for the rest of us? My prediction: endless Summer of Wacky Ice-Cream.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 10:18 AM on February 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

Coming up next: BRATWURSTMANIA
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:18 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Bacon FPP's by year. Based on.
posted by yeti at 10:20 AM on February 20, 2009 [18 favorites]

"Coming up next: BRATWURSTMANIA"

You know, summer grilling season is nearly upon us - that might be a pretty good idea.

Now, to invent the turwurstenducken.
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 10:20 AM on February 20, 2009

Bacon has jumped the shark.
posted by terranova at 10:21 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I see the rise and fall of the baconmania phenomenon as an object lesson in how easy it is go get people to jump on the bandwagon about an idea, especially when it relates to basic biological drives. Sure, it's all just stunts and bacon-construction this time, but next time it might be about sex with midgets or what have you. Don't think you're immune!
posted by Burhanistan at 10:24 AM on February 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

Is spray cheese hip yet, or did I miss that already?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:26 AM on February 20, 2009 [6 favorites]

Are zombies over now too, hopefully?
posted by josher71 at 10:26 AM on February 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

Oh, goody. The LOLBACON hipsters will find some other meat product to hold up as their Item of Worship (tip: Braunschweiger, dudes, Braunschweiger) while the rest of us who've liked bacon for years, I'm talkin' decades here (seriously, man, I've got the shirt from their first tour) can clean up our lawns and get back to enjoying the stuff as always.

Nurse, is it pills time yet?
posted by Spatch at 10:27 AM on February 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Up next: The Basque!
posted by Ian A.T. at 10:28 AM on February 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

Are you crazy? Baconmania does nothing but go up! Ergo, it will never go down. Buy buy buy!
posted by ND¢ at 10:28 AM on February 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

But Standard & Poor's has been warning for the last 3 quarters now that the baconmania market is unsustainable and a crash is imminent. Is it really wise to ignore the warning signs?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:32 AM on February 20, 2009 [4 favorites]

Münchner Weißwurst is even better than bacon, because it's not just decadent: It contains veal, and is therefore sinful.
posted by dunkadunc at 10:34 AM on February 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

I suspect the bacon addicted among us will continue to post FPPs relentlessly. After all ninjas, pirates and zombies are totally overexposed as memes yet continue to plague us.

While I'm not a member of the cult of bacon, I understand it's appeal (fatty, tasty and totally unhealthy in large quantities). What's going to replace it as the pork product of choice? Pickled Pig's Feet? Pork Rinds? Congressional Appropriations?
posted by vuron at 10:34 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Pork rinds are insanely delicous. Dip them in hot mustard and put on some Family Ties on VHS, and you've got a Friday night right there. Who needs friends?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:36 AM on February 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Move on to pancetta. Flat, round bacon that fits on a bun? What's not to love?
posted by yhbc at 10:38 AM on February 20, 2009

Crap. And I just bought a three pack of bacon salt during the WootOff last night.

Here's to being in the Late Majority! *clinks wine glass made out of bacon*
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 10:40 AM on February 20, 2009

I'm still going to smile at bacon references, but now it will be in an ironic, retro way.
posted by DU at 10:40 AM on February 20, 2009 [14 favorites]

Pork rinds are insanely delicous. Dip them in hot mustard and put on some Family Ties on VHS, and you've got a Friday night right there. Who needs friends?

Courtney Cox?
posted by spinturtle at 10:40 AM on February 20, 2009 [4 favorites]

I was at a restaurant last night and dessert came with bacon brittle. Divine.
posted by rtha at 10:44 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

You can have my bacon when you pry it from my greasy, fat-fingered hands.
posted by sexymofo at 10:44 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Pork rinds are insanely delicous. Dip them in hot mustard and put on some Family Ties on VHS, and you've got a Friday night right there.

Grandpa! Grandpa, you've come back!
posted by Bookhouse at 10:45 AM on February 20, 2009 [6 favorites]

Bacon will rise again like a phoe... like... bacon from the carcass of a pig! Mwuhahahahaha!

I hate internet memes. Bacon was an integral part of my lifestyle long before it hit the internet. Same with zombies.
posted by porpoise at 10:48 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I hope that means there will be more bacon for me.
posted by MtDewd at 10:49 AM on February 20, 2009

I hope sun-dried tomatoes come back to replace bacon.
posted by rmless at 10:50 AM on February 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Quietly, without alerting the media, orders bacon and untainted peanut butter sandwich for lunch
posted by Cranberry at 10:51 AM on February 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

Münchner Weißwurst is even better than bacon

Man, I had the whole Weisswurstfruestueck one morning in Munich, and I gotta tell you, the texture leaves something to be desired.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:53 AM on February 20, 2009

I like bacon. I like zombies. I do not like zombie bacon.
posted by bonehead at 10:53 AM on February 20, 2009

Remember that one guy that was going to eat nothing but bacon for an entire month?
Me either.
posted by Sailormom at 10:55 AM on February 20, 2009

porcini mushrooms, hopefully
posted by a robot made out of meat at 11:00 AM on February 20, 2009

Crap. And I just bought a three pack of bacon salt during the WootOff last night.

That was a poor decision. I say this from experience.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:02 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I was into bacon, zombies, arctic exploration, and pirates long before it was supposed to cool. I will likely continue to enjoy all of them. I was behind the curve with Johnny Cash.

I will be on the cutting edge when "playing with plastic army men" or "collecting ashtrays shaped liked states" becomes a meme.
posted by marxchivist at 11:03 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

chews contenedly on BLT, hops on fixed gear bike, rides off into the memeosphere...
posted by fixedgear at 11:03 AM on February 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

HA hA! Put that in your PBR and drink it, Metafilter HIPSTERS!
posted by orme at 11:03 AM on February 20, 2009

A pig that special you just don't eat all at once.
posted by ElvisJesus at 11:07 AM on February 20, 2009

.
posted by sararah at 11:10 AM on February 20, 2009

I'll be god damned if I'm gonna let Slate determine my level of unnatural obsession with bacon!
posted by Navelgazer at 11:12 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Sailormom - as of last Tuesday, he wasn't yet dead, and he's made it more than half-way now (p.s.: choosing February as the month for any endurance competition is not impressive - you're shorting yourself 2 to 3 days!)

terranova, it looks more like the shark jumped the bacon. Is that some old Russian joke?

Ian A.T., I was rooting for baba yaga. Iron grills, whut?
posted by filthy light thief at 11:14 AM on February 20, 2009

The first time I ate bacon I was five or six.
posted by Dumsnill at 11:15 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Münchner Weißwurst is even better than bacon

Thüringer Bratwurst is where it's at, baby.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:16 AM on February 20, 2009

There's a gourmet roach-coach here in Seattle that features a bacon jam, that disturbingly enough, sounds like it's made like a regular jam.

Boiling down bacon is not right, that's just abusing your meat
posted by nomisxid at 11:16 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

You know what's over? Things being declared 'over'. Meme-, mania- and trend-watching is over. Or maybe it's just fucking boring now that I'm not 25 and think the universe revolves around my generation and it's interests.
posted by tula at 11:16 AM on February 20, 2009

When bacon was becoming a Thing, a good friend of mine, who I guess somebody called "Bacon" for like a week five years before, was suddenly all over it, reminding everyone that his nickname was "Bacon" and that he was Bacon before bacon became the bacon of the interbacon.

He got on the Bacon Boat in a Big Way. He bought T-shirts with bacon on them, both drawn on and actually affixed with safety-pins (dogs loved him). He sought out rare and exotic bacons, bacons shipped in from the very fringes of society. His wrist watch looked like a strip of bacon. Anything that was flavored with bacon, he bought - soda, chocolate, cake, larger pieces of bacon, anything.

It got really bad.

Eventually, we had an intervention. We sat Bacon down and told him that while bacon was a delicious breakfast treat, it was not the Pole Star to guide one's life by. He disagreed and stormed out. This was at the height of the Bacon Wave and he had plenty of other friends, new friends who wouldn't judge him.

I knew the Bacon Wave had crested when I saw him again a few months back. Gone were the baconsessories (bacon-bits?). I asked him what happened to all the bacon and he just shrugged and said, "I was tired of my spit tasting like salt."

And lo, he was cured.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:17 AM on February 20, 2009 [38 favorites]

its, fuck it, sorry mom.
posted by tula at 11:17 AM on February 20, 2009

Thüringer Bratwurst is where it's at, baby.

Said Meatbomb lustily.
posted by dunkadunc at 11:19 AM on February 20, 2009

Figs are the new bacon, man! You'll see men and women making skimpy garments of fig vegetation in the very near future, I think.
posted by Mister_A at 11:23 AM on February 20, 2009

I am hoping the next craze is Nerds Rope. That stuff is delicious!
posted by aubilenon at 11:23 AM on February 20, 2009

And lo, he was cured.

I can't tell if that's a bacon joke or not.
posted by yhbc at 11:27 AM on February 20, 2009 [10 favorites]

That was a long way to go for that one, robocop.
posted by jocelmeow at 11:30 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

does anyone else have an unfettered lust for broccoli?
posted by localhuman at 11:32 AM on February 20, 2009

Does the imminent death of baconmania have anything to do with imminent death of bacon eaters predicted?
posted by buzzv at 11:32 AM on February 20, 2009

Good. I'm tired of all the posers in the bacon scene.

You know why I love bacon? Not because it's hip or because the Internet told me to--I love bacon because it's fucking delicious. I'm fucking sick and tired of these goddamn hipster bacon posers with their fucking bacon watches and bacon websites and bacon cartoons and bacon hats and bacon bras. I just want to grab them by the sholders and shake them and scream "Bacon is for eating you poser fuckwad!"

Maybe now that bacon isn't "cool" we can go back to eating it, as Mother Nature intended.
posted by joedan at 11:33 AM on February 20, 2009 [7 favorites]

That was a long way to go for that one, robocop.

Yeah, the true ones never come out as good. I should have had him get really into peas or something.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 11:35 AM on February 20, 2009

You guys are getting your internet soothsaying from Slate's Big Money? It pains me to say it, but this is incontrovertible proof that Metafilter has humped the shark, mark it on your calendar (and write it down in your copybook).

Bacon will live forever, in infamy.
posted by mullingitover at 11:39 AM on February 20, 2009

You know what goes well with bacon?

PANCAKES.
posted by Samuel Farrow at 11:40 AM on February 20, 2009

I'm fucking sick and tired of these goddamn hipster bacon posers with their fucking bacon watches and bacon websites and bacon cartoons and bacon hats and bacon bras.


I thought you were joking
posted by ElvisJesus at 11:40 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Look dude, Im not gonna just stop liking bacon.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 11:42 AM on February 20, 2009

BACON HAS NO ARBITER.
posted by davelog at 11:44 AM on February 20, 2009

Daddy, tell them the farmers' daughter joke about the salesman tricking the sweet young thang about cooking bacon while shoving his sausage in her churn and the sweet young thang figures she's been had and the tricky salesman shows her the grease running down her leg. Go on daddy..tell the the joke.
posted by doctorschlock at 11:44 AM on February 20, 2009

"...the Bacon Wave had crested..."

You mean this thing?
posted by anthom at 11:46 AM on February 20, 2009

does anyone else have an unfettered lust for broccoli?

I like brussel sprouts... ...with bacon
posted by bonehead at 11:49 AM on February 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

(really, fry the bacon with a few diced shallots/onions then stir in whole sprouts, reduce heat and cover for 15 minutes or so. Deeeeelichious.)
posted by bonehead at 11:53 AM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Clearly, in these troubled times and with the popping of the bacon bubble, America is readly for something substantial, down-to-earth, and economical.

MeFites, this is the time we've been waiting for...

The Golden Age of Pancakes has begun! Get your bunny pictures ready!
posted by markkraft at 11:57 AM on February 20, 2009

The fact that BaconMania occurred at all proves that Jews do not, in fact, control the media.

And this non-bacon-eating Jew looks forward to a day when bacon will not be snuck into every.damn.food.item.

/ rant
posted by charmcityblues at 12:00 PM on February 20, 2009

I hated bacon before you even started liking it.

Not really, I got in trouble when I was 7 for grilling and eating a half kilo of bacon while my parents were asleep a Sunday morning
posted by dirty lies at 12:01 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I know some one who disagrees with this post: Canada.
posted by jimmythefish at 12:04 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I had a beer recently that smelt like bacon.
Schlenkerla Rauchbier if you want to know.
posted by jouke at 12:06 PM on February 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

It's time to move on to Foie Gras. It's tasty, more unhealthy and it really pisses some people off. Oh, and California is banning it.
posted by ob at 12:08 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Boiling down bacon is not right, that's just abusing your meat

This is the internet. Abusing our meat is what got us this far, and we're not going to stop now.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 12:10 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Move on to pancetta. Flat, round bacon that fits on a bun? What's not to love?

Pancetta? In this economy? It's time for a cheaper meat product to obsess over, like Spam or Vienna sausages.

Did I seriously just refer to Vienna sausages as meat?!?
posted by thisjax at 12:13 PM on February 20, 2009

Bacon is delicious, and the the ebb and flow of internet trends will not change that.
posted by everichon at 12:21 PM on February 20, 2009

You know what's over? Things being declared 'over'. Meme-, mania- and trend-watching is over. Or maybe it's just fucking boring now that I'm not 25 and think the universe revolves around my generation and it's interests.

You know what's really over? People who are old and out of touch having a hate-on for people who are young and enjoying themselves.

Also, zombies.
posted by marginaliana at 12:22 PM on February 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Coming up next: BRATWURSTMANIA

Nah, the wurst is behind us.
posted by BrotherCaine at 12:30 PM on February 20, 2009 [10 favorites]

sexymofo: "You can have my bacon when you pry it from my greasy, fat-fingered hands."

Sure! Right after your massive coronary, it'll be like taking... well, bacon from a corpse.
posted by symbioid at 12:32 PM on February 20, 2009

That whole zeppelin meme didn't last very long did it? But god-DAMN those zombies. They just won't fuckin' die!
posted by symbioid at 12:33 PM on February 20, 2009

HAY IS THIS WHERE WE TALK ABOUT PANCAKES?

Let me tell you something I like to put in my pancakes...that's right, you guessed it:
FUCKING--
APPLES.

Then I put honey and maybe a little cheese on them. Pan. Fucking. Cakes. For dinner. Literally, anytime.

PANCAKES.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:35 PM on February 20, 2009

Bacon may be out of style, but eating too much fat never will!
posted by The Devil Tesla at 12:41 PM on February 20, 2009

My perfect meal? Bacon-wrapped ortolan.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:49 PM on February 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

Bacon may be out of style, but eating too much fat pie floaters never will!
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:49 PM on February 20, 2009

It took me about 6 or 7 comments to get this joke. Subsequently laughing my ass off proves one or more of the following:

1 - It's Friday and my brain is pretty much cooked
2 - I love bacon and bacon-related ephemera
3 - I'm not very bright

Solution is left to the reader.
posted by ZakDaddy at 12:49 PM on February 20, 2009

I like brussel sprouts... ...with bacon

What I've been doing lately is I take like 12 ounces of bacon, chop it into bits, then fry it down 'til it's crispy. Then I add like half a cup to a cup of chopped walnuts, toss, and reserve the grease.

So then I take like two pounds of brussel sprouts, cut 'em in half so that they're little domes, and toss them in the bacony nutty grease. I spread them on a baking sheet, flat-sides down, and put the bacon/nut mixture on top, then drizzle over any grease I've got left. Some freshly-ground black pepper and coase salt on top, then it goes into the oven for like a half-hour at 350.

Then I take it out of the oven and let it cool and then I eat it. And then my roommate's like, "You're making that again? Aren't you sick of it yet?" And then I go, "No."
posted by Greg Nog at 12:50 PM on February 20, 2009 [9 favorites]

It's time for a cheaper meat product to obsess over, like Spam or Vienna sausages.

Vienna sausages is a good one, but I believe I've got the superior solution: potted meat food product.

Yesssss. You know it.
posted by aramaic at 12:58 PM on February 20, 2009 [2 favorites]

NOOOOOOO! we haven't had a gratuitous bacon metal trend yet!
posted by krautland at 1:02 PM on February 20, 2009

SCRAPPLE BITCHES!!!
posted by Mister_A at 1:03 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Bacon is dead? Long live bacon!
Preferably applewood smoked, peppered.

But I'll take pomegranate as a next hip trend, particularly when there's fantastic pomegranate ice cream bars covered in dark chocolate. Heaven. But I can only find a link to pomegranate chip ice cream.

Oh... and freeze-dried berries. Freeze-dried strawberries are the fun of astronaut ice cream without the guilt.
posted by sadiehawkinstein at 1:05 PM on February 20, 2009

mbd1mbd1 toasted Here's to being in the Late Majority! *clinks wine glass made out of bacon*

Cheers

I've been hosting sausage parties at my place....no, smartass...we have meat grinders, back fat and casings, I teach everyone to make their own sausage. Crazy delicious combos, fresh sausage makes even good Italian deli sausage seem like cheap hotdogs.

I just dream of attending dinner partes with everyone drooling over thinly-sliced, cured and herbed back fat. Oh God, let the next trend be lardo, please, please, please.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:08 PM on February 20, 2009

I'm jumping on the next Breakfast Food Mania early!

"W is for the many ways that you're served

A is for the admiration you deserve

F because you're fluffy, you're flaky, you're fun!

And F is for the flavor that is second ta none!

L is for how light you are, you melt in my mouth!

E is for eggs--Oh Baby!

Put 'em all together with a how-do-ya-do
Lovely waffles we love--
Send me up another please!
Oh, waffles we love--
Top mine off with runny cheese!
Waffles we love--
Chili waffles suit me fine!
Waffles we love--
Wash me down with Aunt Jemima?

Waaaaaaaffffles, wee love youuuu! "
posted by The Whelk at 1:08 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I will however settle for everyone throwing out the olive oil and cooking everything in duck fat from here on out.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 1:10 PM on February 20, 2009

≈≈≈≈≈≈
≈≈≈≈≈≈


.
posted by Bokononist at 1:16 PM on February 20, 2009 [3 favorites]

>> It's time for a cheaper meat product to obsess over, like Spam or Vienna sausages.

Ahoy!
posted by davelog at 1:16 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Don't think you're immune!

Man I'm so out of touch I didn't even know it was a bacon mem, I just thought it was a support group for people who really liked fried pig flesh. I don't get caught up in anything anymore, I guess I'm just getting old.
posted by nola at 1:18 PM on February 20, 2009

Jesus fuck, it's never really over, is it? Even after the cynical profiteers glom on to it, and Wired says it's played out, we'll still have to wait a little longer for Joe Average to figure it out, like Rick Astley in the parade. And then it'll still be a while before it makes its way to the irony-impaired squares, like Chuck Norris in Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign. And then Time says it's played out. This is right about the time that the contrarians start picking up on it.
posted by box at 1:27 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Any open source alternatives to bacon out yet? I'm on Windows.

Oops, wrong thread.
posted by ALongDecember at 1:31 PM on February 20, 2009

Taylor Pork Roll. Burlap wrapped goodness.
posted by fixedgear at 1:35 PM on February 20, 2009

Oh no! Should I halt coding on my "Zombie Ninja Pirate Bacon Chuck Norris FTW" facebook app?
posted by drjimmy11 at 1:36 PM on February 20, 2009

MiltonRK, my husband and some friends have recently embarked upon the charcutero-mania (which is obviously the Next Big Meat Trend) and made Italian sausage this past weekend. and bacon. oh yum.

and lardo, yes, lardo. a thing I would never have thought I would eat much less love. thank you Italy you evil pit of deliciousness!!

Whelk: hell yeahz. pancakes are fine and dandy but what really gets my motor running is the high holy perfection that is WAFFLES.

now let's stop this. I think I've gained weight just reading this thread...
posted by supermedusa at 1:40 PM on February 20, 2009

But I'll take pomegranate as a next hip trend,

Dude, you get get, like, pomegranate slushies at convenience stores in West Virginia now.
posted by longsleeves at 1:50 PM on February 20, 2009

supermedusa, I'm guessing your husband got Michael Ruhlman's book too. It changed my life, now all my friends are going in to buy a professional smoker.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 2:12 PM on February 20, 2009

MiltonRK, I almost think I must know you. not only does mr supermedusa have that book, so do several of the other 'meat-makers', not to mention the grinders, smokers etc., we had a dinner party last weekend during which they prepped and processed something like 20lb of pig parts!
posted by supermedusa at 2:15 PM on February 20, 2009

The whole bacon mania thing shows that the 'new media' for all the silly hubris and hype does the same thing as the 'old media.' That is: take an amusing idea and beat it to death. The only difference is that instead of a few suits out to make a buck, now it's done by a billion-head herd of geek who all think they're being original or quirky or some such bullshit. Not a revolution. Not even an improvement, really.
posted by jonmc at 2:17 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

For once I feel badly about not having been to a sausage party.
posted by Mister_A at 2:22 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I don't get caught up in anything anymore, I guess I'm just getting old.

No, you're getting smart, Maybe you always were, Fads are for children and morons, and memes are nothing for fads for people who like to think they're too smart for fads.
posted by jonmc at 2:24 PM on February 20, 2009

You know who else didn't like bacon?
posted by the bricabrac man at 2:27 PM on February 20, 2009

True story: my wife teaches assorted arts programs in schools here in NYC and last year she taught a cooking workshop (which I guess qualifies as art) to 3rd graders in Queens. She spent a lot of time coming up with what she thought would be kid-friendly recipes: ice cream, popcorn and so on.

So she shows up for the very first class and as she's explaining all the fun stuff they'll be doing in the weeks to come, a student raises his hand to ask, "Will we be doing anything with carrots?"

At that the entire room exploded with excitement. It turns out that somehow, this third grade class had become obsessed with carrots. They couldn't get enough of them. So my wife reworked a few lesson plans to incorporate some carrots, to these kids' delight.

As the end of the workshop drew near, the kids' regular teacher announced that there would be a going-away party for my wife during the last class. She said that there would be ice cream for everyone. But again, some kid asked, "Will there be carrots?" The teacher said they couldn't have both ice cream and carrots, so they would have to put it to a vote.

The following week the going-away party for my wife was celebrated by 20 third graders munching away on carrots.

In about five years or so these kids will be on the web, creating the memes of tomorrow.

You've been warned.
posted by turaho at 2:29 PM on February 20, 2009 [21 favorites]

You know who else didn't like bacon?

Meir Kahane?
posted by jonmc at 2:30 PM on February 20, 2009

does anyone else have an unfettered lust for broccoli?

Yes.
posted by pracowity at 2:36 PM on February 20, 2009

Most Sunday mornings my wife and I go to a little hole-in-the-wall breakfast place in Calgary. They have french toast stuffed full of bacon and swiss cheese. The top is sprinkled with green onions. There are chunk-style home fries on the side. I pour maple syrup all over it and try to get french toast, green onion, cheese, bacon and potato in each bite. It is really delicious and it has fuck all to do with the internet.
posted by jimmythefish at 2:54 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

I have a modest proposal... DUTCH BABIES!
posted by BrotherCaine at 2:59 PM on February 20, 2009

My kids would live on dutch babies alone if they were allowed to do so.
posted by GuyZero at 3:00 PM on February 20, 2009

Grilled cheese is the new bacon: http://www.grilledcheeseinvitational.com/
posted by ...possums at 3:02 PM on February 20, 2009

Good riddance. This meme was lame before, during, and after its popularity.
posted by wastelands at 3:26 PM on February 20, 2009

Metafilter: a billion-head herd of geek who all think they're being original or quirky or some such bullshit.™
posted by lattiboy at 3:29 PM on February 20, 2009

Figures. I just started getting into bacon, and not it's all uncool.
posted by jabberjaw at 3:32 PM on February 20, 2009

All your bacon belong to us overlords! There. Three expired memes in one!
posted by kozad at 3:39 PM on February 20, 2009

Jesus fuck, it's never really over, is it? Even after the cynical profiteers glom on to it, and Wired says it's played out, we'll still have to wait a little longer for Joe Average to figure it out, like Rick Astley in the parade. And then it'll still be a while before it makes its way to the irony-impaired squares, like Chuck Norris in Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign. And then Time says it's played out. This is right about the time that the contrarians start picking up on it.

This is pretty spot-on. I remember when "rickrolling" didn't even have a name yet - it was the act of singing "Never Gonna Give You Up" in the main of a chatroom, line by line, until the entire room was frothing with rage and you were kick-banned.

But in a way this reminds me of the complaints people have made about 4chan. "It used to be good until it started getting mainstream exposure, and now every college freshman who's browsed Encyclopedia Dramatica for a couple of days comes to 4chan spouting memes and acting stupid." Yeah, well, that's what happens when things are fun - word travels. Other people learn about it and want to have fun, too. Your special sooper seekrit club/meme is now mainstream, oh well.

What's really asanine are the memes that were asanine to begin with, like pirates. I mean really.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 3:43 PM on February 20, 2009 [1 favorite]

Bacon has jumped the shark.

You're a naughty one.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:59 PM on February 20, 2009

does anyone else have an unfettered lust for broccoli?

I do!
posted by heathkit at 4:19 PM on February 20, 2009

...possums, be sure to stop by the Nor Cal Grilled Cheese Invitational tomorrow. I'm the volunteer coordinator, say hi.
posted by MiltonRandKalman at 4:23 PM on February 20, 2009

I'm starting to think the whole thing of jumping the shark has jumped the shark.
posted by edd at 4:26 PM on February 20, 2009

The Whelk won this thread with an epic MST3K reference.
posted by vanadium at 4:26 PM on February 20, 2009

...Shoot, pasta carbonara is one of my fallback "I'm feeling broke and deprived and I want to feel like I'm eating well on next to no money" meals, and I'm sticking with it, dammit.

I've also just signed up for a bacon cookoff in New York next month and think I have a good idea, okay?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:28 PM on February 20, 2009

oh man! I wish I'd known about the grilledcheeseinvitational sooner!! I have plans tomorrow that preclude my going into SF in the afternoon :(

I was born to be a grilled cheese judge! In fact, if I had to choose between bacon and grilled cheese, the sammich would win every time!

MiltonRK, please have some grilled cheese deliciousness for me!!!
posted by supermedusa at 4:58 PM on February 20, 2009

Oolong is dead. Long live Oolong.
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 6:53 PM on February 20, 2009

I didn't need a fucking blog to clue me in to the fact that bacon tastes good, and I don't give a fuck if bacon's internet popularity is waning. If you care about these things, I hope your bacon tastes less delicious than it did when it had more hits on the goog.
posted by solipsophistocracy at 10:03 PM on February 20, 2009

lettuce and tomato...overrated.
posted by artdrectr at 11:17 PM on February 20, 2009

Baconmania-hating-on will soon become the new baconmania to hate on.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 12:12 AM on February 21, 2009

I didn't need a fucking blog to clue me in to the fact that bacon tastes good, and I don't give a fuck if bacon's internet popularity is waning. If you care about these things, I hope your bacon tastes less delicious than it did when it had more hits on the goog.

That's a very passionate expression of apathy.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:55 AM on February 21, 2009

125 comments and nobody's mentioned Kevin?!?

I got over bacon a little over 2 years ago after I was quite amused to come in second in a bacon-oriented FARK Photoshop contest with this 3-minute graphic underachievement. (First place by a mile was a questionable depiction of Kevin Bacon with Donald Rumsfeld.)

I am in full support of BroccoliMania as The Next Best Thing, living in a county where broccoli is the #3 agricultural product behind beef cattle and wine grapes (well, probably #4, ifyouknowwhatImean). Also, one of my favorite webcomic characters is a broccoli. Besides, bacon bits on broccoli florets? Best Of Both Worlds (#3 in the aformentioned contest).
posted by wendell at 1:14 AM on February 21, 2009

Pshaw. Go ahead, hipsters, abandon the noble bacon strip. It's not been a year and you people are bored already. Must be time for the next irony.

But as far as I'm concerned, good riddance. I hate hipsters. I and I looooove bacon.

/munches on bacon
posted by zardoz at 2:08 AM on February 21, 2009

Pork, and bacon as well, has been the staple meat for western-europe. And middle-europe. And the south as well come to think of it. It's been like that for millennia.
And it will stay that way.
posted by jouke at 10:35 AM on February 21, 2009

The teacher said they couldn't have both ice cream and carrots,

This is clearly a teacher who doesn't watch "Iron Chef America", where they've proven you can make ice cream out of anything.

Mm, carrot ice cream.
posted by scrump at 12:09 PM on February 21, 2009

I have a modest proposal... DUTCH BABIES!

Where I come from, this is called Yorkshire Pudding. Well, ok, with sugar added.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 3:30 AM on February 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

From reading this thread, I'm pretty sure that the next meme is not broccoli, but brussels sprouts, leading me to ask, Are they Brussels sprouts or brussel sprouts?
posted by theora55 at 1:38 PM on February 22, 2009

Are they Brussels sprouts or brussel sprouts?

I'm pretty sure the scientific name is microcabbagus vomitus. Look it up if you don't believe me.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 2:07 PM on February 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

It's a shame that people in the west don't recognise the dessert potential of carrots, because they're naturally sweet & lend themselves easily to that kind of application.

As an example, there's a tasty Indian & Pakistani sweet called gajjar-ka-halwa (carrot halva) which is made by boiling down milk, sugar, shredded carrot & maybe some spices like cinnamon & cardamom. A hot scoop of this in a bowl made from dry leaves, with a tumbler of garam dudh (sweet, hot milk) from a streetstall is a perfect way of staving off the cold of a North Indian winter night.

And Prussian sprouts (which is what we call them down under) are perfectly tasty if you notch them with a knife at the stem end & boil them up in vegetable stock, before rolling them in melted butter & serving them on a bed of bacon.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:10 PM on February 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

I've used carrots as a substitute for sweet potatoes in my sweet potato pie recipe, and they work just fine. You just need to dice them finer than sweet potatoes before boiling, because while carrots are softer, they're also stringier.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 4:00 PM on February 22, 2009

There's always carrot cake, which is quite tasty (although cardamom + carrot is an awesome combo). Thanks to DNAB, I now know about the awesome toad in the hole, yorkshire pudding with sausage, which I'm going to cook up sometime this week.

As for prussian/brussel sprouts, boiling them is the worst way to cook them. They need to be roasted or pan fried, preferably in bacon grease, and to the point of slightly charring.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:19 PM on February 22, 2009