The Bacon Trend is Here to Stay

Noel Barnhurst/AP

I think it’s safe to say that the whole bacon craze is going to stick around whether you like it or not. Five years ago, GrubStreet was one of the first (at the time) to complain about the whole bacon madness. Here we are, years later, still moaning and groaning about our favorite breakfast meat when it shows up in on a plate with scallops or something. It’s time to accept the fact that bacon isn’t just bacon anymore. It’s bacon with _____.  If that concept is hard to grasp, think about people who get hitched. A married woman isn’t just Sally anymore. She becomes a “we.” A pair. A unit.

This has all just been a long introduction to say that the rumors are true. Burger King has added a new bacon sundae to its summer-special menu, and it’s only a whopping 510-calories, which is really nothing compared to those bacon milkshakes from Jack in the Box. The sundae comes with a bacon slice with bacon crumbles on top of fudge, caramel, and vanilla ice cream. People who call themselves foodies might be tempted to stick their noses up in the air at this announcement, but NPR published a really intelligent piece on how the Internet buzz over this trendy meat is shaping the bacon narrative.

“I come not to praise the Burger King bacon sundae, nor to bury it. I come merely to point out that sometimes, the particular flavor of contempt with which you choose to address something is as important as the contempt itself,” writes Linda Holmes.

She makes a good point. Who cares whether the bacon trend is so 2007 or not? What matters is whether or not food tastes good. Trends be darned.