Bacon Barter

They have finally done it.  Driving across country with no money and no credit cards. Josh Sankey is freeloading his way across the US armed with nothing more than a truckload of bacon.

Oscar Mayer supplied enough bricks of Butcher Thick Cut Bacon fill his refrigerated truck.

Sankey is literally hauling a trailer full of 3,000 pounds of bacon from New York to L.A., going coast to coast with zero cash, cards, or checks. He is relying only on the goodness of Americans and the goodness of bacon. He offers bacon to finagle whatever he wants from whomever he wants and so far it's working.

Sankey kicked off the cross-country adventure at the Jets' opener, crashing the tailgate party with a red wagon load of bacon. His goal was to get tickets to the game by trading bacon. He stacked his odds with Camille Burford, host of The Movie Show. They scored two seats. He went on to Maryland, and is now through Charleston. I imagine when he needs a snack, he just throws a few rashers on the engine block to heat them up.

Eleven Bacon Facts

Americans consume an average of 18 pounds of bacon per year.
BLT became popular after WWII when lettuce and tomatoes became available in stores all year.
Oscar Mayer patented packages sliced bacon in 1924.
Over $2 billion of packaged,sliced bacon is consumed each year. 
Guanciale is an Italian specialty bacon made from pigs cheeks.
A single serving of bacon is considered three medium slices and it has only 100 calories.
90.4% of the Brits have bacon in their homes.
In USA bacon is eaten 70% breakfast, 11% lunch, 17% dinner, and 2% snack.
A side of unsliced bacon was once known as a flitch, but now is known as a slab.
An individual slice of bacon is a slice or strip.
The term rasher of bacon is occasionally found on restaurant menus and means a serving, typically several slices.

Bologna Festival

This year it will be held next week, July 29-31 in Yale, Michigan and twenty thousand people are expected to join the fun. Yale bologna is said to be some of the best in the world. It is bit more course and strongly seasoned than Oscar Mayer slices. This bologna has been rumored to help people live to be 120 years old and I will let you know when I reach it. Every year, well over a thousand pounds of bologna are served either fried in sandwiches, stuck between a bun as a hot dog or placed on a stick for quick consumption. Bologna is  also great barbecued.

The Bologna Queen crown is quite prestigious in Yale. Contestants must declare their intention to run up to six weeks in advance and be willing to raise tens of thousands of dollars for charity. The lucky lady who captures this title receives a crown of ring bologna and a King for her arm. Of course, there is also the outhouse race where people build interesting 'houses' on wheels to push around town as fast as they can. They must include a Sears catalog and somebody riding inside. Mmmm, wish I was there, ring bologna is one of my favorites. Yes, bologna is the proper spelling even though most pronounce it baloney.

Best Hot Dogs

Hot dogs are a staple for summer holidays and July fourth is no different. There is a web site that has posted what it says are the 20 best hot dogs. LINK Interesting to note that all 20 were packaged dogs. All but a few were beef dogs and most had the casing which produced a crunch when bitten into. Winner was Hebrew National Reduced Fat Beef Franks and the runner up was Nathan's Kosher Premium Beef Franks. Not surprising, Oscar Mayer had seven contenders in the running.

Personally, I find meat market hand made dogs to be ultimately more tasty and flavorful. Also, a bit of pork thrown in adds to the flavor and diversity of taste. The person that thought of adding turkey to hot dogs is just as bad as the person that first added non meat fillers to hot dogs. Blasphemy!

Food from the Eighties

1980 - Jell-O pudding pops
1981 - Newman's Own Oil and Vinegar Salad Dressing, Yukon Gold Potatoes, Tofutti (soybean curd frozen dessert)
1985 - Classic Coke, Hamburger Helper Taco Bake Dinner & Tuna Helper Tetrazzini (General Mills)
1986 - Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn
1987 - Oscar Mayer Bun-Length hot dogs, Snapple
1988 - Boboli Pizza...prefab crusts/make your own pizza, Hershey Kisses with almonds
1989 - Fresh Express "salad in a bag," Healthy Choice (frozen dinners)