According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it takes two 12-gram slices to make a single serving of bacon. That serving has 100 calories, eight grams of fat and, like all pork products, a monster amount of sodium—in this case, 370 milligrams.
In 2002, the Harvard School of Public Health published research showing that men who ate a lot of processed meat—like bacon—faced a “substantially greater” risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes. Two years later, a separate, nine-year study showed women who ate more than two servings of bacon each week had a 17 percent greater risk of getting Diabetes than those who didn’t.
People have been eating bacon—thinly sliced and salt-cured pig sides—since the Romans, who browned it and served it with wine and pepper sauce. The word itself is probably Germanic, referring to the “back” of an animal.
Throughout Europe and especially England in the 18th century, bacon was enormously popular, mostly because it was the cheapest pork product around. It was these English villagers who first began adding a few bacon strips to their egg breakfasts, rather than simply eating bacon with pease, as was the medieval fashion.
Practically everyone sells bacon these days. Moose McGillycuddy’s sells a really good, really cheap early morning bacon and egg breakfast. Mark Ellman’s Mala places a couple strips of sweet, delicious applewood bacon on its extravagant hamburger.
Those who want excellent, outstanding, incredible bacon tend to go to Longhi’s. It’s quite expensive but its fragrance, texture and girth are worth the price.
Moose McGillycuddy’s, 844 Front St., Lahaina, 667-7758; Mala, 1307 Front St., Lahaina, 667-9394; Longhi’s, 3750 Wailea Alanui Dr., 891-8883 and 888 Front St., Lahaina, 667-2288. (Anthony Pignataro)
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