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There's one tried and true Iowa
ingredient that has such a huge
following and evokes such
passion that it merits its own
day long celebration.
Bacon!
Bacon!
Bacon!
Bacon!
At the Varied Industries
Building on the Iowa State
Fairgrounds, a same old, same
old Saturday transforms into
something extraordinary, an
all-out tribute to all things
bacon.
Bacon!
We love it, man.
You've got to love it.
Brooks Reynolds: We probably
have about 5,000 pounds of just
strips of bacon and then
probably about 2,000 pounds of
bacon that is incorporated into
the various food items we have
here today.
So we have about three and a
half tons of bacon that will be
consumed today.
Reynolds: We basically have 10
different bacons, 23 different
bacon menu items, bacon
lectures, a bacon queen, a bacon
bloody Mary, bacon wrapped
jalapeƱos from Bacon Wrapped Des
Moines, bacon pizza from
Gusto's, bacon explosions, bacon
cupcakes, bacon cheesecakes,
bacon gelato, bacon popcorn,
pretty much any kind of thing
you can think with bacon we
pretty much have it here.
The food and the fun at the Blue
Ribbon Bacon Festival has gained
an exponentially growing
reputation and therefore the
festival has expanded in size
over its relatively short
existence.
What started as a small group of
friends gathering in Spirit
Lake, Iowa for a weekend of
bacon revelry has more than
doubled in size each year since
the annual festival began in
2008.
4,000 tickets sold out online in
25 minutes in 2012.
And 8,000 tickets for the 2013
festival sold out online in just
over three minutes.
Bacon, a versatile Iowa
ingredient, appears to have a
loyal following.
Marshall Porter: I can
confidently say that bacon is
the most important ingredient
made in Iowa today.
There's nothing like it.
I mean, bacon is the food that
brings vegetarians back to meat.
It is the crossover meat.
It's bacon me crazy!
While festival organizers
clearly enjoy their jobs as
bacon ambassadors, these guys
have some solid bacon knowledge
too.
Reynolds: In 2007 we did a class
at Living History Farms called
All About Bacon and the
professor of Bacon, Leo Landis,
taught us and educated us on
various bacons from throughout
the state and we got our All
About Bacon diplomas.
Porter: There are definitely
different types of bacon.
I mean, we're talking about how
it is smoked is one important
thing.
What kind of wood are they
using?
Hard wood?
Or is it flavored?
Is it not smoked?
How is it cured?
Is it dry cured?
Wet cured?
And then you get down to the
basics is what kind of hog is
this bacon coming from?
Is it a Duroc?
Is it a Berkshire?
What kind of hog are you looking
at?
What's the marbling?
There's a whole lot of different
aspects to bacon.
The flavor profile depends on --
not only that but what was this
thing fed?
What was this pig fed?
That is really important to
consider as well.
The bacon lovers lining up for
bacon inspired delights here may
or may not realize the many
facets of this Iowa ingredient
and that seven of the ten bacons
served here today are from Iowa.
Reynolds: There's maple bacon,
applewood smoked bacon, double
smoked bacon, pecan bacon,
hickory bacon, jalapeƱo bacon.
There's so many different kinds
of bacon it's just too many to
name.
We're having trouble keeping up
today.
We're grilling 500 at a time and
they're gone in about 30
seconds.
So we need a few minutes to
catch back up.
There's one thing festival goers
can all recognize.
Bacon gets people excited.
Porter: When it comes down to it
I think that bacon is, it's a
comfort food.
It's something we grow up with.
Makes us feel good on Sundays.
We don't cook bacon all the
time.
I mean, it's part of a well
bacon, a well-balanced bacon
diet.
But my children once a week on
bacon day man you should see
their smiles.
They'll remember it their whole
life and I think whenever they
hear bacon frying and smell the
aroma it's going to take them
back to the good old days at
home while they're eating a
little bacon.