After recently reading about an artist who created multi-colored bacon in the New York Daily News, I made a discovery that changed my life: There’s a website called BaconToday.com, which offers “Daily Updates on the World of Sweet, Sweet Bacon.” There you can find sweet treats, like maple bacon ice cream, or read about a bacon marriage proposal. Think no one’s dumb enough to get a bacon tattoo? You’re wrong, and BaconToday.com has the photo. Or buy the Bacon Freak cookbook (subtitle: “Bacon is Meat Candy”). And when the rest of the media is stuck on the goings on at BP and in Afghanistan, only BaconToday.com will give you the story that San Francisco is trying to make Mondays meatless. Oh, the horror.
In today’s world of soy-latte-macrobiotic-vegetarian political correctness, it’s refreshing to see there’s someone out there who isn’t afraid to celebrate the salty, fatty, meaty goodness of bacon with childlike wonder. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m partial to eating things that once had parents…and I do so almost exclusively. So I sent out a tweet imploring the man behind Bacon Today to get in touch with me…he didn’t, but I hunted him down online, as I’m wont to do. Here’s my sweet, sweet bacony interview with James Loosbrock, the man, the myth, the bacon legend, who thinks bacon might actually save the world. Do I smell a Pulitzer? No wait, that’s just bacon.
S.E. CUPP: What led you to start a website celebrating all things bacon? You got a beef against pigs or something? Is this a pig jihad?
James Loosbrock: One word: it’s bacon. Is there any other word that you can think of that gets you salivating?
SE: I’m digging those bacon-scented candles. What’s the craziest bacon-byproduct you’ve ever come across?
JL: Bacon-flavored Coke.
SE: Amazing. So do you have a “real job” or is running BaconToday.com actually how you, well, bring home the bacon?
JL: I do have a real job and it involves bacon, wine and gourmet foods…or, as I like to say, “Swine and Wine.” I run BaconFreak.com, CVWine.com, GourmetFoodClubs.com and Bacn.com.
SE: Wow, you’re really into it. So did you go to school for baconology or something?
JL: Yes. As a baconprenuer, I have studied baconism. Well, it’s more of a philosophy than something you study.
SE: Okay, let’s get serious. Is “Bacon Today” satire? Are you parodying “Psychology Today” or “Parenting Today” or is there a serious component to this?
JL: I never really looked at it like that. BaconToday.com started off as a joke around the office cooler, and the next day the site was born. It quickly became the leading site for bacon-related news.
SE: That’s hilarious. So have you been to Spain or Brazil, generally considered two of the pork-product capitals of the world?
JL: Haven’t been.
SE: Does bacon ever enter your sexual fantasies?
JL: Yes, I’m like George Costanza, on Seinfield…you know when he brings a sandwich into the bedroom during sex? Well, isn’t a BLT in bed everyone’s fantasy?
SE: Ever been hog hunting?
JL: No, that’s mean.
SE: Well, then how do you prefer a pig end up on your plate?
JL: I don’t hunt because I wouldn’t want to be shot. But animals are made to be eaten.
SE: Okay, that presents a bit of a conundrum, but we’ll move on. Are you married? Kids? If so, does your family share your dedication to celebrating the “world of sweet, sweet bacon”?
JL: Yes, I’m married with two kids. And they are true Bacon Freaks.
SE: Do you ever get any blowback from Jewish or Muslim organizations who think your bacon worship is offensive, considering some Jews and Muslims do not eat pork?
JL: Not really, but we do get a lot of “Mazel Tov!” emails. Secretly, I think Jewish folks love bacon.
SE: Well who wouldn’t? Do you get offended when someone derides “pork-barrel spending”?
JL: No, not unless they’re calling me a pig.
SE: Do you eat bacon every day and, if so, can that be good for you?
JL: I eat it almost every day. Even Dr. Oz said that bacon is good for you in moderation.
SE: Have you thought of a Sausage Today off-shoot or a Pork Chop Today companion site? Or is it all about the bacon?
JL: Just bacon. I love sausage, but bacon is in a whole other league.
SE: Yes, I love sausage as well. But let me get one thing straight: You don’t think that bacon will save the world or anything, right? I mean, are you saying we should look to bacon for alternate energy sources, to stop world hunger or global warming? Or do you just think it tastes super-terrific?
JL: Well, bacon could save the world. If men could share a BLT like women share makeup, I think we might have a few less worries.
SE: Fantastic. I will join you in this fight. We might run into a slight snag using bacon to bring peace to the Middle East, but otherwise, I am totally on board.
S.E. Cupp is author of the brand-spanking-new book “Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity.” She is also co-author of “Why You’re Wrong About The Right,” and a columnist for the New York Daily News and a regular guest on “Hannity,” “Larry King Live,” “Fox & Friends,” “Geraldo,” “Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld,” and others.
