I’ve never eaten a maple-bacon doughnut. But I’d really, really like to.
A maple-bacon doughnut is a pastry with a maple-syrup glaze and a strip of bacon on top. Sounds delicious. And it’s guaranteed to be so.
Why? Because it’s got bacon on it.
It’s seems we’re crazier about bacon than ever before. One can now get chocolate-covered bacon, bacon lollipops, bacon-infused vodka, bacon bubble gum and baconnaise, which is bacon-flavoured mayonnaise. There’s even something called “the Bacon Explosion,” a football-sized chunk of pork sausage and crumbled bacon wrapped in yummy bacon.
The bacon fad has grown in momentum in recent years. Next year, Cary, North Carolina, will host a Beer and Bacon Festival. We can also look forward to the Great Saskatchewan Bacon Festival, the Indiana Bacon Fest, the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival in Des Moines and many other bacon festivals dotting North America.
And now (finally — oh joy!) Victoria has come on board.
In the spring, Chef Morgan Onda and promoter Bill Code are co-producing a one-day event called Baconalooza, a celebration of all things bacon. It happens May 23 at the Velox Rugby Club.
Expect plenty of bacon-y food. For starters, Port Alberni’s Hertel Meats Ltd. is donating 1,000 kilograms of bacon. There will also be locally made bacon ice-cream and a batch of bacon beer made by Vancouver Island Brewery specifically for Baconalooza. There will be more than 20 food vendors. Onda and Code expect 3,000 people will attend (the bacon festival will happen on the grounds of Velox Rugby as well as the clubhouse itself).
The bacon menu has yet to be determined. However, consider these delights that Onda has prepared for private bacon parties he has thrown in the past: cookies made with peanut butter, chocolate chips and bacon, southern fried bacon on a stick, smoked bacon sausage and baconelli rolls (they resemble cinnamon rolls, but are made with cheese and bacon).
Onda also cooked the legendary Bacon Explosion. He described it thusly: “A five by five [slice] bacon weave, delicately wrapped around a forcemeat filling of ground bacon, herbs, spices and flavoured with aromatic peppers and onions, smoked with hickory then finished on the grill.”
Last week, I met up with Baconalooza’s organizers. At one point, Code asked Onda: “Didn’t you debone a turkey and wrap it in bacon once?”
Onda replied: “Yeah. I’ve done that two years running. That’s my Christmas .... Just last night I made some bacon brittle. It’s wonderful.”
The pair pondered this and smiled. These were the smiles of men who love bacon. Indeed Onda, who’s a chef at Beckley Farm Lodge, is a staunch defender of all meat edibles.
On Nov. 22, placard-bearing protesters representing the animal rights organization Direct Action Everywhere held a demonstration at Pig BBQ Joint on Blanshard Street (their motto: “Proudly pulling pork since 2007”).
A few days later, Onda countered with his own protest. He made pro-meat placards, invited meat-loving pals to Pig and bought them lunch. Granted, only two friends showed up. But he made his point: eating meat is A-OK. Especially bacon.
And if Direct Action Everywhere or other anti-meat-eating groups want to protest Baconalooza, it’s fine with Onda.
“Bring ’em on,” he said. “They can come to the front door; they can come to the gate.”
Code added: “What if they knew we had 2,200 lbs. of bacon coming in? I mean, how many pigs slaughtered is that?”
Despite my own deep love of bacon, I had to play the devil’s advocate. Some people say eating bacon isn’t that good for you. What do Baconalooza’s Onda and Code think about that?
The pair acknowledge bacon isn’t exactly a health food. (Well, not unless you’re dying of starvation or something. Then it is.) That’s why the proceeds of several Baconalooza raffles will go to the Heart and Stroke Foundation.
“Everything is fine in moderation,” added Onda. “Don’t be a wiener.”
For information on Baconalooza and to get tickets, see baconalooza.com.