My cousin’s fiancé has a sign hanging in the kitchen that reads, “I love you more than bacon.” To her, this means a lot, because she really does love bacon that much.

All Americans love it. It is almost un-American to not love bacon. Go to any diner in the United States, and you know bacon will be on the menu.

I know this is ironic coming from a vegetarian, but I was not always a vegetarian, and I did not always deny bacon.

Bacon has an indescribable taste. It just makes everything taste better. It is warm, crispy and perfectly greasy. 

Put it on a burger and it is instantly the ideal burger. Put it into a salad and it becomes a real meal. Wrap other meat in it and it becomes other-worldly.

What is it that makes bacon so good, and why do we love it so much? Is it the fatty goodness? Is it the perfect combination of bacon and eggs in the morning? 

It is so great, that sandwiches are even named after it. The BLT. The Baconator. Or any of the numerous bacon burgers at McDonald’s.

Recently, Jack In The Box created a new bacon burger called the Bacon Insider. It has bacon mixed inside the beef patty, on top of the patty, and bacon mayonnaise on the bun. 

That may sound like a bacon overload, but is there really such a thing? The media loves to sell bacon products and we love to buy them and eat them.

Technically, the brown and white strips of heaven that we are used to only exist in the United States. 

Bacon in other countries is made from different cuts of pork. 

Canadian bacon is round, more lean and cut from the loin. 

British and Irish bacon are also cut from the loin, but leave more fat than Canadian bacon. Some types of British bacon are often called “rashers” which just means slice of meat. 

If other countries do sell the bacon we know and love, they typically call it “American bacon.”

Sure, American bacon may be more fatty, but that is where the flavor comes from. Is health really all that important when bacon is this mouth-watering and finger-licking good? It is not possible to deny a piece of bacon when you can hear it sizzling in the pan. The salty and sweet flavors of the ham overwhelm your taste buds on the first bite.

Bacon, to put it simply, is a perfect food. However, as a vegetarian I’ll be sticking to my tofu bacon, with the occasional day dream of the real thing.