BaconCamp - The Internet Bacon Meme in 60 Seconds from Bac'n.com on Vimeo.

Saturday morning I awoke anticipating a day of cleaning/unpacking/other such boring post Utah trip responsibilities. I was decidedly unstoked. Luckily, a quick check of the old inbox changed all that. A loyal Feats of Meat operative had emailed to notify me that BACON CAMP was going down that very afternoon. Obviously, boring time would need to be postponed for another day.

Bacon Camp was held in one of those wide open offices that are so popular with the tech type companies (some sources informed me that we were in the yahoo offices, but I can't and WON'T confirm that, as I prefer to keep my position as someone very much not in the know), which seemed sort of perfect. The first thing that struck me was how many people were there:



There were signs posted here and there that said "Bacon 2.0," and the whole thing seemed almost to be celebrating the bacon meme as much as bacon itself. Mostly, it made me realize how much bacon has blown up lately (as the above video and a high percentage of the posts on this site illustrate). It couldn't have happened to a finer product, but it still struck me a sort of surreal.

Anyway, the "camp" consisted of contestants/bacon enthusiasts coming up one by one to present their bacon creation. They would give a short introduction, and then judges would taste and rate the creation. And then, most importantly, they would deposit this remains of the creation on this table:



The contents of this table were ever changing, and I couldn't sample everything, but here's what I did:

Bacon infused bourbon (just ok)
Chocolate covered bacon (ok)
Chocolate and Civet coffee bean covered bacon (WAY better)
Bacon and blue cheese dip (very good)
Bacon lollipops (not so good)
Some sort of chicken/bacon/alfredo thing (probably would have been good warm)
Bacon pecan pie (disturbing)
Bacon wrapped dates (delicious, standard!)
Bacon wrapped peanut butter (better than it sounds, but the shock of finding peanut butter when I expected date threw me off a bit)
Bacon cupcakes (surprisingly good)

In addition to edible works, there were some beautiful, but inedible works of bacon, and I even managed to get pictures of some of these:









I'm sad that this last picture didn't come out better, because this bacon mobius cube what-have-you was a sight to be seen. I did, however, manage to spill beer all over myself while taking this picture. WORTH IT!

I was unable to last through the 4 hour marathon of Bacon Camp (that's right sports fans, I actually got tired of bacon!), so after a couple hours of tasting all I could I was forced to bid Bacon Camp adieu. So it is only with the caveat that I offer up my votes for the two best bacon creations of the night (both of which, ironically, didn't seem to be entered in the competition, but just offered up by generous attendees):

1. The Bacon Old Fashioned - Bacon Infused Jim Beam and Maple Syrup, served in a glass rimmed with bacon salt. This was actually really good, and the flavors all complemented one another really well.

2. Chicken Fried Bacon with Sausage Gravy Dipping Sauce (my heart jumped just typing that!):


This was some of the best chicken fried bacon I've had (I also can't believe I'm able to type that sentence). Nice and crispy and tasty, and complemented amazingly well by the sausage gravy.

So there you have it. That was my Saturday afternoon. All in all, I'd say Bacon Camp was a fantastic if surreal success. My one hope for next year is that fewer people try the sweet with bacon combos. I understand trying to get clever, but it almost universally failed (except when that sweet it maple syrup, as we all know). And rest assured, next year I'll have more notice and will concoct something epic. This I promise.