International Bacon Day: Bacon, Pigs, Memories & a Recipe Worth Trying

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As you know I love finding new and unique #Holidays to celebrate with my family. Finding out about International Bacon Day was one holiday I couldn’t wait to share with my nephew David M. and his daughter Lily. Like me they love there #Bacon.

For my family bacon is one of those foods that you just have memories about. I like bacon. A lot. My dad liked Bacon a lot. David and Charlie are bacon fans, too, so apparently the love of bacon runs through the family.

But my bacon-and-pig memories go back much farther than that. When I was a child, my grandmother’s brother Billy gave me a pig. Yes, a real pig from the Farm he lived on.

I loved that pig and would go out to his home to see it. But one time when I went back, my pig was gone. Now, naturally, I wanted to know where my pig had gone.

Later, we were sitting around eating dinner, and I asked something along the lines of, “Where’s my pig?” The other kids thought they were being absolutely hilarious.

They pointed at the table. “Right there!” We were eating sausage and bacon. OMG. That was NOT funny to me. I don’t know if it was true or not because they used to sell pigs. I just knew I wasn’t hungry.

Of course, I can laugh about it now. But the funny thing is, I’ve always wanted a pig. My stepdaughter Leslie wants one, too, and she says she’d name hers Bacon.

I’m thinking I’d name mine Pork Chop. And that name would actually mean something to me because pork chops cooked on the barbecue grill were one of Suzzane’s favorite foods.

So here we are, talking about International Bacon Day, and somehow we’ve already traveled from bacon to pigs to childhood memories to Suzanne. That’s what food does sometimes. It brings people and memories right back to the table.

I thought I would share the story behind Bacon for anyone interested or #Homeschooling because this could be a cooking lesson as the kids make something with Bacon.

Bacon has been around in one form or another for a very long time. People have been preserving pork through methods such as salting and curing for thousands of years.

Ancient Chinese cultures were curing pork as early as around 1500 BC, and pork preservation traditions developed in different parts of Europe over the centuries.

The word bacon itself has older European roots, with connections to words referring to the back or side of a pig. The bacon most of us picture today—those delicious strips that sizzle in a skillet—developed through centuries of curing and smoking traditions.

And eventually, bacon became much more than something served alongside eggs. It found its way into sandwiches, burgers, salads, appetizers, casseroles, desserts and just about anywhere else somebody thought, “You know what this needs? Bacon.” I understand that thinking.

Make sure and mark your calendars because International Bacon Day is celebrated on the first Saturday of September every year and we wouldn’t want to forget this #Holiday next year.

It is a much newer tradition than bacon itself, with modern celebrations dating back to the early 2000s. People celebrate by doing what seems perfectly reasonable for a bacon holiday:

Eat bacon. Some celebrations include bacon-themed recipes, breakfasts, parties, contests and all sorts of creative bacon dishes. And while I’m not suggesting that we need to eat bacon every day, I certainly understand having one day dedicated to celebrating a food you enjoy. Especially when that food comes with memories.

Of course, we can’t have a food-themed day on GreatfulMoments.com without something kids can enjoy, too. So I created a fun International Bacon Day coloring sheet featuring a happy pig and a big strip of bacon.

You can print it for the kids, grandchildren, homeschool lessons, a restaurant activity bag, or simply because sometimes coloring a silly pig is a perfectly good way to spend a few minutes not only for the kids but adults as well.

And if somebody colors the pig pink and the bacon purple, that’s perfectly fine with me. There are no rules when it comes to coloring. Other than have a slice or two of Bacon while your coloring.

Now let’s talk about something I actually remember eating. One time when I went to Fat Daddy’s, they had bacon-wrapped chicken served with mashed potatoes.

And let me tell you… OMG. It was good. Really good. It’s not necessarily something we would normally make at home. But every once in a while, you eat something somewhere and think, I need to remember that.

That’s exactly what happened with this meal. So for International Bacon Day, I thought it would be fun to share a recipe inspired by that meal. This isn’t Fat Daddy’s recipe. It’s simply my take on bacon-wrapped chicken with mashed potatoes, inspired by something I enjoyed.

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken with Mashed Potatoes

Ingredients

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 8 slices of bacon
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Prepared mashed potatoes

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
2. Pat the chicken breasts dry with paper towels.
3. Season both sides of the chicken with garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.
4. Wrap each chicken breast with two slices of bacon, tucking the ends underneath the chicken.
5. Place the bacon-wrapped chicken in a lightly greased baking dish.
6. Bake until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165°F in the thickest part.
7. If you like your bacon extra crispy, you can carefully broil the chicken for a minute or two at the end. Watch it closely because bacon can go from crispy to burned pretty quickly.
8. Serve the bacon-wrapped chicken alongside a generous scoop of mashed potatoes.

And there you have it. It’s simple, it’s comforting, and it combines two things that go together pretty darn well: bacon and potatoes. Now, we just need a glass of Sweet Tea to make it a complete meal. Then meet me on the front porch for dinner.

Now, I have a question for you. Would We Make This at Home? Maybe. That’s the honest answer. This isn’t something that would normally show up on our dinner table every week. But that’s one of the things I enjoy about sharing recipes.

Not every recipe has to become a family staple. Sometimes a recipe is worth sharing because somebody remembers eating it and loving it. That’s how this one made the list.

I remember that bacon-wrapped chicken at Fat Daddy’s, and I remember thinking that the combination of bacon, chicken and mashed potatoes was pretty hard to beat. And sometimes that’s enough reason to give something a try.

One More Thing About That Pig… I’m still thinking about that pig. Maybe someday I’ll actually have one. Although if Leslie gets hers first and names it Bacon, I’m going to have to come up with something else.

And if I ever get my pig, I think Pork Chop is still a pretty good name. Especially for Suzanne. So here’s to bacon, pigs, pork chops, family memories and foods that somehow manage to bring people back together around the table.

Happy International Bacon Day! And if you’re eating bacon today, enjoy a piece for me. Just please don’t point at it and tell a little girl it’s her missing pig. Trust me. She won’t think it’s funny. Although, a little boy might.

✝️ Glenda    🐸 David    🎮 Charlie    🦋 Suzanne

Grateful, Thankful, and Blessed.

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