In a capitalist system, prices rise on the fragile seesaw of supply and demand. Sometimes that means poor farmers in Bolivia can’t afford to eat quinoa anymore, and sometimes it just means that you might not be able to put bacon on everything.
From MintLife:
But this year, just as the U.S. is worrying about its own debt crisis and a possible “double-dip” recession, the price of bacon —that sizzling, smoky comfort food we most need during tough times — is expected to surge. The price of pork bellies, which is where bacon comes from, jumped to more than $130 per hundredweight (100 pounds), and some analysts suggest it’s going to top last August’s level of $150.
… The reason for surging bacon prices is that hog farmers have pared their herds due to high feed costs after corn prices hit a record near $8 a bushel last month. Retail bacon prices hit $4.77 a pound in May, according to the Labor Department, and Rich Nelson, director of research at Allendale, told Reuters that it could reach near $6 a pound in the next few months.
… “Everyone is kind of freaking out about it,” Mosley said, adding that some bacon lovers have already reported seeing bacon prices above $6 a pound — and that’s for the generic, store-brand “cheap stuff.”
Rarely do commodities prices make us want to cheer, but this news hits our sweet spot. Could this crisis finally kill off the great bacon trend of 2010, when seemingly everyone just had to crow about how delicious bacon was and how awesome it was to wrap it over everything? We get it, you’re irreverent; you love bacon, just like you hate the word “moist.”
Personally, we’ve never been fans of the breakfast meat. It’s too crispy, too salty, too easily overcooked. You can’t cut it and you can’t chew it. Give us some sausage links, some Canadian bacon, even some ham before you give us bacon. With the projected price increase, will more people come around to our way of thinking?
