Bacon Toothpaste and Beer: New Jersey Celebrates Bacon Week!
Hope your arteries and blood vessels are ready for this -- Atlantic City's Tropicana Casino and Resort is celebrating the love of bacon this week!
You can eat, drink, and even clean your mouth and groom with bacon: BLT sandwich with a full pound of juicy bacon, bacon cupcakes, bacon ice cream sundaes, bacon milkshakes, bacon bourbon, bacon margaritas, bacon beer, bacon vodka, bacon-flavored toothpaste, bacon dental floss, and bacon lip balm. Anything you can imagine that is made out of bacon will be at this week's festival.
"Bacon is like heaven," said Nadina Fornia of Egg Harbor Township. "If you're going to die, die with bacon on your lips and a BLT in each hand." She was drawn to the event to try out new bacon products, including the bacon-infused vodka. "That is my quest today," she added.
Bacon Week is also celebrating Valentine's Day by incorporating chocolate into the bacon items. There are chocolate-covered pretzels with crumbled bacon bits, chocolate-drizzled potato chips with bacon, and chocolate-covered bacon wrapped around a fake green stem to make roses.
"The first taste is chocolate-y, then it's all bacon," said Melissa Ehrke of Egg Harbor Township. "I was a little surprised. I like it, 'cause I was afraid to try it. It's that whole sweet and salty thing."
However, there are some who are skeptical about the whole bacon craze. "There are people that are just crazy for bacon," said Denise McGrath of Neptune City. "But bacon toothpaste or floss? I'm not that crazy."
The idea of a bacon festival is not that far-fetched as it sounds, since Americans eat approximately 1.5 billion pounds of bacon per year. Also, the website bacontoday.com has counted 30 bacon festivals around the country from late April through December 2013, many of whose tickets sold out in just minutes. So what do you say, are you ready to pig out?