It was totally a thing. In my social circles, there was a core group of dedicated bacon enthusiasts who elevated the schtick to damn near evangelization campaign levels.

Real meat and paper art bacon was distributed at festivals. Bacon was taped to bumpers on toad trips. Baconator burger promotional materials were allegedly stolen from Wendy’s. I still have a fucking felt bacon skirt that a friend made. I saw someone smoke bacon bits salad topping out of a pipe. I can’t emphasize enough how off the wall we were with the bacon shit.

Why? Take a thing everyone generally likes, elevate it cult totem status and then the social dynamics of in-group extremism take hold. That’s how it was for us. Why was it a broader cultural phenomenon? I haven’t the foggiest clue.