Guardian Celebrates Nat Veg Week with Editorial in praise of Bacon Sandwiches

Not gourmet, not pretty and certainly not good for you, but there are times when only a bacon sandwich will do. As soon as you sniff the greasy, salty smell wafting from the pan everything else slips away into a happy haze. With or without sauce, a butty laced with rashers provides welcome affirmation of the simpler side of life. The coarse pleasures of fatty wonderfulness will, of course, be lost on herbivores conscientiously upholding National Vegetarian Week, which starts today. But ¬during this seven-day stretch no meaty item will tempt more would-be veggies back to the dark side than the bacon sarnie. That is not their fault, say scientists, who last month isolated the chemical changes that trigger aromatic magic when the meat is heated, the very magic that makes the sarnies so hard to resist. No animal’s reputation is as low as the pig right now, with the World Health Organisation regularly reporting new cases in the potential swine flu pandemic. Note, eating bacon will not give you the virus. In fact bacon sarnies will make you feel better, while you worry whether that cold you have acquired will turn into something more serious. This should be a time to support (free-range) British pig farmers. So don’t punish yourself by abstaining; eat your bacon sandwich with pride. According to the food boffins, the most tantalising variety involves slightly fatty, grilled bacon between two thick slices of white bread. But even if it is fried and on brown, it will still taste pretty damn good.

In praise of … bacon sandwiches