The End of the Bacon Road

After 3540 miles, my bacon tour of America has finally come to an end. So I want to take a moment and thank everyone who hosted me on my trip.

June Scott at Scott Country Hams
Nancy Newsom Mahaffey at Newsom's Country Hams
Ronny and Beth Drennan at Broadbent Country Hams
Mike Sloan at Swiss Meats
Jeff Bruning at the High Life Lounge
Brooks Reynolds
Herb and Kathy Eckhouse at La Quercia
Steve and Kathy Wesley
Thielen Meats
And all of the friends and family who let me stay with them along the way.

Every single person I met with was incredibly gracious with their time and knowledge. It was a truly enjoyable and educational two weeks.

It is worth mentioning that there are a couple businesses who declined an interview, and the reason usually had to do with them being too skeptical of what a blogger might write about their business. Given some of the coverage that pork and bacon producers have received in recent years - some of it earned, some of it not - I can't really blame them for erring on the cautious side. Whether or not you agree with what some of these companies do for a living, I personally think it's unfortunate that the food industry has become so highly politicized in recent years that the debate on issues has reached a point where certain players in the industry are hesitant to talk to anyone.

But if I've learned anything during my tour, it's that there are a lot of real, honest, good people in this industry who are producing products with a tremendous amount of love and care (and they all seem to be having a lot of fun doing it). And I'm grateful to everyone who took the time to meet with me.

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