The Bacon Sundae

Recently, Burger King announced the arrival of the bacon sundae. Seriously. The confection is basically a hot fudge sundae sprinkled with delicious, crispy bacon. It’s all part of the salty-sweet phenomenon we’ve been witnessing, with the growing popularity of pretzel M&M’s and a variety of candy-sprinkled trail mixes. This has got me thinking about how hard marketing people have to work to keep the process of eating exciting. I’ve often marveled at the different ways Pizza Hut re-invents the same food and makes it something new. First, they stuff our crust with cheese. Next, they stuff it with cheese and pepperoni! Next, the crust encases the whole pie, and the pizza’s in the core! The latest thing at Pizza Hut looks something like a pizza burrito. I don’t know what the people at Pizza Hut R&D make, but it’s not enough.

When I do a production with the Gypsy Theatre Company in Cumming, we’ll often head out after the show on Friday nights to eat. You can work up quite an appetite after a performance, but it’s really just an excuse to hang out together. The great film critic Roger Ebert, his mouth ravaged by cancer, was asked if he ever misses eating. He says no. He gets by on the MEMORY of what his favorite foods tasted like, but he confesses that he DOES miss the social aspect of dining. For the most part, we ARE social animals. I wonder what impact we could make on the obesity epidemic in this country if we could ever figure a way to be social without eating. I’m going to ponder that while I wait for the Pizza Hut guy to get here with my burritos.