First the lead up:

So, I'm no longer in my 30's as of about 6 weeks ago, so I am no youngster, but I do play online games with some buddies of mine while my wife watches things like Dancing With the Stars and Cupcake Wars. Anyway, we were playing last night and are part of a clan. A clan, for non-gamers, is just a group of people together under a common banner (the clan name) playing together - AKA, we are on the same "team" in games.

Now the oddity:

Last night, we were working on some Minecraft stuff - dominating a PvP (Player vs. Player) server, and building awesome things in another - and more and more of the clan was getting online using a voice chat program called TeamSpeak.
We were all chatting away before someone asked, "Where are you from?" Of the 8 people playing Minecraft, it was a 50/50 split. Four people from the U.S. (interestingly, all from Iowa), and four people from Canada. We started talking about this and found out that the clan run servers are hosted in Chicago (USA) but there are about 75% of the clan members are from all over Canada.

We had all sorts of interesting comments about topics, but I learned something that I've always wondered...

It is still called Canadian Bacon, even in Canada, and Canadians are proud to have their own kind of bacon even if it is really just ham.

I guess that would be similar to Kentucky Fried Chicken. In Kentucky, they don't just call Coln. Sanders' place "Fried Chicken." It is still "Kentucky Fried Chicken" in Kentucky. Which makes me wonder if it shouldn't be whatever the local state name is, plus "Fried Chicken" for each restaurant. They could all have one menu item that was more indicative of their state. So "Iowa Fried Chicken" could be like a piece of chicken wrapped in ham or bacon for the pork. "Nebraska Fried Chicken" could have some sort of beef/chicken combo. I'm just not sure about Alaska's "Frozen Fried Chicken Platter," or "New York Fried Chicken's" specialty item. They would never decide on a single cultural food item, so that menu slot would be blank. When you ask about it, they would just respond "forget-dabout-it."

These are the conversations had whenever talking to Canadians and the idea of bacon comes up.

You have never had Canadian bacon if you think it is ham. Different cut of meat, flavour, brine, more lean (Canadian bacon isn't smoked). It also has a cornmeal crust

What you refer to is the crap you get in the united states that is pawned off as Canadian Bacon but it isn't.

The only thing Canadian bacon and ham have in common is it comes from a pig.

Commonly called back bacon here. I heard the term Canadian bacon for the first time in the US.

I always refer to it as Peameal Bacon. Never, ever Canadian Bacon.

If you don't call it Canadian Bacon, then how can you argue that Canadian Bacon isn't just ham?

Wow. The Canadians do love their CanBac (that is what I call it, you can't steal it). I didn't realize that it was THAT much different. I know it isn't ham, even here in the U.S., but the cuts we get are like real lean ham. They aren't smoked, or at least don't taste like it. It is definately different flavor, but still very "ham like" here.

So does it look sort of like this with the crust?



We certainly don't have that here. I'm seeing pictures like that calling it "Canadian Peameal Bacon". I wonder what it tastes like because I do like eating pig....

EDIT: Here is a link with more information that one should care to know about "Canadian Bacon": Would the REAL Canadian Bacon Please Stand Up

EDIT #2: Holy crap! That site wants $74.95 USD (plus shipping I am sure) for a 5 pound roast of the stuff. Ouch! If my travels ever take me up to Canada, I know that I will have to try some of this stuff though.

What is referred to as "true" Canadian Bacon (this term mainly comes from people outside of Canada) is Peameal bacon. Very tough to get in the US. That's why the Yankees refer to it as "Canadian Bacon". It's like how Americans refer to a slice of Kraft Singles as "American Cheese".

Talking to my local butcher about 3 weeks ago, he had a guy come in from North Carolina and put in an order for 100lbs to take back with him.

Great peameal bacon has a real clean flavour to it. It's hard to describe. Peameal bacon comes from the loin, the taste, colour and texture (from the curing) is much different than just the standard loin you can get in the store.

My favorite way is to BBQ the entire slab first, letting it rest for 15 minutes, then slicing it into very, very thin slices for sandwiches.

That is the real deal right there!

Well, in all fairness, that might be because Kraft refers to it that way.

Thought that looked like pork loins.

It's the loin but kicked up several notches.

Upper loin?

Ken, the six-word contest is on the blog site. This entry is clever but won't count unless you submit it over there.

Isn't Loincraft the new single from Negative Orange created for Blizzard's latest Massive Multi Player game for adults?

I'm not sure, but I bet Charles has the ridiculously oversized, brightly colored codpiece to prove it.

I posted it for him...

That picture of cheese was "cheese product", not real American Cheese. I like American Cheese, but I hate any Cheese Product.

Bourdain has his first Peameal sandwich.

http://www.thestar.com/living/article/12...s-peameal-bacon

Isn't "processed" cheese what is referred to as "American Cheese"?

What is the "American cheese" you refer too? I have never heard it in context to anything other than processed/cheese product slices.

The package I buy says made with real cheese, is sliced but not individually wrapped. The other says made with processed cheese and pieces are individually wrapped, probably because they have to be or they would stick together. Processed cheese does not taste nearly as good as the real stuff, and is a somewhat recent invention. I think it tastes more like velveeta.

This sounds suspiciously like my brother-in-law's explanation of how catsup and ketchup are different sauces.

The 'made with' is a dead giveaway. The double smoked aged cheddar I'm munching at the moment is not "made with' real cheese, it IS real cheese. And mighty tasty I might add.

Edit: Some fun facts.

British colonists made cheddar soon upon their arrival in America. By 1790, American cheddars were being exported back to England. The British referred to American cheddar as "American cheese", or "Yankee cheese", and post-Revolution Americans promoted this usage to distinguish their product from European cheese.

Even though the term “American cheese” has a legal definition in the United States as a type of pasteurized processed cheese, products called "American cheese" are by no means identical.

Sort of like a product called Juicy Juice that got into legal trouble years ago. On the packaging it said something like "Made with 100% real fruit juice" or "Contains 100% real fruit juice." People took that to mean that the whole container was entirely full (100%) of real fruit juice. In fact, it was some horribly low percentage of fruit juice in the container. Sure, it was 100% juice that was added, but the total percentage once mixed with other ingredients was less. It also stated "All Natural" and people were upset when it wasn't. Some claims were a combination of both the "All Natural" and "100%" claims plus had large letters stating that it was "GRAPE" and yet the first ingredient was apple juice.

Just because a product *contains* something doesn't mean that it *is* something.

I have had processed American cheese and the real deal. Personally, I like them both, but for different things. They melt differently, have a different texture, and taste different. The real stuff is my preference, and as mentioned before, whenever we buy it, it is already sliced, but not individually wrapped.

I thought the term "American Cheese" referred to Jason Friedberg movies.

All this talk of cheese.

Can't you guys cut it already?

Murph, I had NO clue who Jason Friedberg was, so I looked him up at IMDB. Yeah... Now I see why... He did all of those "stupid movies" that I never, ever, EVER want to be forced to see.

Mark, I think that some cheese has been cut here at work already today. Either that, or some rodent met his maker in the HVAC.

I can find a place for processed cheese on a burger or in a grilled cheese with tomato. It's really all about the texture when melted, taste is pretty much absent in the stuff.

I'll cut the cheese as soon as you let the dogs out.

I agree. That said, There is one type of Laughing Cow processed cheese I like, probably because I ate a lot of it as a kid.

For mild cheese, I much prefer a good Brie.

Yes, but do cows really laugh? Or is it more of a chuckle? And if either, what do they find so funny?

I tried Brie once a couple of years ago for the first time. I didn't like it. To me, it tasted like butter.

Want cheese?

Go visit the Cheese Boutique in Toronto. Fatos Pristine stocks nothing but world-class cheeses from all around the world. Mind blowing selection. Expensive but...nice to splurge once in a while.

Ehh, you're just pulling my finger.

Of all the traits I've developed over the years, being easily entertained is, by far, one of the blessings.