Who’s have thought that simply launching a new breakfast treat would get Hormel – custodian of the SPAM Legend – into such hot water? The venerable cured meat maker has been tinkering with new bacon flavours: And the latest is incendiary!
No, it’s not spicy. It’s actually sweet and savoury. But it’s set fire to the social media foodie forums. And it seems there’s no middle ground. Folks are reacting passionately to the release of yet another flavoured bacon product…
Pushing the envelope
In recent times, Hormel has been cultivating a reputation for pushing the cured-meat envelope. This time, the cult-famed company may have gone too far. It recently ‘dropped’ – as the kids say – a new breakfast treat targeted to the trendy.
“This is not a drill — Cinnamon Toast Crunch BACON is about to be a real thing,” Hormel announced on Instagram, alongside a photo of the new product. “Coming soon is new Hormel Black Label bacon featuring the Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnadust to give it that amazing salty and sweet flavor.”
This is not the first Cinnamon Toast Crunch (CTC) pop-food collaboration. In fact, the popular General Mills sugary cereal has ‘crossed over’ with a multitude of other products. The range is vast – like the uni-versal appeal of sugar-and-cinnamon seasoning: Everything from… Krispy Kreme CTC doughuts, to Dunkaroos cookies, to SONIC Drive In treats. Plus merchandise tie-ins, from t-shirts to custom Crocs footwear. You just can’t keep a good fad down!
Meanwhile…
Social media boosters and critics have taken up verbal arms sup-porting and opposing TC Bacon:
Another vehemently disagreed: “”When I say no, I mean absolutely not 👀💀.”
“The FDA needs to step in and stop this madness 😮💨,” yet another user wrote.
On the ‘pro’ side, the opinions were just as ardent:
“Why [are] people acting like candied bacon isn’t a thing?” one user wondered.
“Just looking at the packaging […] makes me want to get it now—there’s something magical about Cinnadust, and putting it on some Hormel bacon?! This is going to be amazing,” snack foodie influ-encer @Snackolator proclaimed. “This is the golden age of snack […] food!”
But there were still a few (inevitable) fence-sitters:
“Some things just don’t need to be done😭 I’m still [going to] try it, tho💀,” one instagrammer commented.
My take
CTC fans indicated they were already planning to innovate new dishes. One raved about a new breakfast sandwich idea, marrying Hormel CTC Bacon with Raisin Bread. Another wanted to roll up slices of the bacon in cinnamon buns.
I have to agree with the commenter who pointed out, “Some things just don’t need to be done…”
But I also think the Hormel bacon collab was inevitable, given the force and universality of the CTC fad. What food brand wouldn’t want to bumper-draft on the popularity of something like CTC? Even bacon?
~ Maggie J.