Bacon and pineapple juice just don’t mix.
“Let me tell you, it’s not my favorite. I don’t recommend you try it,” said Justin von Bargen, a fourth-year in geology and the President of TriBacon, a new student organization at Ohio State devoted to bacon.
As president of a group with the purpose statement “to inform and entertain students about the healthy consumption and enjoyment of wonderful bacon,” von Bargen has had enough first-hand experience to offer a much tastier combination.
“Bacon in chocolate is really good,” von Bargen said. “I was surprised.”
These bacon experiments, among many others, are the result of TriBacon meetings, which are held monthly. The group also gets together once a quarter for their BYOB event.
“BYOB, for us that means bring your own bacon,” von Bargen said.
That can mean packages of bacon, prepared bacon dishes or money to pay for more bacon, he said.
The group even plans to break into the book of Guinness World Records this year with their bacon endeavors. With some help from the Buckeye Barbeque Qlub, they want to build the biggest bacon cheeseburger that the world has ever seen.
“All members would get their name in the world record book,” von Bargen said.
The path that led von Bargen to start a student organization about bacon began last year during Autumn Quarter when he was asked to pass out bacon salt to tailgaters during football season.
“I was asked by an alumni of my fraternity, Phi Kappa Psi, if I would like to help out his buddy and went for it,” he said.
So von Bargen passed out packets of bacon salt, which gives any food a bacon flavor without the calories of actual bacon. Von Bargen was given a shirt with the bacon salt’s logo for his efforts.
Later that year, von Bargen wore the shirt to a diversity retreat. It sparked a conversation with two others about bacon.
“We tried to think of something bad about bacon, but we couldn’t,” von Bargen said with a laugh.
The three kept talking, and decided to start a student organization to explore and experiment with bacon.
“We are all in serious clubs and we wanted something laid back,” von Bargen said.
The three decided to name the group TriBacon. Von Bargen said the tri represents the three founders but also has an additional meaning.
“‘Tri’ as in ‘try,’ try bacon,” von Bargen said. “It has a double meaning.”
In Autumn Quarter of 2009, TriBacon became an official student organization. Its membership list is up to 20. Their Facebook group, however, has 78 members.
Von Bargen said he wants the club to grow and believes it will. He said the club is very young and just needs some time to get going.
If interested in TriBacon, e-mail [email protected] to join the TriBacon mailing list or search TriBacon on Facebook for more information.
