East Tennessee Historical Society to host lecture “Bacon: The History of the Nation’s Most (Un)Desirable Food”

WHEN: April 29, 2026 @ 12:00 p.m.
WHERE: East Tennessee History Center, 601 S. Gay St, Knoxville, TN 37902

In this lecture, author Mark Johnson will ask a seemingly simple question: How has bacon overcome centuries of religious prohibition, cultural contempt, and dietary advice to become a twenty-first-century culinary and cultural powerhouse? Starting in early modern Britain and tracing the story of bacon through the colonial era, Civil War, Progressive Era, modern fad diets, and the emerging craft bacon industry, the story of bacon provides a new perspective on some familiar American narratives. Ultimately, bacon’s story from “most dangerous food in the supermarket” to pop culture and gastronomic phenomenon reflects the cultural values of a nation.

This lecture can be streamed live on the East Tennessee Historical Society Facebook page. For more information, visit easttnhistory.org.

About the Author

MARK A. JOHNSON, from Milwaukee, earned a PhD in history from the University of Alabama. Previously, he earned an MA from the University of Maryland and BA from Purdue University. He is the author of An Irresistible History of Alabama Barbecue: From Wood Pit to White Sauce, Rough Tactics: Black Performance in Political Spectacle, 1877–1932, and American Bacon: The History of a Food Phenomenon. He currently lives in Tennessee where he teaches at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.