Large Fierce Mammal

Chart from the baconbarter.com website.

No, I’m not referring to prohibition. I speak of an experiment in that most fundamental of transactions – Barter. Barter that, best of all, involves bacon as the basic medium of exchange.

Josh Sankey is on a mission. According to his website – baconbarter.com – that mission is this:

I need your help. I’m driving from NY to LA with no cash and no cards – just a trailer full of Butcher Thick Cut Bacon to barter with for food, lodging, and everything else i need. It’s all to find out if America loves Bacon as much as money!

According to this KETV.com article –

The bartering spree — which is sponsored by Oscar Meyer — does have some minimum bacon exchange rates. For instance, offering a place for Sankey to sleep will get you about 15 bricks, while Civil War memorabilia may only get you three bricks of bacon …. A camera crew is traveling with Sankey chronicling his adventure as he spreads the joy of bacon from coast to coast until he is scheduled to reach his final destination of Los Angeles on Sept. 23.

A commercial enterprise of course, but at least one with an interesting undertone. Naturally, the presence of a camera crew will forever run the risk of attracting the ever present throng of attention whores. Time will tell what real value, if any, it turns up.