Happy International Bacon Day! 9 delicious facts about the popular meat product

Mmm, bacon.

One of the most beloved breakfast – and lunch, dinner and basically any other time of the day – foods ever is getting even more love on Saturday with International Bacon Day.

The sizzling treat has a long history that dates back thousands of years before it gained its cult following as a popular food item and even focus of a church.

Read: Florida man arrested with pound of cocaine, some kept on stack of bacon, deputies say

In honor of International Bacon Day, chew on these 9 mouthwatering facts.

1. Bacon Day was invented in 2004 by a group of graduate students at CU Boulder.

2. The “holiday” lands on the Saturday before Labor Day in the U.S., but some places celebrate it on the 19th of February. Others celebrate it on the first Saturday of the new year.

3. Bacon dates back to 1500 BCE, making it one of the world’s oldest processed meats. The Chinese were the first to cook salted pork bellies more than 3,000 years ago.

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4. The word “bacon” actually refers to the back of the pig. Now we know what someone really means when they’re trying to “save their bacon.”

5. The average American consumes about 18 pounds of bacon each year.

6. If you love the smell of bacon in the morning, you can take it with you all day. There’s a bacon-scented deodorant circulating the internet. There is also bacon-flavored lip balm, bacon-scented candles and so much more.

Man blindfolded and forced to smell bacon armpits A Seattle radio station in put J&D's Foods new bacon deodorant to the test when they blindfolded a co-worker and forced him to smell their armpits.

7. There’s even an entire church dedicated to bacon. The United Church of Bacon is a parody church headquartered in Las Vegas with the goals of raising money and social progress.

8. A pivotal point for bacon was in 1992 when Hardee’s Frisco burger was released, making it one of the first fast-food burgers to be served with bacon. It was a hit, and helped keep bacon alive after it took a hit due to dieting trends in the 1980s.

9. Sliced bacon didn’t hit shelves until 1924.