Bacon: Use it as currency
I was talking bacon (of all things) with my friend Cathleen over the weekend, and she told me she makes sure to bring along extra bacon every year when she goes to Burning Man. The festival works almost completely on a barter system, and bacon apparently tops the list of items including pancakes, Otter Pops and... tuna. (You'd have to be there).
Cathleen thinks bacon's status has something to do with the heat at the festival, which is usually held in late summer, and participants' craving for salt (and a little tasty protein). She said bacon works so well that when she and some friends were waiting in a very, very long line for pancakes at this year's festival, she mentioned that she had bacon. Just like that, front of the line.
It makes me think. In these unsteady times, with the economy and our stomachs doing circus backflips, maybe we should turn to something a little more certain. And comforting. Like bacon.
So, the latest entry on the quest to find 1,001 things to do with bacon.
No. 10: Currency
-- Noelle Carter
Click below for the rest of the list:
The post that started it all....
Photo caption: The 40-foot-tall Burning Man is set aflame in a ritual that is the culmination of the festival in Nevada's Black Rock Desert. Photo credit: Rick Loomis / Los Angeles Times
Stache hit it on the head.. its not barter, it's gifting..
the difference is that in a barter system, you're still trying to "come out ahead" by making trades that benefit yourself (or, in an ideal situation, are mutually beneficial)..
a gift "economy" is different... the idea is that if everyone plans for their own needs and then some, the community can support itself (slackers included), if everyone plans to have an abundance, those that fail to plan end up being covered and then some!
its hard to believe it works.. but its all about the participants.. they all have to "get it" .. or at least a very significant majority.. everyone lives pretty well on the playa (despite the conditions). it's because of the community, it proves that that community is really the key to living well!
Posted by: Adam | December 11, 2008 at 11:52 AM
Actually, the Burning Man org and attendees discourage bartering. The festival is certainly far from a place that "works almost completely on a barter system."
The idea is not to introduce commerce of any kind in favor of removing boundaries and equalizing everyone's position in the community.
There is a "gift economy" on the Playa. But that is a misnomer since it's not an economy or commerce at all. Rather, "gifting" is more of a performance or a kind gesture, like having extra bacon, that brings people together in a very unique environment who might never have opportunity to mingle in the default world.
Posted by: 'Stache | December 10, 2008 at 08:33 AM
For your bacon list, you may consider adding the bacon bath salt recipe I made:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4667298_bacon-bath-salts.html
Posted by: Jill | December 08, 2008 at 09:03 PM
mmmm....bacon money....
Posted by: Brooke | December 08, 2008 at 04:40 PM