Bacon mania refers to passionate bacon enthusiasm in the United States and Canada. Novelty bacon dishes and other bacon-related items have been popularized rapidly via the internet. The movement has been traced to the late 1990s when high-protein foods became a more prominent diet focus due in part to the Atkins diet. Since then, bacon-focused events and gatherings celebrating the food have been reported and bacon-related exploits have been featured in media accounts. Innovation Newer bacon creations have joined more traditional foods like the BLT, Cobb salad, clams casino, and club sandwich. Dishes include hard-boiled eggs coated in mayonnaise encased in bacon (the "heart attack snack") and Wendy's 'Baconator' (six strips of bacon on a half-pound cheeseburger). The growing popularity of bacon has also encouraged product introductions such as bacon salt, maple bacon donuts, and baconnaise. Bacon food oddities include the bacon explosion ("a barbecued meat brick composed of 2 pounds of bacon wrapped around 2 pounds of sausage"), chicken-fried bacon, bacon-infused vodka, bacon ice cream, bacon jerky and chocolate-covered bacon, all popularized over the internet. Bacon has been adapted into products including bacon bubble gum, bacon band-aids, sizzling-bacon-flavored rolling papers, and bacon air freshener. A bacon alarm clock that wakes people up with the smell of cooking bacon has been announced. A 2009 story in The Baltimore Sun describes bacon as being "more than bacon," and stated that for "obsessive and adoring Bacon Nation it's about cheap thrills and a chance for Internet fame." Calling it "like an extreme sport", the article described the innovators and enthusiasts celebrating bacon in all its incarnations. Organization The increased interest in bacon has led to Bacon-of-the-month clubs, bacon recipe contests, blogs, a dating app for bacon lovers, and even "bacon camps." Seattle hosted a "bacon camp" where bacon was included in an assortment of bacon dishes and other bacon-related items. Bacon has even been referred to as a fashion statement after a bacon bra was photographed. The Portland Monthly noted that "Bacon is such a quintessential breakfast staple, even vegetarians stake a claim to their own versions." A website called "Bacon Today" was started to provide updates about bacon related happenings. The San Francisco Weekly reported on the first "BaconCamp" held "in solidarity with the growing popularity of events (see the recent Grilled Cheese Invitational)" and reported that the event "demonstrated just how much of a high bacon is currently on in