back to article World's oldest person scoffs daily ration of bacon

The world's oldest person is living proof of the awesome power of bacon, having achieved supercentenarian status on a daily dose of sliced pork goodness. Susannah Mushatt Jones, 116, reportedly tucks into a few breakfast rashers every day along with scrambled eggs and grits. Speaking at Jones's Brooklyn apartment, the Alabama …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    A sort of ...

    ... reverse Dave Hameron then?

  2. John Tserkezis

    I think I should print this out and give it to my doctor on my next visit.

    I've been getting conflicting advice you see.

  3. msknight

    There's probably a religious joke in here somewhere, but I don't have the back bacon bone to make it

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      If god didn't want us to eat pigs then why did he make them out of bacon?

      1. MassiveBob

        Because god is a sadist?

  4. Mark 85

    Anecdotal but....

    Everyone I've ever met over the age of 80 eats bacon. Come to think of it, most of those are now in their 90's. Not research, not proof... but I am eating my bacon sarnies guilt free.

  5. hplasm
    Coat

    It's-

    the preservatives...

    /run away

  6. chivo243 Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Bad timing

    The timing for this article is just evil... My mouth is watering just thinking about bacon and scrambled eggs. It's 9:15am here!

    1. Tom 7

      Re: Bad timing

      Think about grits - only force feeding as a child can make you consider this pleasant.

      1. Sir Runcible Spoon
        Joke

        Re: Bad timing

        "Think about grits"

        Surely your teeth would chip!?

        Me, I prefer to suck on some gravel, or the occasional flint if I'm feeling adventurous.

        1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge
          Thumb Up

          Re: Bad timing

          good timing for me - just finished a full english i decided to spolash out on from staff canteen . I comfortsbly read this without disiring further bacon

          1. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge

            Re: Bad timing

            although i desire a spellchecker

            1. Martin Summers Silver badge

              Re: Bad timing

              "although i desire a spellchecker"

              I was going to ask if your canteen do beer with breakfast too.

        2. Bluto Nash

          Re: Bad timing

          You've obviously never had grits cooked properly.

          Being from South (capitalized, as it should be), she's simply having a regular breakfast. If it's a Sunday or otherwise special breakfast you'd add at least buttermilk biscuits, sausage (patty and/or links), white gravy and hash browns . Maybe some cornbread muffins and real butter.

      2. chivo243 Silver badge

        Re: Bad timing

        I omitted the grits from my reply.... would happily substitute some biscuits and gravy!

        1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge
          Facepalm

          Re: Bad timing

          > grits from my reply.... would happily substitute some biscuits

          Chocolate digestives? Hobnobs?

          Enquiring minds etc etc..

          1. Mark 85

            Re: Bad timing

            American "biscuits" not British "biscuits"... There's a big difference much like the difference between American bacon and British bacon. FTR, I happen to like and enjoy both kinds of biscuits and bacon.

          2. jonathanb Silver badge

            Re: Bad timing

            Biscuits = scones; gravy = some sort of puke-like substance. Look at the recipe pages on this site.

  7. Captain DaFt

    It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

    Almost every time I read about someone hitting or passing the century mark, it always seems they enjoy either cigars, wine, or bacon, or some combination of the three*.

    Maybe the key to a long life is really just enjoying life and indulging yourself a bit?

    *Sadly, no one ever seems to credit caffeine for their long life... oh well.

    1. werdsmith Silver badge

      Re: It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

      "Maybe the key to a long life is really just enjoying life and indulging yourself a bit?"

      Yes exactly this.

      There's an old Victorian song about sex that has turned into a saying/proverb that can be applied to anything indulgent:

      I always hold in having it if you fancy it

      If you fancy it that’s understood

      And suppose it makes you fat? I don’t worry over that

      ‘Cos a little of what you fancy does you good.

      Marie Lloyd ~ 1900

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

        you bet....we focus on / are told constantly in life that everything is bad for our bodies and that we're terrible bastards for thinking of indulging ourselves.

        Well, I hold that a bit of what's good for the soul and mind gets neglected and that's just as important.

    2. Charles Manning

      Re: It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

      Why would god waste long life on someone who does not enjoy life?

      1. Richard Altmann

        Re: It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

        Word is that running can extend your life span by five years. What´s the bloody point when you spend five of this years running?

    3. Prst. V.Jeltz Silver badge
      Coat

      Re: It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

      "*Sadly, no one ever seems to credit caffeine for their long life... oh well."

      The flame that burns twice as bright burns half as long.

      Therefore try marijuana

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

        I'm loading up on both and hoping it averages out.....

    4. AndrueC Silver badge
      Joke

      Re: It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

      Cutting out everything you enjoy doesn't make you live longer. It just feels like it :)

    5. Turtle

      Re: It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

      "Maybe the key to a long life is really just enjoying life and indulging yourself a bit?"

      Why would you even want a long life if you aren't enjoying it and indulging yourself a bit?

      As has been said before: "If you want to live to be 100 years old, you have to give up all the things that make you want to live to be 100." Maybe that's wrong.

    6. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Re: It may just be confirmation bias on my part, but...

      > cigars, wine, or bacon

      All together now: "# Two out of three ain't bad"..

      (Never knowingly smoked a ceegar in my life. Knowingly eaten bacon and drunk wine. Including tea last night - baked potatoes with a bacon, mushroom and grilled cheese topping. Washed down with a fine Aussie red wine)

  8. TimR

    say 110 years with two rashers for breakfast every day

    =80,300 rashers (not counting leap years)

    at 30g per rasher=2,409kg

    assuming a bacon pig is about 100kg, that's only 24 pigs in a (long) lifetime

    doesn't sound enough, really...

    1. jake Silver badge

      Needs recalculation, TimR.

      First of all, bacon hogs average 400 kilos when harvested (mine are, anyway[0]).

      This woman grew up in Alabama. They eat streaky bacon, not proper bacon.

      The porkbelly is typically around 8 kilos (mine are, anyway). There are two per hog.

      The rashers weigh in at about 55g each[1] after curing and smoking, the way I cut.

      That's 276 hogs+/-.

      Remember, when you only eat one part of an animal you are wasting a great deal of product. Nose to tail is the ONLY way to go. It totally pisses me off when a bridal reception orders skirt-steak, or worse chain meat, for 300 folks. The first kills 75 1800 pound steers for 300 people ... the second kills 150 steers. I try to educate, and suggest beef clod instead (not often seen outside of Texas, but a frequent visitor to my smokehouse ... ). Some folks leave in a huff, but I can deal with it ;-)

      [0] My sows are American Yorkshire, the boar is Duroc.

      [1] I'm getting breakfast ready for the hands[2], I weighed 10 rashers & averaged.

      [2] Two or so days of crush to go, and we can get back to normal.

      1. Sir Runcible Spoon
        Thumb Up

        Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

        The Reg readership is even more diverse than I thought... a hog farmer - who'd-a-thunk? :)

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

          That's jake for you. Whatever the article is about, he's done it and is an expert.

        2. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
          Joke

          Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

          " hog farmer - who'd-a-thunk? "

          I though Jake was an ex-marine who after saving the world three times went on to be a successful engineer with many patents and trade secrets to his name and lives in a fortress of solitude. I had no idea he was a hog farming astronaut too! :-)

          1. Kiwi

            Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

            I had no idea he was a hog farming astronaut too! :-)

            I think I could almost believe that he is something like an astronaut.... The drugs they give people with schizophrenia can make some people pretty high, and that could well explain some of his posts!

      2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge

        Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

        I have only found two places in the USofA that does not eat Streaky-grilled to a crisp- Bacon

        If Jake sells what us Brots calls Bacon then kudos to him.

        Most American folks (IMHO) don't have a clue about cuts of Meat. Having spent a good amoubt of time working in a Butchers when I was a Student I guess I know more than most. but Chain meat is a new on on me. for those who don't know, it is the offcuts from Tenderloin. I can see how Jake gets the numbers of Steers to kill when that is used. such a waste.

        Got a nice bit of Black Beef Shin (from a local herd) for sunday. Slow cook for 4-5 hours Delicious.

        Cheek is another really nice cut.

        1. Turtle

          @Steve Davies 3

          That's all very fine but keep the topic in mind. This woman lived to 116 years eating American bacon. Not UK bacon, not Canadian bacon.

          I have no issue with people preferring any kind of bacon over any other kind of bacon, but if you want to live longer, the medically- and nutritionally-correct approach is: eat American bacon.

          Or die young. Your choice.

          1. Kiwi

            Re: @Steve Davies 3

            if you want to live longer, the medically- and nutritionally-correct approach is: eat American bacon.

            Family average age is, sadly, in the late 40s. If eating American bacon leads to longer age, then I think I am going to be one who lowers our average! Streaky is pretty bad, but crisp as well? Ugh. Horrible idea. I'd rather take the "die young" option than eat that stuff! (says he who is about to take an early spring motorbike ride with an unknown bike and untested riding companions on unfamiliar roads...)

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Needs recalculation, TimR. @Steve Davies 3

          Sorry Steve,

          This is incontrovertible proof that eating only AMERICAN style bacon keeps you going until you're 116.

          That other half raw pork is BAD FOR YOU!

        3. WalterAlter
          Pint

          "Streaky" my aunt Wannie's panties

          Harumph! "Streaky" bacon, indeed! Canadian and English "bacon" is what we bacon eaters call side cut HAM. HAM is a soft cooked meat that we serve at dinner. For breakfast we eat BELLY CUT BACON fried crisp and crunchy. According to the UN International Bacon Rights Guidelines, the only other place BACON is legitimately found on planet Earth is in the BLT sandwich.

      3. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

        Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

        > They eat streaky bacon, not proper bacon

        Chacun a son gout (can't be bothered with accents - fancy foreign things :-) )

        Streaky has its place!

      4. Joe User
        FAIL

        Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

        jake: "It totally pisses me off when a bridal reception orders skirt-steak, or worse chain meat, for 300 folks. The first kills 75 1800 pound steers for 300 people ... the second kills 150 steers."

        What, do you think the butchers took just those few cuts from the steers and threw the rest of the meat away?

      5. Anonymous Coward
        Thumb Up

        Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

        Jake,

        Professor Stanley Unwin would have been proud

      6. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

        Anyone who's been to the US and encountered "breakfast strips" , a sort of reconstituted meat abomination shaped offensively like a piece of bacon is left scarred by the experience.

        The horror....

      7. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

        Re: Needs recalculation, TimR.

        Streaky bacon IS real bacon! And it must be properly dry cured. It should never produce any water in the pan even if the pan is started from cold with the bacon in it.

        The stuff you get in the supermarkets in the UK is mostly complete rubbish.

        BTW, the fat is good for you. The protein you need a lot less off. So streaky makes sense.

  9. Curtis

    As I often say

    To my Muslim and Jewish co-workers

    "My God loves me. He gives me bacon"

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: As I often say

      In the interests of balance and religious freedom (or should that be freedom from religion ?) :

      "I'm an atheist, so no scary fairy stories about omnipotent beings to put me off bacon"

    2. Yugguy

      Re: As I often say

      The Jewish dietary laws do make some sensewhen viewed for the time they were formulated - for living in a hot country without refrigeration.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: As I often say

        I don't know, bacon doesn't last long in my fridge besides that would mean all meat would be banned.

        Maybe bacon disproves the existence of god?

        Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mindbogglingly tasty could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen it to see it as a final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.

        The argument goes something like this: "I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."

        "But," says Man, "Bacon is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. QED."

      2. smartypants

        Re: As I often say

        Thankfully, for lovers of Jamon Iberico and Prosciutto Crudo, some people in hot countries found ways of dealing with an animal-flesh-filled world without refrigeration! Yum yum!

      3. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: As I often say

        @ Yugguy

        However those dietary laws now belong in the history bin, at one time we used to believe the Earth was flat and was created in 4004BC.

        Refrigeration along with bleach, soap and water and microbiology have advanced us an awful lot.

        The Universe is in a constant state of flux and so should our thinking.

      4. Lars Silver badge
        Pint

        Re: As I often say

        @ Yugguy. There is so much shit in any religion, kosher is just one. How all that just seems to survive is hard to understand. Please parents don't move all that rubbish into your kids.

        As for the lady.... no kids, hmm.

        1. BobRocket

          Re: As I often say

          Not all meats taste of chicken, two of them taste of bacon but only one comes from pigs. There is a very good historical reason for banning the eating of pig meat.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: As I often say

            Yeah, because they didn't have good cooking facilities, didn't know about hygiene, or bacteria, and didn't have thermometers. It's different today though.

            1. BobRocket

              Re: As I often say

              No, it's because it was/is difficult to tell the difference between short pink pig and long white pig once it was/is reduced to cutlets.

  10. Big_Boomer Silver badge

    So what?

    If she was a 60 a day chain smoking alcoholic then they would never have even interviewed her because as everyone knows smokers and drinkers are Satan worshippers of the worst kind <sarcasm>. Bacon is good for you, alcohol is good for you, even nicoteen is good for you,... so long as you get the dosage right. If you choose to overdose on bacon, don't expect to live to 116. 16 would be difficult!

    1. smartypants

      Re: So what?

      Nicoteen might not harm you, but it's all the other shit smokers breathe in that makes them far less likely to be a drain on the state by living a long retirement. (Smokers are very charitable. They pay a lot more in taxes and save often decades of expensive pension and spiralling healthcare costs!)

  11. James Micallef Silver badge

    Incidentally - world's oldest woman, born in 1899 . very soon there will be no one alive who was born in 19th century :(

    1. Sir Runcible Spoon
      Coat

      no one alive who was born in 19th century

      That you know of.

      If someone had discovered immortality they would probably keep it quiet. Until the time of the gathering of course, then all bets are off and head-lopping sword fights and magical light displays are the order of the day.

      1. Preston Munchensonton
        Coat

        Re: no one alive who was born in 19th century

        If someone had discovered immortality they would probably keep it quiet. Until the time of the gathering of course, then all bets are off and head-lopping sword fights and magical light displays are the order of the day.

        I swear, Regtards will downvote anything. If you don't get the reference, leave it the fuck alone.

        Have an upvote, but don't ask about the haggis.

        1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge
          Mushroom

          Re: no one alive who was born in 19th century

          > but don't ask about the haggis.

          Haggis? HAGGIS? AAARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!

          <Runs screaming from the room>

          Haggis should be defined by the Geneva Convention as an illegal munition and a Cruel and Unusual Punishment. I demand an immediate cull of the wee beasties!

        2. kain preacher

          Re: no one alive who was born in 19th century

          as punishment I was once forced to watch highlander II

        3. Green Nigel 42

          Re: no one alive who was born in 19th century

          Sir Runcible Spoon,

          Don't worry about your down vote, there can only be one!

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      When the subject of age and history comes up, I sometimes pipe up with my having been part raised by a Victorian - my Nan was born not long before Victoria popped her clogs, so technically a Victorian. It also tickles me to think that her husband fought in a war (WW1) which caused the collapse of the empire (the Ottoman empire) that caused the final defeat of the Roman empire (back in 1453 IIRC). And some folk think history isn't relevant, tsk.. :-}

  12. PhilipN Silver badge

    Faculties?

    Well done to the old biddy. Even if she cannot do much else at least her gnashers are working, or rather her lower jaw.

    Recently I had to tell a client to ask his mother to sign a document. She is 105 and managed a signature after practising a few times.

    Crikey! Before I came off the grog I was half that age and there were times on most days I could not have signed my name.

  13. 0laf

    Some folks last better than others.

    My Mother used to be a home help and she used to do a bit of work for an old gent. He had to give up visiting the 'old folk' when he hit 100 (most of he people he visited were 20yr younger than him) and he lived in his own house until he took ill and passed when he was 101. He was an old farmer and still had hands like shovels and a handshake that would crack your knuckles.

    I've seen some folk in their 40s that looked in worse health than he did at 100.

    1. Denarius
      Thumb Up

      some last indeed

      Olaf, yep, sounds like a grandmother of mine. Used to tour in a "mature persons" revue troupe to old peoples homes. She was 20 years older than most of the inmates. Quit performing when she had to move into one, as much for security as anything else. Number of con-artists that target old people is disgusting. She lived to 101 with full set of marbles. Back on farm where she lived most of her life bacon and eggs for brekkie were standard morning feed. Now I am hungry, and just had dinner. {S}

    2. Mark Tribble

      Some folks last better than others

      Agreed, but as you implicitly suggested, lifestyle makes a difference.

      During a memorable visit to a nursing home, I had the pleasure of dining with my grandmother (who lived to age 98) and my aunt (my grandfather's sister, who passed away a couple of months later at the age of 99). There was a spry old man at another table who had been a dancer in his youth, and he was enjoying his 100th birthday. They lived in a rural Texas community where just about everyone worked hard and ate a "traditional" breakfast. My aunt said she knew she would get old someday, but she didn't realize how "old" she would feel. No one ever worked harder on a daily basis than she did, but carrying around heavy feed bags took its toll, and she suffered from constant aches and pains when she reached her 90s. She told me, quite seriously, that she wished she was my age. (I was 50 at the time.)

      One of the aides offered the old man a dance to celebrate his reputation as a dancer, so he stood up and they danced right next to the dining table for a few minutes. She asked him if he wanted to sit back down, but he didn't want to stop. He received a round of applause. I approached him after dinner to wish him a happy birthday, and I asked him, "When you were 50, if someone had told you that you'd be dancing on your 100th birthday, would you have believed it?" He smiled and replied, "Would you?"

  14. hatti

    So the key to longevity is

    Lots of bacon and a bag for life at your local [Sainsburys/Tescos/Waitrose/Asda/Lidl/other]* supermarket.

    * Delete as applicable

  15. Jonathan Richards 1
    Go

    Becoming the oldest living person...

    ...must involve the previous record-holder turning in their metaphorical badge. I'm all for celebrating longevity, but the linked article from Guinness World Records makes no mention of the world's loss of the former record holder. His or her bacon-snaffling habits must therefore remain mysterious, and Lester's Hypothesis must remain based on a sample of one! :)

  16. Trollslayer

    Find a local butcher

    I use family butcher in Bristol that cure their own bacon, lovely stuff and a bit cheaper than the supermarkets.

  17. Amorous Cowherder

    Hey look I'm not going to mock someone who's lived for over century, bloody good luck to them if they've done it. However I'd be happy to die after my three-score-and-ten having lead a good life, ending happy with a smile on my face, naked and in the arms of my wife suffering a massive coronary after we've just made love for the 4th time that day! Ha ha!

    I'd hate to reach 105, being pushed around in a wheel chair by strangers 'cos I've outlived my kids and been dumped in a home, barely able to speak and attempting to moan about the rash I'm getting from having to wear adult nappies 24 hours a day or God forbid tubes up my various output ports. All the time what's left of my extended family desperately try to keep me ticking along right up to my last gasp of oxygen assisted breath just so they could get me in the Guiness Book of Records.

    1. Yugguy

      As someone who'll likely have to work til they are three score and ten I'd rather not drop dead the day after I retire.

      I want to be like that 100 year old sprinter.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        "As someone who'll likely have to work til they are three score and ten I'd rather not drop dead the day after I retire."

        And yet, that is the precise scenario assumed when the state pension was introduced and why there is a huge pension deficit now. Pension age was set to reflect the fact most people rarely survived more than a few year once retired.

    2. Lars Silver badge

      Smoke like I, that will fix the problem, I think.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Career Building too...

    If recent reports are to be believed Bacon (Pigs) are also good for career building.....

    ... This might even turn into a university module... Cock a big get a bigger career!

  19. Primus Secundus Tertius

    Let's hear it for chips (fries in the US).

    Get the chips right and almost any meal is delicious.

    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Coat

      "Let's hear it for chips (fries in the US)."

      No, what we call chips is not what the USAains call fries. Fries are piddly little skinny things with a poor surface to volume ratio meaning you get lost of fat/oil per chip than with proper, thicker/fatter chips :-) I think they call them steak cut fries.

  20. Ilsa Loving

    I want to chug a bottle of vodka before I die...

    Cause that way I can die in a good mood, and it'll save my family some money by reducing the fuel requirements for cremation.

  21. mjflory

    If I'd known...

    If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.

    -- jazz pianist Eubie Blake on what he believed was his 100th birthday

    (Yet another Brooklynite... )

    1. Diogenes

      Re: If I'd known...

      As I teacher I am also of the firm belief, articulated by George Bernard Shaw, ... "Youth is wasted on the young"

  22. JustWondering
    Happy

    If I live that long ...

    ... and people ask me my secret, I'm going to tell them that I eat deep fried earthworms everyday or raw dandelion flowers or something ridiculous like that.

  23. flyguy

    The real reason

    The key to long life if right there at the end:

    Don't have any fucking children.

    They take years off you.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Based on this I should live forever.

  25. anonymous boring coward Silver badge

    Stop being surprised and wake up!

    There is NO scientific evidence that saturated fats are bad for you.

    You NEED it. Your brain is made from it.

    Body repairs uses it (which is why it's found around damaged areas).

    Fat doesn't drive the insuline levels up, so doesn't cause diabetes.

    Fat doesn't drive apetite, for the same reason.

    If you burn fat (which many people CAN'T do due to eating too much carbs), then you can go for days without eating, should the need arise. Handy when you want to lose weight.

    We shouldn't keep beliving in an unsupported myth.

    Sugar and white flour is what is killing and disabling millions upon millions.

    An inconvenient truth.

  26. hrhpod

    You chaps might want to read this.

    http://www.amazon.com/The-Big-Fat-Surprise-Healthy/dp/1451624425

    Turns out, bacon really is good for you - and low fat obsessives and vegans are all going to die early from strokes or from being murdered.

    No really.

  27. Hans 1
    IT Angle

    I like bacon, it is really not bad, but what's all the fuss about ? It is not THAT good ... There is a guy on youtube or 10 who list track names of albums (with time offset links) with all nouns replaced with "bacon". Now, what is the meaning of all this ? Bacon (proper English variety) tastes nice, so does chicken curry, rib eye, and broccoli, I would not know which I prefer. I never thought there could be a bacon fanclub, I thought the bloke on youtube was bonkers, apparently, there are more on here!

    Imagine she said broccoli every day, or fennel, or chicken .... it would not have made the el reg.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon