Saving One’s Bacon

Thanks, Dave, you’ve really saved my Bacon!”

Not the first time I’ve heard this phrase (and certainly won’t be the last)… but this time it got me thinking… when and how did this saying come about? So, I looked into it…

The idiom, “save one’s bacon”, has been in use since the early 1600s!…

In this case, I arranged Sous Chef cover at an hour’s notice for a (rather fab) gastro restaurant in a sleepy Somerset village (it’s what we do!) but in years gone by it was literally more life and death!

(although, granted, it may feel like this when, just before service, you’re a chef or two short!)

Back in ye olde days — Charles II, era nonetheless — rather than ‘pork’, ‘bacon’ was the term for meat from anywhere on the body of a pig – and this became a slang term for the human body.

Ergo… to “save one’s bacon”, meant to save a life, body… skin.

(with “saving one’s skin”, being the original saying going back even further, to medieval times!)

This brings us into a nice little segway… If you’re a chef or two short for the weekend – drop us a line – we’re available 24/7!

With over 1,000 specialist chefs on staff, we provide nationwide cover with all levels of chef, preparing all types of cuisine!

Need your bacon saving?