Baken showcased bacon’s full potential through an exciting and sumptuous collaboration with Chef Chele Gonzalez and Chef Carlos Villaflor at the International Food Exhibition Philippines 2024.
In an age where vegan diets and options abound on a global scale, one might wonder if meat—and real meat, at that—still holds a significant place in the diet of many Filipinos. The answer to that is, for the most part, a resounding “yes.” Such is the case for bacon, the no-fail breakfast staple eaten at any time of the day, or paired with other ingredients to create tasty dishes. In the advent of advanced food technology and research, we don’t even need to bring out our frying pans and watch oil spatter around the kitchen to get our hands on the beloved cured meat. This is in large part due to innovative businesses like Baken, the world’s first, all-bacon snack brand.
Though there have always been a fair share of meat snacks in the market, like bacon jerky, pork rinds, and bacon-flavored potato chips, there haven’t been ready-to-eat bacon treats as convenient as Baken’s Real Bacon Crisps. Pop open a bag and you have honest-to-goodness, boldly-flavored crispy bacon strips without breaking a sweat. With such an ingenious idea, it’s no surprise that the brand’s crisps emerged as one of the winners of the prestigious 2024 Katha Awards, which recognizes excellence and innovation within the food industry.
Winners of this year’s Katha Awards exhibited their products in the International Food Exhibition (IFEX) Philippines 2024. To ensure that their visitors’ time during the event was a memorable one, Baken set up an entire multi-sensory experience and journey made up of three special pop-ups.
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100% Bacon Goodness
Guests began their journey at Baken House, a sleek space that showcased Baken’s full range of products (alongside its shining Katha Awards plaque). These include the Real Bacon Crisps, Bacon Cookies, and Bacon Jam, which all feature high quality, unique flavors, and nicely-designed packaging.
Front and center of Baken’s products is its Real Bacon Crisps: premium-cut pork that’s baked and seasoned with precision to retain the meat’s moisture and flavor. Perfectly balanced in its fat-to-meat ratio, the crisps offer the full taste of bacon without being overly unctuous.
The crisps are a result of CEO Rachel Carrasco’s desire to create products that offer the meat staple in its purest, snackable form without artificial substitutions. Meanwhile, Baken’s Bacon Cookies and Bacon Jam both play with the classic sweet and savory combo, and it just works every time. The cookies’ rich chocolate intermingles with the salt and smoke of the bacon crisps, while the jam is a perfect blend of tart, sweet, and savory.
Growing up with the comforting taste of bacon, and further inspired by her fellow Filipinos’ inherent love for pork, Carrasco turned her dream into a reality with a project that’s equal parts life mission and passion-fueled pursuit. Working with some of the country’s leading food technicians in research and development (R&D), the intrepid CEO is set on establishing trailblazing, proudly Filipino products that redefine what food can be.
A Tasting Menu of Meaty Delights
Next is the Baken Cafe, where guests had a taste of Baken’s treats. To showcase the versatility of its range, Baken partnered with Chef Chele Gonzelez and Chef Carlos Villaflor, the pair incorporating the brand’s three products into full-fledged dishes.
For general trade visitors, the chefs reimagined the range into a gourmet tasting flight consisting of three snacks. The other side of the cafe served as an intimate space where I—alongside other guests—got to experience Baken’s mouthwatering, VIP menu. We sampled Baken’s three products to taste them on their own, and before trying their drink, appetizer, main, and dessert iterations, their quality evident from the very first bite. The crisps had just the right crunch and flavor, while the cookie and jam created delightfully playful salty-sweet combinations.
The IFEX-exclusive VIP menu consisted of Bacon in a Glass (a savory cocktail made up of dark rum, Campari, and Vermouth with a Real Bacon Crisps rim); Bacon & Eggs (Real Bacon Crisps and Bacon Jam with honey-cured ham, mozzarella, cheddar, and hollandaise sauce on a buttery tartlet); Bacon Bomb (crunchy, fried bechamel croquettes with a wonderfully soft and creamy inside, served with Bacon Jam, garlic aioli, and Real Bacon Crisps); Holy Baken! (a bacon and cheese sandwich of sourdough bread, jalapeños, Bacon Jam, and Real Bacon Crisps); and PB&B (a twist on the beloved PB&J sandwich, this time made up of a Bacon Cookie with a topping of velvety parmesan mousse, peanut butter, and salted caramel sauce).
Altogether, the collaborative menus let the full range of Baken’s products shine through, highlighting their wide range of uses as snacks and ingredients. The dishes combined contrasting textures and flavors with aplomb, Baken’s treats a testament to how bacon can transcend its usual role in breakfast meals.
Baken caught the attention of a number of prominent figures, who stopped by to try its tasty treats during their IFEX visit. These include Geir Michalsen (Deputy Head of Mission, Norway), Rangsant Srimangkorn (Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission, Thailand), and Senator Mark Villar, to name a few.
Guests also enjoyed playing with a claw machine at the sidelines of the cafe. They each got a chance to bring home Baken’s iconic snacks after sharing photos of themselves in the three Baken spaces on Facebook and Instagram.
Playful Shopping
The final stop was the Baken Grocer, where Baken’s products were showcased in a stylish, convenient vending machine (emblematic of the brand’s innovative appeal). This retail area served as a visibility space to potential traders and buyers in the exhibition.
Through its enticing IFEX exhibition, Baken has shown that their products aren’t just tasty on-the-go or movie night snacks, but also full-fledged ingredients for amazing meals in themselves. They’re also proof that, despite certain trends or changes in today’s society, bacon is clearly here to stay as the delectable, versatile, and ever-reliable treat that it is.
Currently, Baken is available in major outlets in the Philippines such as One World Deli, Landers, Brera, Terry’s Selection, The Seven Pantry, LazMall and many more.
You can also visit their online store, shopbaken.com, with available shipping to Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Watch out for Baken’s availability in export markets soon.
