Generous Bacony Goodness

Justin and Dave are "Bacontrepreneurs" who chose Mercy Corps as their charity of choice. Photo: courtesy of Dave Lefkow and Justin Esch

Everything should taste like bacon. Even charity. Like their product, Dave Lefkow and Justin Esch's donations to Mercy Corps are particularly tasty.

The two former technology professionals hit upon a simple concept - "everything should taste like bacon" - during a dinner in Miami and decided to create Bacon Salt, a kosher and vegetarian-friendly product that spices up anything - even dreaded vegetables - with the flavor of bacon.

If creating a meat-free bacon flavoring weren't reason enough to praise these two men, they have also put a bevy of merchandise featuring the Bacon Salt logo for sale on their site, the proceeds of which are being donated to Mercy Corps.

The duo are offering t-shirts and hats featuring the Bacon Salt logo, as well as a poster which features an American flag with strips of bacon where the stripes should be. Although it is good advertising for their product, Lefkow and Esch wanted to give people some extra incentive to pick something up.

"We don't need to reap the profits from [additional merchandising]," says co-creator Lefkow, "We wanted to come up with best use of these funds and we decided, ‘Let's donate to an organization that will help other people and do something good for people.' We did not want it to just be for our own gratification."

Lefkow chose Mercy Corps as the recipient of these funds because, as a donor, he "really liked that you can give directly to specific causes. You can decide where the money can go."

Charity never tasted so good.