In retrospect, the bacon fad shares a lot with the 80's fad and Anchorman. Anchorman was an objectively terrible movie. Everything about it rots your brain. Just like the 80's do, and just like how bacon clogs your arteries.
And yet, all three had that remarkable staying power as fads because they're each annoyingly good at just one thing. For bacon, it's that special mix of salt, fat, and smokiness; plus, its geometry makes it very flexible as an “extra topping” or for wrapping things with. For Anchorman, it was all the absurd non-sequiturs that nevertheless lent themselves to being quotable (Napoleon Dynamite falls in this category too). For the 80's, it's because "Don't Stop Believing" is in a key and register that's really easy for groups of drunk sorority girls to sing karaoke to.