In America, commercially sold bacon is almost always made from pork belly, a very fatty cut of meat. This is true, more or less, in Canada, too, despite what is called Canadian bacon in the US. Canadian bacon IS called bacon in French but is actually sliced pork shoulder cured like ham, not like bacon. In French, any cured pork that isn't ham is bacon. :) It's just a marketing thing to call sliced, cured pork shoulder "Canadian bacon" since US law (sometimes) defines ham as coming from the hind quarter of the pig. If it isn't sliced, butchers and meatpackers will call smoked and cured pork shoulder "picnic ham" as opposed to "banquet ham" which is a much larger chunk of meat.

Strictly speaking, ham comes only from the back portion of the rear leg of the animal, just above the knee and below the hip joint. That's where YOUR ham is, too and the tendon that connects that muscle to the lower leg is the hamstring.

In the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, bacon is generally made from sidemeat which is less fatty than pork belly, or from fatback or pork loin. In the US, those cuts are generally eaten either fresh or just salted, not cured. As a farm kid, I've eaten a lot of sidemeat and fatback, fresh or salted, often used as flavoring in soups, stews and vegetable dishes but also fried like bacon, sometimes with the crackling (skin) still attached. Pork loin is usually eaten as pork chops in the US.

Curing is also different in North America than in the rest of the world but there is a lot of variation and overlap. It's possible to get bacon in the US that is uncured, just salted (brined) and perhaps smoked. It's awfully good that way but it won't keep as long, even in the refrigerator, as the cured stuff which has been exposed to other salts and processes.

You can sometimes find canned Danish bacon in the US; this is similar to the meat called bacon in the UK. (In fact, Danish bacon from Danish-raised pigs is sold in the UK, too.) It's leaner than the the American-style stuff we usually get stateside and requires a bit more care in cooking if you want it to get really crisp.

The only person I know who likes their American-style bacon literally burned to a crisp is a transplanted Brit from Hampshire. :) He likes his toast burnt, too. I make a nice bacon sandwich with lettuce, onion, egg and cheese on sourdough toast--sometimes made with ham or even turkey bacon.

It's all good if you are into flavorful meats. :)

Hugs,
Erin