Where you think there is bacon, there are not even hooks for it.

Understand the thought

Meaning in plain English

An expected benefit may have no real basis. The missing bacon hooks make the disappointment sharper: check what supports a promising expectation before assuming the reward is available.

What the words are saying

The observer imagines bacon, but the place lacks even the hooks on which it might hang. The image moves from an anticipated abundance to the absence of its supporting arrangement. In another setting, a promising opportunity may have been assumed rather than established. Ask what has actually been offered and what evidence supports it. The saying need not make every expectation foolish or every invitation deceptive. Its value is in separating a hopeful picture from the conditions that would have to exist for that picture to be realised.

Everyday example

A community group checks whether a promised venue is actually available before printing invitations that depend on using it.

When to use it

Use it when a hoped-for advantage is being treated as an established fact.

Agent-assisted editorial interpretation. This explains the words; it does not by itself verify their author or earliest origin.