Whether you eat it or not, SPAM is a part of our pop culture. When I was growing up, you knew what SPAM was – a mystery meat that came in a can, but still managed to taste good. SPAM was born in 1937 and was originally called Hormel Spiced Ham. Kenneth Daigneau placed the entry “SPAM” in a contest to rename the product and the rest is history. You may be wondering…what exactly is SPAM? According to Hormel’s web page, it is a mixture of chopped pork shoulder with ham added, salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrite. It doesn’t seem like a bad combination, but somewhere along the way, SPAM got a bad wrap. Famed British comedian group Monty Python made fun of it in one of their better-known skits. Somehow, that annoying email we get that we never asked for became known as spam. People who send it, spammers, are often thought of as the bane of civilization.
Hormel has taken several steps in an attempt to restore SPAM’s good name. They opened the SPAM Museum, which is located in Austin, Minnesota. Opened in 2001, the SPAM Museum covers 16,500 square feet and has interactive, educational games for kids, amusing exhibits, and even video presentations. Hormel also sends out a fleet of their SPAMMOBILES to spread the good word of SPAM (and give out free samples). If that is not enough, you can join the SPAM fan club. If you are not quite sure what to do with SPAM, don’t worry! Hormel has a number of recipes (SPAM stroganoff anyone?) listed on their web site.
For some reason, cities named Austin seem to love SPAM. Austin, Texas has been hosting SPAMarama, a celebration of SPAM, for the past 28 years. This festival includes the SPAMALYLMICS with such events as the SPAM disc shoot, a SPAM call (like a hog call), a SPAM can relay, and a SPAMBURGER eating contest. Of course, there is the celebrated SPAM Cook-Off, featuring two divisions, open and professional.
There seems to be two groups of people: those that love SPAM and those that hate it. Personally, I find it quite tasty for sandwiches and since it has been around for almost 70 years, I don’t think SPAM is going anywhere.