Spam is everywhere.
But how much do you really know about the world's most ubiquitous mystery meat?
From turning the tide in World War Two to saving the population of Hawaii, here's a
look at what you should really know about Spam.
There are plenty of guesses to what Spam actually stands for: Something Posing As Meat.
Specially Processed American Meat.
Slimy Processed Anemic Mucus?
But the real answer is even more mysterious: nobody actually knows.
According to the official SPAM website, the truth was probably only known to a few former
Hormel executives, but considering Spam was invented way back in 1937, the secret is probably
lost to us forever.
We do know how it was named, though.
According to Neatorama, Jay Hormel threw a party and told guests they'd each get a free
drink if they wrote down a potential name for the new canned meat.
One of the party-goers blurted out the name "Spam" and the rest is history.
Though Spam is considered the king of the mystery meats, it's actually no mystery at
all.
In fact, Spam only contains six simple ingredients: Pork, water, sugar, potato starch, sodium
nitrate, and, as anyone who has ever eaten Spam can tell you, a whole heck of a lot of
salt.
How much?
A single 2 ounce serving of Spam contains 790 milligrams of sodium, equal to a third
of your entire daily recommended intake.
Add in 16 grams of fat per serving and you have some idea why Spam isn't exactly considered
a health food.
The fact that Gordon Ramsay has a negative opinion of something isn't exactly breaking
news.
"I could cry.
What a joke.
Wow."
But he has a special place in his black heart for Spam.
On an episode of the British television series, Hotel GB, Ramsay recalled a dish from his
childhood, saying that his dislike for the canned meat is what led him to the kitchen.
"Sliced, disgusting f---ing Spam.
Did you grow up with that stuff?
I did.
I had Spam every Friday night.
I decided to cook for a living to stop eating so much s---."
Tell us how you really feel, Gordon!
It helped win the war
Soldiers on the front couldn't always get home cooking, but during World War II, Hormel
shipped tens of millions of cans of Spam overseas to feed the Allied troops.
Many of them got sick of eating Spam all the time, but despite that, Spam's contributions
to the war effort were widely praised.
Former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote in his memoir,
"There were many jokes going around in the army, some of them off-color, about American
Spam; it tasted good, nonetheless.
Without Spam, we wouldn't have been able to feed our army.
We had lost our most fertile lands."
And after the war, General Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote to a Hormel executive,
"I ate my share of Spam along with millions of other soldiers.
I'll even confess to a few unkind remarks about it, uttered during the strain of battle,
you understand.
But as former Commander in Chief, I believe I can still forgive you your only sin: Sending
us so much of it."
High praise for such a loathed product.
"One of the most beloved staples of Hawaiian cuisine, of course, is this guy…"
"Spam?"
"Oh, they're big Spam eaters.
They love it."
"Are you serious?"
Following the end of World War II, the U.S. government placed restrictions on Hawaii's
deep-sea fishing industry, which was largely worked by Japanese-Americans.
Food historian Rachel Laudan told Eater,
"Unlike the mainland, they couldn't intern all the Japanese [in Hawaii].
The economy would have collapsed.
Because islanders were no longer allowed to fish, one of the important sources of protein
for the islands vanished."
Without one of their main sources of protein, the population of Hawaii was in grave danger.
But they were saved thanks to a huge influx of Spam, which also contributed to fending
off starvation in war ravaged Korea and Japan.
To this day, Spam remains insanely popular in Hawaii, with residents eating more than
7 million cans each year.
"A new poll says Hawaii is the happiest state.
I think I know why-ee."
Monty Python's notorious 1970 "Spam" sketch not only turned the canned meat into a pop
culture phenomenon, it also led to the coining of the term "spam" in reference to unwanted
email.
According to Hormel's old website,
"Use of the term 'SPAM' was adopted as a result of the Monty Python skit in which a group
of Vikings sang a chorus of 'SPAM, SPAM, SPAM…' in an increasing crescendo, drowning out other
conversation.
Hence, the analogy applied because UCE (unsolicited commercial email) was drowning out normal
discourse on the internet."
Hormel has been a good sport about it all, though, even releasing a special edition can
of Spam for the Broadway debut of Monty Python's "Spamalot" musical.
"Could I have egg, bacon, Spam, and sausage without the Spam?"
"Yuuuch!"
Spam is an easy target for jokes, but the numbers prove that plenty of people actually
love it.
Since its introduction in 1937, over 8 billion cans of Spam have been sold around the world,
with 15 varieties offered in 44 countries.
Guam leads the way in Spam consumption, with the average citizen eating 16 cans per year.
So how does Hormel keep up with that kind of demand?
Technology.
Hormel processes Spam in 8,000 pound batches thanks to a special oven that can simultaneously
cook 66,000 cans of Spam.
That kind of volume allows Hormel to produce an astonishing 350 cans of Spam every single
minute.
"Pork shoulder and ham meat are taken from this picnic boning line and used for the manufacture
of Spam, the most popular luncheon mean in the country."
But the number that really shows how much people love Spam is one - which is how many
times someone has created a cocktail using Spam.
Chicago's Duck Inn designed the Spam Mai Tai, which uses baked Spam to infuse rum with that
signature canned meat flavor.
All we can say is: drink up!