During desperate times when civilians in many countries were near starvation, cans of Spam were
a priceless godsend that saved millions of people.
Their convenience, durability, and high-calorie content made it ideal for feeding American
soldiers during the Second World War.
No one could predict how people across the world would fall in love with Spam.
Over eight billion cans have been sold in 44 countries since their creation.
What many didn't realize is that they were eating the most unwanted cut of meat.
How did the cheapest, most unprofitable meat turn into an iconic American meal?
The story of Spam and Hormel foods begins with George A.
Hormel, born in 1860, in Buffalo, New York.
He was the third child born to John George and Susanna Decker, German
immigrants who met in America.
When George was around five-years-old, the family moved to Toledo, Ohio.
They went with his uncle Christian Hormel and a family friend, Ferdinand Heyer.
Ferdinand was a German immigrant and worked with John George at a leather tannery in Buffalo.
In Toledo, Christian, Ferdinand, and John George opened their own tannery.
They called it "Hormel & Heyer," and made leather from sheepskins.
George worked at the tannery after school and on the weekends, along with Ferdinand’s sons.
After several years of operation, the business ran into trouble when the financial panic hit.
The depression caused a huge decline in business, and 12-year-old George left school
to find another job and help his family.
He spent some time working at a meat market, where he picked up many skills.
He trimmed meat, made sausage, and sold and delivered orders.
But George could not stand working for his boss, who he called “brutal and tyrannical.”
His boss was so awful that George quit.
Afterward, George worked at a cargo dock, lumber yard, and railroad company
before returning to the meat industry.
His uncle, Jacob Decker, had a meat market in Chicago, the center of
the country’s pork packing industry.
There, George worked 14-hours a day, six days a week, learning how to process and pack meat.
George stayed at his uncle’s meat market until he was 19 since he was unhappy
with his low wage of $1.25 a day.
Along with his co-worker and fellow German American, Gus Wollering,
George then decided to leave the city.
The two wound up buying one-way train tickets to Kansas City since the prices were cheap and
the city had a bustling livestock industry.
When George arrived in Kansas City, he struggled to find a new job quickly.
It wasn’t until weeks later that he was finally hired as a wool buyer.
But unfortunately, his turn of luck didn’t last long.
George’s boss stole $100,000 dollars of company funds and ran off.
Unemployed, George went back to Chicago and worked for a hide dealer where he unloaded shipments.
The work was exhausting, and he was about to quit when he was offered a job as a
traveling hide buyer for the company.
He moved to Des Moines, Iowa, for the job and wound up traveling all around Iowa and Minnesota.
After several years, George grew tired of always moving around.
One night when he was visiting his family in Toledo, his father asked him, “When are you going to begin
working at something you can show me in 30 years?”
Being back at home also made George realize that he missed having a community around him.
He wanted to be part of a family, settle down, and start a business of his own, but he had
no idea what type of business to go into.
George had the idea to open a butcher shop in Des Moines.
He wrote to Gus and asked if his friend would consider going into the business together.
Unfortunately, Gus decided against it.
Years later, George decided to finally venture on his own.
While on a work trip in Austin, Minnesota, George discovered one of the customers owned
a meat market that had burned down recently.
The owner, Anton Friedrich, had rebuilt the store, but he didn’t want to run the business anymore.
George decided to seize the opportunity to take over.
He borrowed $500 from his boss and bought Anton’s share in Austin’s meat market.
George also went into business with Anton’s son, Albrecht Friedrich, and together, they
opened the Friedrich and Hormel meat market.
Unfortunately, the new partnership would not last long.
Four years after founding Friedrich and Hormel, George and Albrecht
decided to end their partnership.
Neither of them could agree on how to run the store.
After parting ways, George used the money received to open a packinghouse on the outskirts of Austin.
He named the business, Geo.
A.
Hormel and Company.
For years, George carefully tracked operations at his previous meat market.
Over time, he learned that pork had the least waste and the highest profit potential
since each part of the pig could be used.
Because of this, George decided to specialize in pork packing.
At the time, a handful of companies called the Big Five were already
dominating the meatpacking industry.
These companies processed about 12 million animals annually, while George
only managed 610 in his first year.
To make his mark, George focused on quality, innovation, and cutting down on waste.
He also worked in every area of his packinghouse — purchasing, slaughtering, trimming and grading
meat, selling, and even cleaning the pigpens.
Only two years after expanding, another financial crisis struck and
George found his company in trouble.
At the same time, the Big Five began to invade George’s territory.
In hopes of bringing in more sales, George resorted to borrowing money from
a friend to open two more meat markets.
With help from his family and new employees, George was able to expand his company outside the Midwest,
to Minneapolis, Chicago, San Antonio, and Atlanta.
George also began exporting his products to Europe, and after 20 years in business, the
company managed to bring in sales in the millions.
Eventually, George took a step back from handling the company’s day-to-day operations and placed
his son, Jay, in charge as acting president.
Around this time, Jay traveled to Germany and, on the recommendation of a friend, connected
with a meat processing plant owner: Paul Jorn.
Upon meeting, Jay discovered that Paul had come up with a method to cure and seal entire hams in cans.
Sensing an opportunity, Jay persuaded Paul to come to America and create a canned
ham product for his father’s company.
One year later, George A.
Hormel & Company released America’s first canned whole ham product, named Hormel Flavor Sealed Ham.
The release of the product catapulted the company onto the national food scene
and led to quickly offering more canned products like spiced ham and whole chicken.
At this time, George decided it was time to retire and handed ownership of the company to Jay.
Under Jay’s leadership, the company, later renamed Hormel Foods, expanded into ready-to-eat products.
They released a line of canned soups, stews, chili, and spaghetti and meatballs, but
its most famous product was yet to come.
When the Great Depression hit, sales of Hormel’s canned products dropped.
Jay decided to develop a new product.
Taking after his father who always focused on cutting waste, he decided to use pork shoulder — an
unwanted and unprofitable cut that was in surplus.
The company also decided to package the meat in 12-ounce can sizes, so that
they would be easy to prepare at home.
After hosting a contest for the best product name, Jay chose Spam, which is rumored to come from either
the words spiced ham or shoulder of pork and ham.
Spam was launched during the final years of the depression.
It was a cheap source of protein, sold at 29 cents a can, and could be
stored for years without refrigeration.
Spam could also be prepared in many ways, baked, fried, boiled, or braised.
In advertisements, Hormel targeted homemakers and highlighted the different meals that could
be made with Spam and how they could be made with little preparation and very quickly.
Over time, Spam became very popular amongst Americans, especially for breakfast or lunch.
However, it wasn’t until the Second World War that Spam was catapulted into the international scene.
During this time, the U.S.
military shipped many canned meats, including over 100 million cans of Spam, to troops in the Pacific.
Spam became a cornerstone of the troops’ diet because it was inexpensive, filling, and portable.
However, many soldiers grew tired of canned meat since they were eating it three times a day.
Some resented it so much they sent hate mail to Hormel and called Spam “ham that didn’t
pass its physical,” “meatloaf without basic training,” and “the reason war is hell.”
Meanwhile, back home, civilians also began to get bored of canned meat.
Rationing and meat shortages meant that alternatives like Spam were the only protein
families had — leading to Spam being pushed from the center of a meal to a side ingredient.
The Spam craze in America had faded.
But elsewhere in the world, people were discovering it for the first time.
In each country that they were stationed, American soldiers introduced the canned meat to locals.
At the same time, Spam was included in aid packages to Europe and Russia.
Its versatility and long shelf-life, even in the heat, made it valuable during tough times.
In Guam, Japan, and Korea, civilians were near starvation due to the war
and cans of Spam were a priceless help.
Meanwhile, in the Philippines, people fled from the Japanese military and resisted occupation for years.
When American troops arrived, they would give cans of Spam to locals or
exchange them for items like fresh eggs.
Back in America, Japanese Americans were being relocated to internment camps due to prejudices.
But in Hawaii, there was such a significant Japanese American population
that they couldn't all be detained.
Instead, the U.S.
government imposed restrictions such as banning deep-sea fishing — one of the most
important sources of meat for the islands.
Canned meats like Spam became a crucial source of protein.
Later, in Korea, Spam became even more important during the Korean War.
Due to massive food shortages, hungry locals lined up outside American military bases
to buy leftovers, while some scavenged abandoned bases for something to eat.
They were often given or found Spam, which was used to create a dish that evolved into
a comfort food: budae jjigae, or “army stew”.
Like in Korea, Spam was integrated into other countries’ cuisines since it was often the
only meat available during and post-war.
In Japan, Spam was used in onigiri rice balls and stir-fries, such as the classic goya chanpuru.
In the Philippines, Spam was used for a variety of dishes, like spamsilog, pan de
sal, spam tocino, spam adobo, and caldereta.
In Hong Kong, Spam was used for stir-fries, noodles, and soups, such as the Spam and egg macaroni soup.
Meanwhile in Hawaii, Spam became a staple food.
There, Spam was used for omelets, noodle soups, and rice dishes, such as
the now famous musubi and loco moco.
Back at Hormel, the company capitalized on the revival of Spam by introducing new products:
The Spamburger, Spam Lite, Spam Hot and Spicy, Spam with Bacon, Spam Teriyaki,
Spam Jalapeño, and Spam Spread.
Today, Spam continues to be produced by Hormel and can be found in countless
grocery stores across America.
The product can also be spotted in many trendy restaurant menus.
In San Francisco, the Liholiho Yacht Club offers a fried rice dish with uni and Spam.
In Los Angeles, Animal serves foie gras and Spam.
And in New York, Noreetuh offers a pasta dish with burgundy truffles and Spam.
Spam also continues to be embraced and widely popular worldwide.
In Hawaii, a Spam festival takes place every year — attracting tens of thousands of people.
In addition, Hawaiians consume over seven million cans per year.
However, the Spam capital of the world is Guam, where the average local eats
an average of 16 cans every year.
While Spam may still be seen as a cheap source of protein, costing around $3 in America, it’s
considered a luxury food item in some countries.
In fact, in South Korea, Spam is one of the most desirable and classiest
gifts to give out during the holidays.
And in the Philippines, Spam is a popular item in care packages sent from American relatives.
This is the story of how unwanted cuts of pork saved millions of people from starvation and
became a staple of several cuisines — leading to the product becoming world-famous and
bringing in billions of dollars in sales.