The History of Our Favortie Mystery Meat:Spam!

Cheezy the Wiz

Socialist In A Hurry
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The History of Spam

Throughout the ages, there have been few foods that hold the reputation of Spam. Spam is regarded both with absolute contempt, and undying gratitude. It is the food that helped win World War II. Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev credited the allies' supply of Spam to the Soviet Army as one of the reasons the Russians triumphed over Naziism.

Spam is canned by the Hormel Company, just as it has been since 1937. The labeled ingredients in the original variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat with ham meat added, salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrite. Other varieties of Spam differ; Spam Lite contains pork and chicken, and Spam Oven Roasted Turkey is a halaal food, meaning that it is allowed under Islamic law, and is especially popular in Muslim markets. It also comes in a low-salt variety.

So as you can see, it has adapted to fit the various economic environments it encounters. Perhaps that is one reason why Spam has been so successful. Today, Spam is marketed in 41 different countries, and over 5 Billion tins have been sold. The largest consumers of Spam are the United States, United Kingdom, and South Korea.


There are many, many theories behind the origin of the name SPAM. They include, but are not limited to:

"Spoiled ham"
"Synthetically produced artificial meat"
"Steam pressed amalgamated meat"
"Some parts are meat"
"Specially processed American meat"
"Someone's pigs are missing"
"Stuff posing as meat"
"Slime posing as meat"
"Specialy Processed Army Meat"
"Something Posing As Meat"
"Spare parts and animal mucus"
"meat left over from the Spanish American War"
"Salt poisoning and more"
"Squirrels possums and mice"
"Spiced Pork And haM"
"SPare hAM"


However, the true origin of the name is a man named George Savoy, but the credit goes to Kenneth Daigneau. A contest was held, in the late 1930s, to come up with a more appealing and more easily remembered name for the pink meat. At the time it was marketed as Hormel Spiced Ham. It is generally agreed upon that SPAM is an acronym for Spiced Pork and hAM.

Spam, for all it's impact on our history, has been repaid in full throughout our populr culture. There is a Spam Museum in Austin, Minnesota. Numerous songs, stories, sketches, and even characters have been named after, or somehow based on, the beloved spiced meat. In fact, Spam is on the McDonald's menu in Hawaii, which is the most Spam-consuming state in the Union; it is estimated that the average Hawaiian consumes 16 cans of Spam every year.

In conclusion, Spam has had an undeniable affect on the course of history, from its initiation as a disgusting food given to allied troops (and British citizens) in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and even today, and a friendly canned, spiced ham and pork pick glob that can be counted on to have that same nasty taste, can after can, year after year.

A salute to you, mighty Spam! May you live on, for as many years as you can be tolerated.

:salute: :salute: :salute: :salute: :salute:


Cheezy the Wiz
 
:dubious: You are officially nutz. I'm confused by this, and this is one of the most relevant spammy posts I have ever seen. I hope that you are happy. Good lord! :rolleyes:

Edit-Umm... As Ordered by His Highness, I shall make this a better post.

Nonetheless, that's a very complete, concise and excellent history. I didn't know any of that about spam. Thanks for helping clear up many of the mystries about everyone's favorite meat-by-product.
 
So it's true then, spam really does get everywhere ;)

Nonetheless, a pretty informative post on what is undoubtably CfC's most talked about food.
 
Forgive him, he has only been here since 05...

"Humour" around the word "spam" is long used up.
 
America was built on Spam and Kraft American Cheese sandwiches in Wonder Bread, smeared with Hellmans 'Real' Mayonaise, and washed down with room temperature Kool-Aid:salute:
 
Bozo Erectus said:
America was built on Spam and Kraft American Cheese sandwiches in Wonder Bread, smeared with Hellmans 'Real' Mayonaise, and washed down with room temperature Kool-Aid:salute:

Don't forget a twinkie for desert!
 
Spam is realy big in the Hawiian islands. They do all kinds of weird stuff with it.
 
Bozo Erectus said:
America was built on Spam and Kraft American Cheese sandwiches in Wonder Bread, smeared with Hellmans 'Real' Mayonaise, and washed down with room temperature Kool-Aid:salute:

And you guys wonder why your Jeans don't fit :rolleyes: na I'm kidding w'ere all porkers too, well not in quite the same league but we're catching up.

Don't forget internet SPAM, where would good long winded threads of rational and thoughtful prose be without the occasional piece of spam.:salute:
 
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