Food History: SPAM

SPAM sushi and Korean "army base stew" are maybe not the first dishes to pop into your head when you hear the mysterious acronym "SPAM." But people have a way of turning lemons into lemonade, and there's no better example of that then the sealed mystery meat phenomenon.

Food History is a show all about... well, the history of food. Join host Justin Dodd as he brings you the stories of how your favorite meals ended up on your plate. Today, we're talking SPAM. What does SPAM stand for anyway?

[katherinelynch]

My favorite fact about SPAM is that their parent company, Hormel Foods, once sued Henson Productions for defaming their brand with the evil boar Spa-am in Muppet Treasure Island.

[y_fam_goeglyd]

On seeing the thumbnail I was transported back to watching Monty Python's spam sketch/song (and the 70s when it was a fairly regular thing to eat because of the convenience). Python was the best thing about spam.

[kimberlypatton]

As a Southern child, I grew up eating and loving Spam! Regular Spam, not any of the weird flavors out now.Fried with a golden crust with a breakfast of eggs & grits, or plain out of the can, sliced on a sandwich with yellow mustard.It is wonderful! We also ate scads of scrapple, potted meat/mustard sandwiches and canned corned beef as well. it is delicious made into hors- hor d' ouvres with olives, pickle, pineapple pcs etc on toothpicks.I was born in 1960 and I still remember opening the can using the "key" stuck onto the top of the can with a dollop of sticky stuff, and you place the tab on the can into the slot on the key and used it to them twist off the thin strip of metal around the can to release the top off near the top.This was kind of scary and dangerous - that strip could cut you ud you weren't careful, and sometimes that coil of metal would come off the key at any given place and I would just go get my dad's needle nose to finish opening it.! It isn't that hard these days thank goodness!

[Isaac-ghku]

In Malaysia, we have something called luncheon meat. That made me wonder if that is what SPAM is called in our country or it's another variation of SPAM since the SPAM meat from the US look similar to our local luncheon meat.

Local canned luncheon meat is not only square shape, but there's also round shape canned luncheon meat.

[alexhurst]

My mom grew up in WWII England. For years the only meat she got was Spam. All the fresh meat, and fresh food in general, went to the military. She freaking LOVES Spam, so do I.

[Ericaodd]

Lots of great recipes for it!

Egg and Spam
Egg, bacon, and Spam
Egg, bacon, sausage, and Spam
Spam, bacon, sausage, and Spam
Spam, egg, Spam, Spam, bacon, and Spam
Spam, Spam, Spam, egg, and Spam
Spam, sausage, Spam, Spam, Spam, bacon, Spam, tomato, and Spam
Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam, baked beans, Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam
Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce, garnished with truffle pâté, brandy, and a fried egg on top, and Spam.

[mizusenshisongs]

I knew about SPAM being popular in Hawaii but not in Korea! You learn something every day I guess.

Apparently you can eat SPAM with eggs for breakfast. I learned that from listening to old episodes of some radio show (Burns and Allen I think) that was sponsored by SPAM.

[lear]

I just mentioned to my wife last night that we hadn't had Spam for a long time.
Maybe we'll have Lobster Thermidor aux Crevette with a mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam, although I'm not sure about the egg.

All credit to Micheal Palin and the late, great Terry Jones.

[old-moose]

Growing up, my favorite soup was potato soup with diced Spam. I lived on a Montana cattle ranch at the time but preferred Spam over any other kind of meat. I think that was when my parents decided that I had hit my head once too often, or not often enough. ;-) I still love Spam 75 years later.

[erikrick]

There is an Okinawan dish called Goya Champuru that is often made with Spam. Super easy to make and DE-licious

[grahamrankin]

In the 50s, my mother would bake spam like she did canned ham: stuck with whole cloves. Occasionally she would slice and fry it as a sub for bacon.

[koreanelvis]

As a Korean, born and raised in Hawai’i, my favorite is kimchi fried rice; can’t have it without the SPAM!!!

[Washu]

I will have the Lobster Thermidor aux crevettes with a Mornay sauce, garnished with truffle pâté, brandy, and a fried egg on top, and Spam.

[rachelarmstrong]

In Australia around the 70’s as kids I ate SPAM. I hated the jelly remember eating it a fair bit and there was other dearer canned meats. However in outback Australia I ate a LOT of canned foods and powered milk. Being at least 1000km away from a major city back then there wasn’t much fresh food. Dad did grow what he could and we had chickens. Love fresh food and the technology we have now.

[stevebowden]

I smoke Spam on a Big Green Egg. It started on a whim as I was smoking ribs, chicken and sausage for a work lunch. I happened to grab a can of low sodium Spam and I rubbed my house made rub and put it in the fridge over night. The next day I tossed it on with the ribs, et al. It cooked quicker than the rest and in about 3-4 hours I felt I needed to take it off. I left it on the counter to rest. As I went to continue with the rest of the meat i was smoking. After a bit, I decided to give it a try, It was amazing, truly a Eureka moment. I brought the rest with the BBQ I was bringing to the office. About 8-10 of my work/lunch buddies gathered for a BBQ feast. To a man they were offered the Spam and nobody wanted any. I was able to persuade one or two to try it and they were aghast at how wonderful it was. Pretty soon, everyone was trying it and everyone was shocked at how good it was. Even my wife who hated the idea of Spam with her very being tried it and was amazed at how good it was. I now how a specialty sandwich, smoked Spam with BBQ Sauce, a small scoop of cole slaw and pickles on a potato roll. It is an amazing sandwich.

[peggywoods]

I was inspired one winter when I had some Hawaiian neighbors to try my hand at making musubi. I did some research and some shopping. I got thumbs up all around, even though I had never been to Hawaii or tasted musubi. I used the teriyaki SPAM. It was nice to know that I could get a taste of Hawaii even deep in the Rockies.

[hbanana]

Upon seeing the topic, I knew that Budae Jjigae and Spam Musubi would make an appearance.

[Darxide]

The best part of Spam was the free jelly that came with it. Now they took that way, what's the point?

[Discopuss]

LOL I've lived in SKorea and Guam where spam is quite popular. I've never eaten the stuff myself, but can confirm it's great as chum if you want to snorkel with tropical fish on a coral reef.

[morecats]

I wonder if it might have been inspired by "head cheese", made in Italy from pig's head and assorted scraps, then chilled in a cheese mold. Lots of gelatin, delicious. My memories of Spam: camping with family, in the 1960s, with a leaky canvas tent, mosquitoes and Kraft mac and cheese with Spam for dinner.