Spam is a canned meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation in (among other places) Austin, Minnesota, USA (aka Spam Town USA).

Although Spam is simply a meat product, it has gained a peculiar infamy out of all proportion for a mere grocery store item, and has even entered into folklore and legend.

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.

Like most other luncheon meats, Spam is precooked. However, Spam is often pan-fried or otherwise heated through again to impart a pleasing texture and flavor.

As of 1997 there were over 5 billion tins sold. ^*

Name origin

Other explanations of the origin of the term include the definitions "Spiced Pork And haM" and "SPare hAM". Many jocular backronyms have been devised, such as "Something Posing As Meat.", p. 244: "Hilary and Monica" ask if it's true that SPAM stands for "Sphincter-Purée-and-Membranes" when they thought it stood for "Spare-Parts-Already-Minced." Ruby Ann replies that it doesn't, nor does it stand for "Something Posing As Meat."

The humorous radio show Ask Dr. Science claimed it is an acronym for "Scientifically Produced Animal Matter", a product of the food synthesis experiments of the 1950s, whose "closest living relative was the Velveeta, a kind of synthetic jellyfish."

According to Hormel's trademark guidelines, Spam should be spelled with all capital letters and treated as an adjective, as in the phrase SPAM luncheon meat. As with many other trademarks, such as Xerox or Kleenex, people often refer to similar meat products as "spam".

International usage

In the United States, the residents of the state of Hawaii and the territory of Guam consume the most Spam per capita. On average, each person on Guam consumes 16 tins of spam each year. Guam and Hawaii have the only McDonald's restaurants that feature Spam on the menu. One popular Spam dish in Hawaii is Spam musubi, in which cooked Spam is combined with rice and nori seaweed and classified as onigiri. The curious popularity of Spam in Hawaii and Guam is explained by two factors: (1) It is an economical meat product, where most food is expensive because of high shipping costs to the islands, and (2) the presence of US troops there during World War II. Spam was one of the very few meat products allowed in Hawaii and Guam during that time due to shortages and scarcity of modern refrigerated shipping.

In the United Kingdom Spam is a popular addition to the menu of fish and chip shops, where slices are battered and deep-fried and are known as 'Spam Fritters'.

In South Korea, Spam gained popularity following the Korean War and the large presence of American troops there. It became a staple ingredient of "budae-chiggae" - literally "military post stew" - a composite of various meats and vegetables and hot pepper sauce that remains a very popular South Korean dish, especially in late night eateries. The main ingredient of budae-chiggae is Spam (or some similar meat product), something that was relatively easily procured from American military posts at a time when any other meat was prohibitively expensive.

In Okinawa, Spam has become very popular for much the same reason as in Hawaii. Spam is even used in traditional Okinawan dish Chanpurū, and there is also a Spam burger sold by local fast food chain Jef.

In China, Spam is also a rather popular food item, being served as a sort of Western cuisine. It is used in sandwiches.

In Greece, Spam is often called "Godzilla" or "Godzilla meat" by army conscripts, the characterism humorously implying an "unknown origin" with regards to the ingredients.

It is also a favorite among the people of Saipan (part of a U.S. insular area), of the Philippines, of Okinawa, and among Pacific Islanders.

Premier Nikita Khrushchev credited donations of American supplies of Spam for the ability of the Soviet Union to feed the Red Army during World War II.

Spam celebrations

The Spam Jam is not to be confused with SPAMARAMA, which is a yearly festival held on April Fool's Day in Austin, Texas. The theme of SPAMARAMA is gentle parody of Spam, rather than straightforward celebration: the event at the heart of the festival is a Spam cook-off that originated as a challenge to produce an appetizing recipe for the meat. The festival includes light sporting activities and numerous musical acts, in addition to the cook-off.

Popular culture

Monty Python sketch and internet spam

Spam was one of the few meat products excluded from the British food rationing that began in World War II (and continued for a number of years after the war), and the British grew heartily tired of it. The British comedy troupe Monty Python used this as the context for their Spam sketch, which gave rise to the term spam as the common term for unsolicited bulk electronic messages. Hormel does not object to the term, but insists that it be spelled in lower case so as to distinguish it from its capitalized Spam trademark. Hormel objects to Spam's "product identity" (for example, images of Spam cans) being used in relation to spamming, and has filed lawsuits against companies which have attempted to trademark words containing "spam".

The Monty Python musical Spamalot opened on Broadway in New York City in early 2005. It combines themes of the quest for the Holy Grail and Spam. As of April 2005, it was sold out for most performances. Hormel released a collector's edition "honey" Spam in connection with the musical.

Other references

The Internet also spawned the not-so-subtle art form of Spam Haiku; see for example The Spam Haiku Archive.

"Weird Al" Yankovic recorded a song called "Spam" that is a parody of the R.E.M. song "Stand". The song's lyrics are all about the world-famous luncheon meat and the singer's apparent obsession with the product. The song is included on the soundtrack album for Yankovic's film UHF.

Save Ferris also recorded a song parody called "Spam" on their album "It Means Everything" that says "it's pink and it's oval" and "it's made in Chernobyl".

The 1996 movie Muppet Treasure Island featured a character who was a chieftain islander pig named "Spa'am". Hormel Foods Corporation sued Jim Henson Productions over the name in a court case that Hormel Foods eventually lost before the film was released.

In Hawaii, Spam is often jokingly referred to as "Spare Parts of Anonymous Mammals".

According to comedian Bill Engvall, Spam stands for Stuff Posing As Meat as heard in his album Dork Fish Drunk Food.

The TV series M*A*S*H frequently made fun of the many uses of the product.

In a suite of short songs called "An Hour In The Shower" (the part called a Hard Risin' Morning Without Breakfast) by Chicago, the narrator mentions his love for Spam.

Trivia

A Spammobile travels around the country.

Two NASCAR Winston Cup drivers have driven cars with Spam sponsorship: Lake Speed,#9, in 1995-1996, and Mike Wallace, #91, for several races in 1997.

References