All you EVER wanted to know about...
WHETHER you love it, hate it – or you’re not really sure what it is – it’s time to celebrate Spam.
This week is Spam Appreciation Week aimed at raising awareness of the meaty canned snack.
But how much do you know about the porky product? NADINE LINGE checks out a Spamalot of facts.
Spam was created by US company Hormel in 1937. The company had too much pork shoulder so came up with the idea to chop it up with ham and cook in the can to create a long-life product. Other ingredients include water, sugar, salt, potato starch and spices.
It became a staple for troops fighting in World War Two as it didn’t require refrigeration and it was difficult to get fresh supplies to the frontline.
More than 150million pounds of the stuff were bought by the military during the war.
It was introduced to the UK as a result of rationing and Newforge Food was awarded the licence to produce it at its factory in Liverpool from 1941 to 1998.
It was a common item on school menus and Margaret Thatcher referred to it as a “wartime delicacy”.
In the UK, we’ve come up with our own ways of eating it, including Spam fritters, where it is sliced, battered and deep-fried. Apart from a handful of Hormel execs, no-one knows what the name stands for. But most theories suggest it’s Spiced Ham or Spiced Pork and Ham. Today Spam is available in 41 countries and an incredible 44,000 cans are produced ever hour. The billionth can was sold in 1959, the seven billionth in 2007 and by 2012, the eight billionth tin had been sold.
In 1970, it made a lengthy appearance in a scene from Monty Python’s Flying Circus, set in a greasy spoon cafe with Spam in nearly every dish.
It finishes with The Spam Song – lyrics: “Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam/Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam.” Hawaii is one of the largest consumers of Spam, scoffing around 7million cans a year. It also appears at Hawaiian McDonald’s and on the menu at high-end restaurants. It’s so sought-after in Hawaii that there was a spate of Spam thefts in 2017. A popular Hawaiian serving method sees cooked Spam placed on rice and wrapped in a band of nori – a bit like Spam sushi.
The official Spam museum is located in Austin, Minnesota. The experts who lead tours are called Spambassadors and visitors can pack and seal a can of the stuff.
It’s also big in the Philippines where there’s a restaurant called Spam Jam which serves a whole menu of dishes featuring the meat. Popular items include Spam spaghetti, Spam eggs and a Spam gift set which is a prized wedding gift.
People perceived the food as being so common that during the 1990s, it was adopted to mean unwanted or unsolicited messages – spam mail.