How Spam became one of the most iconic American brands of all time

After being a POW my father in law wouldn’t touch it, gag reflex. Too much in Red Cross packages.

I’m one of seven children and my mother served us Spam on occasion.  But she would not eat it.  She vowed to herself at the end of World War II that she would never again eat a bite of Spam and she never did!  It must have been one of the stateside staple proteins during the war.

SPAM, it’s SPiced AM.

I know about the spiced bit, not sure what’s in the  AM  .

I believe it’s SPiced hAM.

Shoulder of pork and ham

Zero bacon 🥓

This article is where I learned what I know about Spam. My favorite part, “these are Minnesota spices: sugar and salt.”

A little known factoid is that the H  (SP HAM)was dropped because they had run out of room for it on the can

I had some good fun with Spam back in 2002. I was offered a 1-month locum tenens at the Army “base” on Kwajelein Atoll in the Marshall Islands (this is where they do the ballistic missile defense stuff). Knowing that the Pacific islanders all truly love Spam, I took a case of it over with me. Many of my patients were Marshallese, and when the appointment was over, I would give them each a can of Spam as a gesture of good will. They loved me! But not nearly as much as my Marshallese assistant, who I gave the rest to when my stint was over. She got 1/2 case of Spam, I got a huge conch shell and a Marshallese hug, and we both agreed that it was a great month for us both.

But you Spam-haters are missing something here. Dehydrated, Spam dices will yield between 160 and 205 cal/oz, depending upon which ‘flavor’. 80% fat, 17% protein, a wee bit of carbs, and ~650 mg of salt. Combine that with the carb of your choice (rice, Idahoan, pasta etc. – I like dehydrated Bush’s beans best), and you have a good cal/oz dinner. The islanders of Oceana will respect you in the morning, I’m sure of that.

Inspired by this thread, I looked to see if there were pouches of Spam, like the ones they now have for tuna. They do exist, so I might have to look for them in the store. That seems much more practical and quite a bit lighter than the cans.

Still, I don’t think I’d put Spam directly into rice or potatoes or whatever. I never did like it if it wasn’t fried a bit. I’d need to heat it over a fire or in the pan first to get a bit of a crisp on it.

Micro waved cubed spam is great when its zapped to a crisp.

My Grandma would take a hamburger bun split it in half put butter on it flat side up then top it with Spam.  Put it in the oven on broil till toasted.  Fond memories, but haven’t had the stuff since she passed.

The individual pouched spam is great in mac and cheese. I pack mac and cheese with an extra zip lock of powered butter and milk, a tabasco packet and a pouch of spam.

+1 on serving spam with mac & cheese.

Compared to a pouch of tuna, a pouch of spam is 1/2 the price per calorie (versus tuna in oil or water), and 70% to 32% the weight per calorie (versus tuna in oil and water, respectively).

Walmart (the premier supplier of AT hikers) has single pouches and 4-pack boxes of pouches of Spam (and tuna) for about $1 per 2.5-ounce pouch.  70-100 calories for the tuna, 210 calories for the spam.

And all spam is guaranteed to be dolphin-free.

I eat SPAM LITE on every backpack…yum.

I like Spam

But, also, it’s disgusting

I like contradictions