Spam turns 75

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Saturday, July 7. 2012

When I was in my teens, my scout troop did quite a bit of hiking and camping. Spam was part of our menu for longer trips, usually longer than a weekend. It's easy to carry and prepare. It's understandable that during WWII it was a food of choice for the troops. I also understand why my step-father, a WWII vet, never touched the stuff even as I scarfed it down.

I doubt I'd ever touch it today, unless I visited Hawaii where it's seen on menus regularly.

But happy birthday to an American icon.

Posted by Bulldog in Food and Drink, Our Essays at 14:26 | Comments (11) | Trackbacks (0)

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all about Spam: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spam

#1 Bird Dog on 2012-07-07 14:35 (Reply)

My now 22 year old son loves Spam. I like it also. We served it for dinner for his birthday party once. My mom used to cook it in pancakes, which I need to do again some day. Every once in a while, when feeling decadent, I grill up some Spam and have a sandwich, or two. (It's also part of our Gulf Coast hurricane prep kit.)

#2 Mark on 2012-07-07 18:20 (Reply)

We saw Spam on the menu in some pretty exclusive (by our standards, anyway) places in Honolulu when Mrs Animal and I visited there a while back.

You can get used to it. Like the author, I ate it a lot on camping/canoe trips when I was a young 'un.

#3 Animal (Link) on 2012-07-07 18:45 (Reply)

While stationed on Oahu back in the 80s, we went to Sears and Spam was being sold by the case. There were pallets of Spam for sale downstairs.

#4 OldFert on 2012-07-07 19:18 (Reply)

If you ever get to Austin MN, you must visit the Spam Museum. Well worth going out of your way for. I grew up there, and it is the real deal.

#5 Jon Moen on 2012-07-07 21:33 (Reply)

I prefer Spam to oysters.

#6 feeblemind on 2012-07-07 23:40 (Reply)

I live in an old meat-packing town, so Spam is ok by me. Given a choice I prefer canned corned beef - usually imported from S. America these days. But hey, bring both on the campout, we'll have spam and eggs for breakfast, corned beef hash for suppertime.

#7 Cato the Elder on 2012-07-07 23:51 (Reply)

I remember my father's uncle, who grew up in occupied Holland during WWII, telling me sometime in the '70s that Spam was the first meat he ever remembers eating (but not until after the war) - he thought it was the best thing he had ever eaten.

Much had happened in the intervening years (he came to America, married my father's aunt, became relatively wealthy even by American standards). He had since developed a taste for better meats, but his point was valid: be grateful for what you've got, even if it is just Spam!

#8 Hamlet's Fool on 2012-07-08 07:22 (Reply)

From 1976 to 2007, Austin TX hosted the annual Spamarama festival. From Wiki:

QUOTE:

Spamarama (SPAMARAMA) was a long-time annual festival and competitive cookoff held in Austin, Texas from 1976 to 2007 as a parody of Spam.[1][2][3]

Officially called the Pandemonious Potted Pork Festival, SPAMARAMA was held on a weekend close to April Fool's Day in Waterloo Park and drew tens of thousands of people to one of the wackiest festivals in America.

Cooking entries included various flavors of SPAM ice cream, Moo Goo Gai SPAM, GuacaSPAMole, chicken-fried SPAM, SPAMguini, and SPAMalama Ding Dong, a concoction made with the pink colored meat, whipped cream, and chocolate. Other events included the SPAM carving display involving themes based on current events, body parts, or animals such as the SPAMagator, the SPAM calling contest, the SPAM toss, the SPAM facial, and the Tug of War across a pit filled with SPAM jelly.

The final year of the festival, attendance had dwindled from 6,000 to 400. That pretty well sums up why the festival died.

#9 Gringo on 2012-07-08 09:43 (Reply)

My father, WWII vet, loved spam, he considered it a real treat. That was a treat (I gag on the smell, but I remember fondly, my father cooking it up and eating it). But a
staple in our home was chicken lipton soup. He told us how he cooked some up in his helmet!

#10 J on 2012-07-08 09:51 (Reply)

I love it --it just dawned on me, i haven't had any in months --dangit --

#11 buddy larsen on 2012-07-08 20:41 (Reply)

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Saturday, July 7. 2012

Spam turns 75