Spam, it’s not just junk (mail)…hehehe!
Despite claims that the product’s name stands for “special processed American meat” or “shoulders of pork and ham,” a Hormel executive’s brother created the name for a 1937 contest. The company insists the acronym stands for “spiced ham,” a reference to its ingredients.
Hormel created SPAM as a way to use pork shoulder. Instead of throwing out the edible meat, the company decided to process it with ham. Unlike hot dogs, which contain “mechanically separated” animal parts, SPAM is simply pork shoulder, ham, salt, water, sugar, potato starch, and sodium nitrate.
SPAM is extremely popular in Hawaii and Guam where imported meat is expensive. Not only do these places consume more SPAM per person than anywhere else in the United States, but also fast food chains Burger King and McDonald’s offer SPAM sandwiches on their menus.
