The highlight of day #8...get ready for this...was the SPAM museum in Austin, Minnesota. Here's Dad with a farmer (Farmer Hoggit?) and some pigs.
Mom at the entrance under a wall of Spam cans.
Close-up of the wall.
With Mr. Spam in the lobby. The next 8 photos are of Spam posters through the decades...kind of amusing.
Here is the gift shop, naturally. See the cans of different kinds of Spam traveling along the track/conveyor belt overhead? There were over 800 cans on the belt, taking 17 minutes for a can to go around the museum. The museum had many different "stations" including history, production, marketing, international connections, the Hormel Girls--a drum and bugle corps with their own TV show and the Spametttes, singing quartet, a mock grocery store with Hormel products including Black Label Bacon, Dinty Moore Stew, Mary Kitchen Hash, Hormel Chili, and don't forget...Cure 81 Ham (bone in and out)! A guy came around offering samples. The warmed cubed Spam and Cheese samples on a pretzel stick were great. Yeah, we really got into the spirit of the thing. I'm going to include an interesting article I found on the internet, if you want some light reading!----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SPAM: The Ham That Failed Its Physical
Since its introduction in 1937, SPAM, a spiced ham-and-pork product made by Hormel Foods, has been a topic of international conversation. It first gained popularity during World War II because it was nutritious, filling and did not require refrigeration. During the war, Allied troops ate over 100 million pounds of SPAM.
Despite the rumors, SPAM is made of a few simple ingredients: pork shoulder, ham, salt, sugar, sodium nitrate, water and a secret spice mixture. This concoction is then molded into a pink brick of meat and covered with a gelatinous coating. The whole thing is popped into a blue can with yellow lettering and stored on your neighborhood grocer's shelf. How many of us hold the childhood memory of trying to open the can by catching a tiny metal tab with a key and twisting it round and round?
SPAM got its name from a 1936 contest sponsored by Hormel owner Jay C. Hormel, who wanted a name as distinctive as the taste of his new meat product. Kenneth Daigneau, an actor and the brother of a Hormel vice president, came up with the name SPAM by taking the "Sp" from spiced and "am" from ham. His creativity won him the $100 prize.
SPAM's national distribution was heralded by what may be the world's first singing commercial. The lyrics were set to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," and went (refrain) "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam/Hormel's new miracle meat in a can/Tastes fine, saves time/If you want something grand, ask for SPAM." Despite such a clever marketing scheme, it was World War II that gained SPAM the popularity it continues to enjoy today. GIs made up countless jokes about SPAM. They called it "the ham that didn't pass its physical.”
During the days of food rationing, SPAM became a home-front substitute for rationed beef. Americans ate SPAM with salads, vegetables, eggs and waffles. They baked it, broiled, fried it and grilled it for any meal of the day. The U.S. Army bought (and continues to buy) tons of the stuff for its troops.
Over 60 million people in America eat SPAM. Hawaiians lead the nation in SPAM consumption, digesting over 4 cans per person a year. Suzan Harada, a program head at Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu explains Hawaiians' affinity for SPAM, saying, "the military brought SPAM to the islands. Its novelty imparted cachet and World War II rationing firmly entrenched the SPAM habit." She adds, "This was a period when having Western things was really important. Even if you had access to fresh pork and chicken, being able to afford canned food showed status."
Among the 50 foreign countries where SPAM is sold, the United Kingdom and South Korea are the largest markets (how about baked SPAM and Yorkshire Pudding or stir-fried SPAM over rice?). In Korea, SPAM is sold in stylish presentation gift boxes of 9 cans each. SPAM stolen from army PXs always find their way to the Korean black market.
In 1994 Hormel produced its five billionth can of SPAM at its Austin, Minnesota, plant. While SPAM remains the butt of many jokes--David Letterman's SPAM on a rope and the British comedy troupe Monty Python's Green Midget cafe, where SPAM entrees dominate the menu--the luncheon meat's sales are estimated at nearly three billion dollars. The U.S. Armed Forces are one of Hormel's largest purchasers of SPAM.
Today SPAM is a beloved icon in U.S. folk history. Sixty-eight state and regional fairs hold Hormel-sanctioned SPAM recipe contests. A SPAM jamboree is held every Fourth of July weekend in Austin, Minnesota, SPAM's home. Americans across the country hold other SPAM celebrations, such as the SPAM-o-Rama Barbecue in Austin, Texas, the SPAM cook-off in Maui and the SPAM carving contests in Seattle, Washington. Even the Smithsonian considered SPAM as the topic for its Conference on Stuff.
Hormel also offers die-hard SPAM fans the opportunity to buy gifts with a SPAM motif. Items include SPAM-logo T-shirts, watches, sweatsuits, hats, boxer shorts, fanny packs, mugs, golf balls, magnets, sunshades, windsocks, and more. The best-seller from Hormel's gift center is the classic T-shirt with the word SPAM in yellow on a field of blue.
Since its introduction in 1937, SPAM, a spiced ham-and-pork product made by Hormel Foods, has been a topic of international conversation. It first gained popularity during World War II because it was nutritious, filling and did not require refrigeration. During the war, Allied troops ate over 100 million pounds of SPAM.
Despite the rumors, SPAM is made of a few simple ingredients: pork shoulder, ham, salt, sugar, sodium nitrate, water and a secret spice mixture. This concoction is then molded into a pink brick of meat and covered with a gelatinous coating. The whole thing is popped into a blue can with yellow lettering and stored on your neighborhood grocer's shelf. How many of us hold the childhood memory of trying to open the can by catching a tiny metal tab with a key and twisting it round and round?
SPAM got its name from a 1936 contest sponsored by Hormel owner Jay C. Hormel, who wanted a name as distinctive as the taste of his new meat product. Kenneth Daigneau, an actor and the brother of a Hormel vice president, came up with the name SPAM by taking the "Sp" from spiced and "am" from ham. His creativity won him the $100 prize.
SPAM's national distribution was heralded by what may be the world's first singing commercial. The lyrics were set to the tune of "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean," and went (refrain) "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam/Hormel's new miracle meat in a can/Tastes fine, saves time/If you want something grand, ask for SPAM." Despite such a clever marketing scheme, it was World War II that gained SPAM the popularity it continues to enjoy today. GIs made up countless jokes about SPAM. They called it "the ham that didn't pass its physical.”
During the days of food rationing, SPAM became a home-front substitute for rationed beef. Americans ate SPAM with salads, vegetables, eggs and waffles. They baked it, broiled, fried it and grilled it for any meal of the day. The U.S. Army bought (and continues to buy) tons of the stuff for its troops.
Over 60 million people in America eat SPAM. Hawaiians lead the nation in SPAM consumption, digesting over 4 cans per person a year. Suzan Harada, a program head at Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu explains Hawaiians' affinity for SPAM, saying, "the military brought SPAM to the islands. Its novelty imparted cachet and World War II rationing firmly entrenched the SPAM habit." She adds, "This was a period when having Western things was really important. Even if you had access to fresh pork and chicken, being able to afford canned food showed status."
Among the 50 foreign countries where SPAM is sold, the United Kingdom and South Korea are the largest markets (how about baked SPAM and Yorkshire Pudding or stir-fried SPAM over rice?). In Korea, SPAM is sold in stylish presentation gift boxes of 9 cans each. SPAM stolen from army PXs always find their way to the Korean black market.
In 1994 Hormel produced its five billionth can of SPAM at its Austin, Minnesota, plant. While SPAM remains the butt of many jokes--David Letterman's SPAM on a rope and the British comedy troupe Monty Python's Green Midget cafe, where SPAM entrees dominate the menu--the luncheon meat's sales are estimated at nearly three billion dollars. The U.S. Armed Forces are one of Hormel's largest purchasers of SPAM.
Today SPAM is a beloved icon in U.S. folk history. Sixty-eight state and regional fairs hold Hormel-sanctioned SPAM recipe contests. A SPAM jamboree is held every Fourth of July weekend in Austin, Minnesota, SPAM's home. Americans across the country hold other SPAM celebrations, such as the SPAM-o-Rama Barbecue in Austin, Texas, the SPAM cook-off in Maui and the SPAM carving contests in Seattle, Washington. Even the Smithsonian considered SPAM as the topic for its Conference on Stuff.
Hormel also offers die-hard SPAM fans the opportunity to buy gifts with a SPAM motif. Items include SPAM-logo T-shirts, watches, sweatsuits, hats, boxer shorts, fanny packs, mugs, golf balls, magnets, sunshades, windsocks, and more. The best-seller from Hormel's gift center is the classic T-shirt with the word SPAM in yellow on a field of blue.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dad bought a hat pin (Spam can) and I bought a plastic Spam cereal bowl to add to my collection!!!
We drove on from Austin to Hastings, MN (south and east of Minneapolis), to visit our friends, Chuck and Bonnie Shaleen. We used to see them every year in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the NOREX Conference. They took us on a tour of their historic town and we went out to lunch...on a patio overlooking the Mississippi. The temps were perfect and we watched boats, jet skis, barges, etc., and a train go over the bridge.
Next we drove to Wacovia, west of Minneapolis, to see Elder Barnett whose family lives just 3 doors down from us. We took him and his companion out for ice cream sundaes. I think we've maxed out our ice cream allotment for the summer. He is in a very nice area with the lake across the street from his house. He's only been out a few months, but his big smile, beaming from ear to ear the entire time, said it all.
Here is Lake Wacovia. 
We drove back into Iowa, after a special out-of-the-way geocache we just had to find because of our connection to the owners. We stopped right after sunset in Clear Lake to get a photo of the Surf Ballroom. This is the place where Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper (rock 'n' roll pioneers) performed for the last time, before the fatal airplane crash (1959) just to the northwest (referred to in Don McLean's song "American Pie" as The Day the Music Died.) Then we headed on down to Ames, Iowa (think Howard Bannister) for the night.
2 comments:
I'm quite jealous of your trip to the Spam museum. We'll have to see it for ourselves someday. :)
Who doesn't love spam? Awesome.
Post a Comment