July 18, 2024 • 17 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, author of The Book of Spam: A Most Glorious and Definitive Compendium of the World’s Favorite Canned Meat, Dustin Black, tells the story of this often-speculated household name.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
There are some of our favorites. Dustin Black is a
group creative director for an ad agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In two thousand and seven, he published the Book of Spam,
(00:33):
a most glorious and definitive compendium of the world's favorite
canned meet. He was a collaboration with his advertising partner
at the time, Dan Armstrong, when they worked for Hormel
as advertisers. Shortly after the book was published, it was
internationally recognized and distributed. Here is Dustin Black with the
(00:53):
story of spam.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Right off the bat, it was a lot of interesting.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
You'd be going to work and you'd pull over and
call a Korean radio show or something like that to
talk about it. You know what's great about spam, and
I think why it had the appeal is it's got
that it's been around forever and everybody has a story
about it, Like there's very there's nobody in the world
that you can't sort of like spark up a conversation
around spam.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You know, any corner of the globe, there's an experience
with it.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I was on production with Tim Gunn a couple of
years ago, and he and I bonded over spam stories
growing up because that was part of his heritage. And
I mean, spam is fascinating, and I think that what
Hormel maybe doesn't even get as much credit for as
they should as sort of revolutionizing the meat process or
the meat packing process.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Spam itself is.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
A result of, you know, one hundred years of technology
of trying to preserve meat, to get it shelf stable
for longer periods of time. And strangely enough, like Napoleon
when he was moving his armies, was really fascinated with
how do I feed these these armies through really cold
Russian winters and keep them fed?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
And they're getting tired of salted and dried out food.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
So he started playing around in some of his scientists,
I Gus in Column with packing meat and glass jars
and putting fat on top of it.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
And they would boil it for an hour.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
And that boiling was basically an early version of pasteurization.
And from there it went to cans, metal thick metal cans,
and it got to the point where the cans were
larger and heavier than the meat itself, and so it
wasn't very easy to transport.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It was very difficult to open.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
And there's stories of the war when they would use
their guns and muskets to shoot open the cans. I mean,
there was a lot of problems back then because they
would they would make the cans too big, and so
they couldn't cook the middle. So there was botulism and
there was problems with you know, spoiled middle and the
outside was good.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And so eventually.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Through sort of I don't know his brilliance, Hormal, he
came back during World War two in staid basically like
we put it in the smaller size, you cook it
for three hours, you get a top that you can open.
It's a way of preserving the meat, a pasturization that
keeps it shelf stable. And that was really like revolutionary
and kind of in nineteen thirty seven was the start
(03:15):
of this sort of processed meat. And for him too,
it was at the time, like in World War One,
and when he was serving in World War One, they
were shipping meat with bone in it. They would ship
the cow where they'd ship the pork and it would
have bones in it. That's not very efficient for weight.
It's not very efficient because there's a lot of scrap
(03:36):
pieces left over. So he said, look, if we take
the bones out, if we grind it up, we put
it in a smaller can we pasteurize it, it'll ship
And in nineteen thirty seven that was kind of the
start of spam was born. So what was fascinating in
nineteen thirty seven, then he helped revolutionize you know, World
War two was just on the verge of starting up.
(03:58):
It was kind of spam was sprinkling in and it
wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today, or it wasn't
quite as popular. But quickly, you know, the military recognized
the advantage of it, and so they started shipping it
to all.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
The military overseas.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And what's fascinating is they I think that's kind of
where the reputation of spam started and was solidified. You had,
you know, people on these bases and Guam and you know,
around the world and they're getting fed spam constantly because
it was kind of such an easy food to send.
But also what happened is the government had them overcook.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It essentially for safety, like they wanted.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Instead of just cooking it for three hours, they cook
it for five and that kind of mushed the meat.
So they're getting fed this lesser quality process meat around
the world. And then because the idea and because during
the war they needed as much protein sent over as possible,
other manufacturers were doing it in sizes that weren't as reliable,
so you'd get twelve pound sizes and six pound sizes,
(04:54):
and that flexing up of different quality standards and of
different processing and of different cooking, you kind of ended
up with a perfect storm of these soldiers that were
stationed around the world getting over fed something they were
tired of eating, getting mixed quality, getting bad quality, and
then you know, in a perfect marketing storm, then they
(05:16):
were all sent home to spread the word.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And so that's how we.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Ended up with spam so popular in Guam and spam
so popular in Hawaii. But also I think what started
the bad name and reputation for spam was because it
was such a mixed bag. And so you know, here
we are eighty years later, and it still kind of
has that reputation of being something that's like weird or
strange animal parts or gross, which is which is really
(05:41):
interesting and unfortunate because at the end of the day,
spam is actually a really good cuts of meat. Like
it's really just ham, pork, shoulder, salt water and a
little sodium nitrate and sodium nitrates found in any process meat.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It just keeps it safe.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But it's the better cuts of meat that the byproducts
that you don't use go into hot dog and sausages.
Like that's the real Like, if you'll eat a hot
dog or a sausage, you should really have no problem
with spam because it's actually better cuts in quality of meat.
And for years it got the reputation of like the gel, right,
like that's one of the first things people a little
bit less less so now but like people are always like, ooh,
(06:17):
it's got the gross gel on the outside and it
makes that funny noise. And what's interesting is that was
actually that's pure protein that's actually not that bad for you,
and it's a byproduct of the cooking process. Protein goes
towards heat. If you're pasteurizing meat in the can, the
heat draws the protein out. It stays there, but then
people open it up and it looks gross and looks
like you know, patroleum jelly or whatever. So back in
(06:39):
two thousand and one they ground up a little bit
of potato starch, stuck that in there. The potato stars
traps the protein and you don't have any gel anymore.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So since two.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Thousand and one they've got rid of the gel, which
has helped with the reputation of it.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And you're listening to Dustin Black tell the story you
spam And I'm a big hot dog glover, I a
love Liverwstern Blooney, so of course I can eat spam.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
When we come back.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
More of the incredible story of spam with someone who
knows a lot about it and wrote the book of Spam,
we continue with Dustin Black's story about this inimitable American
product here on our American Stories. Folks, if you love
(07:32):
the great American stories we tell and love America like
we do, we're asking you to become a part of
the Our American Stories family. If you agree that America
is a good and great country, please make a donation.
A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents
is fast becoming a favorite option for supporters. Go to
our American Stories dot com now and go to the
(07:52):
donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming.
That's our Americanstories dot com. And we returned to our
American stories and the story of spam, Yes, the canned meat.
(08:15):
We've been listening to Dustin Black, author of the Book
of Spam, a most glorious and definitive compendium of the
world's favorite canned meat, and he's telling the story of
the creation of spam. During World War Two, Hermel realized
that there was a great need for shelf stable meats
to be sent to our troops, and thus spam was created.
(08:36):
We left off with Dustin talking about people's hesitation with
buying the canned meat product. Let's return to Dustin Black.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
But I still think people have trouble thinking about buying
meat off a shelf. But you know, it's a state
of mind because there's so many you know, Kansas soup,
you know have met in it, and you know there's
plenty of examples of chef's and it all just goes
back to that pasturization, back to that idea of you know,
two hundred and three hundred year own technology of if
(09:07):
you cook it and kill everything and don't let any
air and bacteria in there.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
It's shelf stable for a long.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Amount of time, and Hormel's actually continued and I think
they don't get the credit they deserve for, you know,
revolutionizing a lot of the packaging processes they do a
lot of their lunch meats are now high pressure pasteurized
and that kills it basically squishes all the bad stuff
in there and so it can be all natural without
(09:32):
having to add a lot of extra preservatives.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
But they do it through a pressure.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
And a technology, you know, like just shelf technology, which
is really interesting. The book we go through a lot
of different chapters of how it's made, the origins of spam,
the origins of processed meat. It goes through the Spam Museum,
it goes through the Spam mobile that used to travel
around the country given out samples. But throughout there we
weave in a lot of photos from people that get
(09:59):
sent in to horm Out.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That was one of the more interesting parts about working
on the.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
ADS as we had access to their archive and to
the people down there that we're getting the fan mail,
and you know, you would have people that would send
in the fan art. They would make costumes out of
spam cans. They would do weddings with a Spam themed
you know cake from around the world. You get people
that would send in, you know, just their rooms that
are painted like spam, or their car is spam painted,
(10:24):
and it's just, you know, it's it's had such for
such a long time, a devoted fan base, and whether
you love or hate spam, you know, you kind of
have a story or you kind of know about it
and have an affinity. You know, it's a brand that
I think you sort of have to unabashedly love. You know.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I know that there's a bit of a stigma out
there with it. So if you're a spam fan.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And you're proud to wear a shirt, you sort of
take that as a you know, a badge of honor
that you're someone that thinks differently. You're someone that is
not scared to go against the grain, and you know
you have your taste and you're not scared to share it.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
You know, in Korea for a while was used as
a wedding gift.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It was an acceptable wedding gift because it was sort
of something of such great esteem and honor. It's that
universal sort of story device that I think was the
most interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
For years with the advertising, we had the tagline we
did crazy tasty. It's not around anymore, but I really
loved it when we did it because it was all
to me. It walked that line as someone who loves
it things, Yeah, it is crazy tasty, like I really,
you know, I can put it in between two slices
of bread, I can cook it with eggs or put it,
you know, in then my spam sushi and it's amazing,
(11:33):
it's tasty. And then the people that didn't like it
or didn't get it kind of related to the crazy part,
like it's crazy tasty like and the crazy was like,
I don't get it, but it's kind of fun and
it's weird and I see people, you know, wear a
shirt and I can strike up a conversation. So we
kind of walked the line with that. But at the
end of the day, like it's you know, when it's
prepared and cooked properly, like it's it's really good. And
(11:55):
I think we're starting to see a resurgence of that.
There's a lot of fancy restaurants that are using it
as an addition to a you know, a protein option,
and you know, we've seen food trucks pop.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Up with it.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
It's kind of has a bit of a resurgence in
that sort of way that like PBR has a resurgence.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
It's that nostalgic sort of brand that people love and
kind of has a familiarity to them. So yeah, you
can see a lot of menus and you look at
like French cuisine. You go to a really fancy French
restaurant and you're going to get served pork roulettes. But
essentially it's a fancy French version of spam. It's the
same thing. They grind it up, you know, they put
(12:34):
it into a can or you know, often into a dish,
cook it, slice it, and serve it, and it's exactly
what spam is.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It's just you know, not pasteurized.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
For as long, it's a classic brand that's been around
for eighty ninety years and it's gone through all the
same phases that advertising has gone through. So it came
back was you know, the sort of solution to dinner
time problems. So for a really long time that was
the sort of like let me show you different ways
to cook it, let me let me give you recipe ideas.
(13:07):
You know, I love the classic sixties castrow recipes and
things like that where it's like spam, jello and you know,
just things that like probably shouldn't have ever seen the
light of day. So it went through that phase. You know,
they did you know, some soap opera and sort of
that like detergent soap, sort of like sponsorships in eighties,
(13:28):
it was all about, you know, helping helping solve dinner.
You know, what are we going to have for dinner tonight?
It's a spam night. And they went then through a
phase of the sort of spam a lot where they
kind of lean to the into the can nature of it,
where they had that little character that kind of popped up.
He was on the cans, and he he gave.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
You recipe ideas and told you to you know, don't
forget spam.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Pre two thousand and one, there was a lot of
hacks or sort of urban wives tales around like what
to do with the gel? So use it on a
squeaky hinge, you know, you could use it to buff
a table, like all sorts of things like that, you know,
And then I think there's a whole culture and arts
around the cans. You know, they they're these nice little
(14:12):
tin cans. You can use them for painting or pot
you know, put some some flowers in them or something
like that. And so there's kind of a whole art
collective around what happens with the cans. And now I
from what I see there in kind of a classic mode.
It's been through all the phases of food advertising, from
you know, weird ads you probably shouldn't have seen the
(14:35):
light of day, to sponsorships to you know, thousands of
products you can buy today with you know, if you
need spam keychains or spam flip flops, you know, they
got you covered. I mean, because everybody's got a connection
to it. Like you would get on the phone with
someone in Korea and they would talk about, you know,
getting it as a wedding gift, or you'd get on
the phone and they talk about making it as a kid,
(14:56):
or you know how much they loved eating it in college.
And it's it's one of those brands that just sparks,
you know it And I think it's because of its
its lower in pop culture. Right back in the seventies
when money Python did the spam spam, spam, spam, spam,
spam spam like that continued to ratchet up the lore
and it you know, now we call you know, email
(15:19):
junk email, spam email, and and that kind of comes
a little bit off of the money. Python and Jim
Henson had a spamy character in some of the movies
and saw spam a lot. Eric Idel came out with
the version of The Holy Grail that went Broadway, which
was brilliant.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
But he recognized the value of the spam brand, and
at the time, you know, Hormel recognized the value and
branded content. They partnered with Eric Idel and they had
spam a lot, and it toured the globe and was very,
very successful in a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
For years, they had the Spammobile that toured.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
You know, they gave out i think one point seven
million samples in two thousand and seven or something like that,
and there's five of them and they would go around
and you get lines two blocks long, and people could
get a little sample of spam because it's one of
those things that like, if it's cooked properly, it's it's
really good. Like you don't take hamburger and just like, hey,
let me cook hamburger and just give you a spoonful
(16:13):
of hamburger, like that would be weird, but like that's
what people often think about or do a spam or
like here, put a fork in it and try it,
and it's like, no, it's not right.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Like grill it.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
You're gonna get the Juilliard effect and get some nice
caramelization and you're gonna put it between two buns or
put it between two.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Slices of bread and it's really good. You know.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
You put it with some pineapple and rice and it's
really tasty. You put with some mashed potatoes like that.
You know, you just have to prepare it properly. And
I think that's why we're seeing our resurgence and food
trucks and in some sort of boutique sort of restaurants
because the chefs realize it's you know, it's easy. They
can get a lot of it and store it and
(16:50):
have it, you know, ready right there, but you grill
it up or cook it properly, and it.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Makes a dish really tasty.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I mean, next time you're in the store, pick up
you know tve bounce can or you know they do
singles now a three ounce which is.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
A little bit easier to get into.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
You don't have to, you know, have the commitment of
a twelve bounce can, and you can get a little
slice and try it like you know, put it, grill
it up, put it between two pieces of bread, or
you know, put it in some with some bonds and
some American cheese and have yourself a tasty little sandwich
because you know it's it's you either had it you
(17:28):
know it's good, or you are scared of it and
should get over it and try it.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And great job on that piece is always by faith
and a special thanks to Dustin Black. The story of
spam here on our American Story
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
and we tell stories about everything here on this show,
including your story. Send them to our American Stories dot com.
There are some of our favorites. Dustin Black is a
group creative director for an ad agency in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
In two thousand and seven, he published the Book of Spam,
(00:33):
a most glorious and definitive compendium of the world's favorite
canned meet. He was a collaboration with his advertising partner
at the time, Dan Armstrong, when they worked for Hormel
as advertisers. Shortly after the book was published, it was
internationally recognized and distributed. Here is Dustin Black with the
(00:53):
story of spam.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Right off the bat, it was a lot of interesting.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
You'd be going to work and you'd pull over and
call a Korean radio show or something like that to
talk about it. You know what's great about spam, and
I think why it had the appeal is it's got
that it's been around forever and everybody has a story
about it, Like there's very there's nobody in the world
that you can't sort of like spark up a conversation
around spam.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
You know, any corner of the globe, there's an experience
with it.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I was on production with Tim Gunn a couple of
years ago, and he and I bonded over spam stories
growing up because that was part of his heritage. And
I mean, spam is fascinating, and I think that what
Hormel maybe doesn't even get as much credit for as
they should as sort of revolutionizing the meat process or
the meat packing process.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Spam itself is.
Speaker 3 (01:45):
A result of, you know, one hundred years of technology
of trying to preserve meat, to get it shelf stable
for longer periods of time. And strangely enough, like Napoleon
when he was moving his armies, was really fascinated with
how do I feed these these armies through really cold
Russian winters and keep them fed?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
And they're getting tired of salted and dried out food.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
So he started playing around in some of his scientists,
I Gus in Column with packing meat and glass jars
and putting fat on top of it.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
And they would boil it for an hour.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
And that boiling was basically an early version of pasteurization.
And from there it went to cans, metal thick metal cans,
and it got to the point where the cans were
larger and heavier than the meat itself, and so it
wasn't very easy to transport.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It was very difficult to open.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
And there's stories of the war when they would use
their guns and muskets to shoot open the cans. I mean,
there was a lot of problems back then because they
would they would make the cans too big, and so
they couldn't cook the middle. So there was botulism and
there was problems with you know, spoiled middle and the
outside was good.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
And so eventually.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
Through sort of I don't know his brilliance, Hormal, he
came back during World War two in staid basically like
we put it in the smaller size, you cook it
for three hours, you get a top that you can open.
It's a way of preserving the meat, a pasturization that
keeps it shelf stable. And that was really like revolutionary
and kind of in nineteen thirty seven was the start
(03:15):
of this sort of processed meat. And for him too,
it was at the time, like in World War One,
and when he was serving in World War One, they
were shipping meat with bone in it. They would ship
the cow where they'd ship the pork and it would
have bones in it. That's not very efficient for weight.
It's not very efficient because there's a lot of scrap
(03:36):
pieces left over. So he said, look, if we take
the bones out, if we grind it up, we put
it in a smaller can we pasteurize it, it'll ship
And in nineteen thirty seven that was kind of the
start of spam was born. So what was fascinating in
nineteen thirty seven, then he helped revolutionize you know, World
War two was just on the verge of starting up.
(03:58):
It was kind of spam was sprinkling in and it
wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today, or it wasn't
quite as popular. But quickly, you know, the military recognized
the advantage of it, and so they started shipping it
to all.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
The military overseas.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
And what's fascinating is they I think that's kind of
where the reputation of spam started and was solidified. You had,
you know, people on these bases and Guam and you know,
around the world and they're getting fed spam constantly because
it was kind of such an easy food to send.
But also what happened is the government had them overcook.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
It essentially for safety, like they wanted.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Instead of just cooking it for three hours, they cook
it for five and that kind of mushed the meat.
So they're getting fed this lesser quality process meat around
the world. And then because the idea and because during
the war they needed as much protein sent over as possible,
other manufacturers were doing it in sizes that weren't as reliable,
so you'd get twelve pound sizes and six pound sizes,
(04:54):
and that flexing up of different quality standards and of
different processing and of different cooking, you kind of ended
up with a perfect storm of these soldiers that were
stationed around the world getting over fed something they were
tired of eating, getting mixed quality, getting bad quality, and
then you know, in a perfect marketing storm, then they
(05:16):
were all sent home to spread the word.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And so that's how we.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Ended up with spam so popular in Guam and spam
so popular in Hawaii. But also I think what started
the bad name and reputation for spam was because it
was such a mixed bag. And so you know, here
we are eighty years later, and it still kind of
has that reputation of being something that's like weird or
strange animal parts or gross, which is which is really
(05:41):
interesting and unfortunate because at the end of the day,
spam is actually a really good cuts of meat. Like
it's really just ham, pork, shoulder, salt water and a
little sodium nitrate and sodium nitrates found in any process meat.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
It just keeps it safe.
Speaker 3 (05:55):
But it's the better cuts of meat that the byproducts
that you don't use go into hot dog and sausages.
Like that's the real Like, if you'll eat a hot
dog or a sausage, you should really have no problem
with spam because it's actually better cuts in quality of meat.
And for years it got the reputation of like the gel, right,
like that's one of the first things people a little
bit less less so now but like people are always like, ooh,
(06:17):
it's got the gross gel on the outside and it
makes that funny noise. And what's interesting is that was
actually that's pure protein that's actually not that bad for you,
and it's a byproduct of the cooking process. Protein goes
towards heat. If you're pasteurizing meat in the can, the
heat draws the protein out. It stays there, but then
people open it up and it looks gross and looks
like you know, patroleum jelly or whatever. So back in
(06:39):
two thousand and one they ground up a little bit
of potato starch, stuck that in there. The potato stars
traps the protein and you don't have any gel anymore.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So since two.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Thousand and one they've got rid of the gel, which
has helped with the reputation of it.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
And you're listening to Dustin Black tell the story you
spam And I'm a big hot dog glover, I a
love Liverwstern Blooney, so of course I can eat spam.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
When we come back.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
More of the incredible story of spam with someone who
knows a lot about it and wrote the book of Spam,
we continue with Dustin Black's story about this inimitable American
product here on our American Stories. Folks, if you love
(07:32):
the great American stories we tell and love America like
we do, we're asking you to become a part of
the Our American Stories family. If you agree that America
is a good and great country, please make a donation.
A monthly gift of seventeen dollars and seventy six cents
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(07:52):
donate button and help us keep the great American stories coming.
That's our Americanstories dot com. And we returned to our
American stories and the story of spam, Yes, the canned meat.
(08:15):
We've been listening to Dustin Black, author of the Book
of Spam, a most glorious and definitive compendium of the
world's favorite canned meat, and he's telling the story of
the creation of spam. During World War Two, Hermel realized
that there was a great need for shelf stable meats
to be sent to our troops, and thus spam was created.
(08:36):
We left off with Dustin talking about people's hesitation with
buying the canned meat product. Let's return to Dustin Black.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
But I still think people have trouble thinking about buying
meat off a shelf. But you know, it's a state
of mind because there's so many you know, Kansas soup,
you know have met in it, and you know there's
plenty of examples of chef's and it all just goes
back to that pasturization, back to that idea of you know,
two hundred and three hundred year own technology of if
(09:07):
you cook it and kill everything and don't let any
air and bacteria in there.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
It's shelf stable for a long.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Amount of time, and Hormel's actually continued and I think
they don't get the credit they deserve for, you know,
revolutionizing a lot of the packaging processes they do a
lot of their lunch meats are now high pressure pasteurized
and that kills it basically squishes all the bad stuff
in there and so it can be all natural without
(09:32):
having to add a lot of extra preservatives.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
But they do it through a pressure.
Speaker 3 (09:37):
And a technology, you know, like just shelf technology, which
is really interesting. The book we go through a lot
of different chapters of how it's made, the origins of spam,
the origins of processed meat. It goes through the Spam Museum,
it goes through the Spam mobile that used to travel
around the country given out samples. But throughout there we
weave in a lot of photos from people that get
(09:59):
sent in to horm Out.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
That was one of the more interesting parts about working
on the.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
ADS as we had access to their archive and to
the people down there that we're getting the fan mail,
and you know, you would have people that would send
in the fan art. They would make costumes out of
spam cans. They would do weddings with a Spam themed
you know cake from around the world. You get people
that would send in, you know, just their rooms that
are painted like spam, or their car is spam painted,
(10:24):
and it's just, you know, it's it's had such for
such a long time, a devoted fan base, and whether
you love or hate spam, you know, you kind of
have a story or you kind of know about it
and have an affinity. You know, it's a brand that
I think you sort of have to unabashedly love. You know.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I know that there's a bit of a stigma out
there with it. So if you're a spam fan.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
And you're proud to wear a shirt, you sort of
take that as a you know, a badge of honor
that you're someone that thinks differently. You're someone that is
not scared to go against the grain, and you know
you have your taste and you're not scared to share it.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
You know, in Korea for a while was used as
a wedding gift.
Speaker 3 (11:02):
It was an acceptable wedding gift because it was sort
of something of such great esteem and honor. It's that
universal sort of story device that I think was the
most interesting.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
You know.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
For years with the advertising, we had the tagline we
did crazy tasty. It's not around anymore, but I really
loved it when we did it because it was all
to me. It walked that line as someone who loves
it things, Yeah, it is crazy tasty, like I really,
you know, I can put it in between two slices
of bread, I can cook it with eggs or put it,
you know, in then my spam sushi and it's amazing,
(11:33):
it's tasty. And then the people that didn't like it
or didn't get it kind of related to the crazy part,
like it's crazy tasty like and the crazy was like,
I don't get it, but it's kind of fun and
it's weird and I see people, you know, wear a
shirt and I can strike up a conversation. So we
kind of walked the line with that. But at the
end of the day, like it's you know, when it's
prepared and cooked properly, like it's it's really good. And
(11:55):
I think we're starting to see a resurgence of that.
There's a lot of fancy restaurants that are using it
as an addition to a you know, a protein option,
and you know, we've seen food trucks pop.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Up with it.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
It's kind of has a bit of a resurgence in
that sort of way that like PBR has a resurgence.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
You know.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
It's that nostalgic sort of brand that people love and
kind of has a familiarity to them. So yeah, you
can see a lot of menus and you look at
like French cuisine. You go to a really fancy French
restaurant and you're going to get served pork roulettes. But
essentially it's a fancy French version of spam. It's the
same thing. They grind it up, you know, they put
(12:34):
it into a can or you know, often into a dish,
cook it, slice it, and serve it, and it's exactly
what spam is.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
It's just you know, not pasteurized.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
For as long, it's a classic brand that's been around
for eighty ninety years and it's gone through all the
same phases that advertising has gone through. So it came
back was you know, the sort of solution to dinner
time problems. So for a really long time that was
the sort of like let me show you different ways
to cook it, let me let me give you recipe ideas.
(13:07):
You know, I love the classic sixties castrow recipes and
things like that where it's like spam, jello and you know,
just things that like probably shouldn't have ever seen the
light of day. So it went through that phase. You know,
they did you know, some soap opera and sort of
that like detergent soap, sort of like sponsorships in eighties,
(13:28):
it was all about, you know, helping helping solve dinner.
You know, what are we going to have for dinner tonight?
It's a spam night. And they went then through a
phase of the sort of spam a lot where they
kind of lean to the into the can nature of it,
where they had that little character that kind of popped up.
He was on the cans, and he he gave.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
You recipe ideas and told you to you know, don't
forget spam.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Pre two thousand and one, there was a lot of
hacks or sort of urban wives tales around like what
to do with the gel? So use it on a
squeaky hinge, you know, you could use it to buff
a table, like all sorts of things like that, you know,
And then I think there's a whole culture and arts
around the cans. You know, they they're these nice little
(14:12):
tin cans. You can use them for painting or pot
you know, put some some flowers in them or something
like that. And so there's kind of a whole art
collective around what happens with the cans. And now I
from what I see there in kind of a classic mode.
It's been through all the phases of food advertising, from
you know, weird ads you probably shouldn't have seen the
(14:35):
light of day, to sponsorships to you know, thousands of
products you can buy today with you know, if you
need spam keychains or spam flip flops, you know, they
got you covered. I mean, because everybody's got a connection
to it. Like you would get on the phone with
someone in Korea and they would talk about, you know,
getting it as a wedding gift, or you'd get on
the phone and they talk about making it as a kid,
(14:56):
or you know how much they loved eating it in college.
And it's it's one of those brands that just sparks,
you know it And I think it's because of its
its lower in pop culture. Right back in the seventies
when money Python did the spam spam, spam, spam, spam,
spam spam like that continued to ratchet up the lore
and it you know, now we call you know, email
(15:19):
junk email, spam email, and and that kind of comes
a little bit off of the money. Python and Jim
Henson had a spamy character in some of the movies
and saw spam a lot. Eric Idel came out with
the version of The Holy Grail that went Broadway, which
was brilliant.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
But he recognized the value of the spam brand, and
at the time, you know, Hormel recognized the value and
branded content. They partnered with Eric Idel and they had
spam a lot, and it toured the globe and was very,
very successful in a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
For years, they had the Spammobile that toured.
Speaker 3 (15:52):
You know, they gave out i think one point seven
million samples in two thousand and seven or something like that,
and there's five of them and they would go around
and you get lines two blocks long, and people could
get a little sample of spam because it's one of
those things that like, if it's cooked properly, it's it's
really good. Like you don't take hamburger and just like, hey,
let me cook hamburger and just give you a spoonful
(16:13):
of hamburger, like that would be weird, but like that's
what people often think about or do a spam or
like here, put a fork in it and try it,
and it's like, no, it's not right.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
Like grill it.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
You're gonna get the Juilliard effect and get some nice
caramelization and you're gonna put it between two buns or
put it between two.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Slices of bread and it's really good. You know.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
You put it with some pineapple and rice and it's
really tasty. You put with some mashed potatoes like that.
You know, you just have to prepare it properly. And
I think that's why we're seeing our resurgence and food
trucks and in some sort of boutique sort of restaurants
because the chefs realize it's you know, it's easy. They
can get a lot of it and store it and
(16:50):
have it, you know, ready right there, but you grill
it up or cook it properly, and it.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Makes a dish really tasty.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
I mean, next time you're in the store, pick up
you know tve bounce can or you know they do
singles now a three ounce which is.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
A little bit easier to get into.
Speaker 3 (17:06):
You don't have to, you know, have the commitment of
a twelve bounce can, and you can get a little
slice and try it like you know, put it, grill
it up, put it between two pieces of bread, or
you know, put it in some with some bonds and
some American cheese and have yourself a tasty little sandwich
because you know it's it's you either had it you
(17:28):
know it's good, or you are scared of it and
should get over it and try it.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
And great job on that piece is always by faith
and a special thanks to Dustin Black. The story of
spam here on our American Story
Host
Lee Habeeb
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