Hormel Foods launched Spam on July 5, 1937, and the canned meat was reportedly created to boost sales of pork shoulder, a cut that sold poorly. A few years later, a war turned that surplus-driven product into one of the most widely shipped foods on earth.
By the end of the Second World War, more than 150 million pounds of Spam had gone to the military, and the can’s reach is still visible in Hawaii, South Korea and the Philippines.
A Pork Shoulder Problem in 1937
The Minnesota Historical Society’s MNopedia entry says the George A. Hormel Company of Austin, Minnesota, introduced the luncheon meat in 1937 to use up an excess of pork shoulder. Wikipedia gives the exact date as July 5 and notes that the cut had been selling badly.
The classic recipe is short. Wikipedia lists six ingredients: pork with ham, salt, water, modified potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrite. The standard can holds 12 ounces. Encyclopedia.com adds that a smaller 7-ounce can joined the lineup in 1962.
Anyone trying to stretch a grocery budget today may recognize the appeal, and a list of 10 clever frugal living tips shows how long-lasting pantry foods still fit the idea. Price swings are nothing new either, as 12 things that are actually getting cheaper reminds shoppers. A shelf-stable meat that needed no refrigerator was a clear selling point in the late 1930s.
The $100 Name
MNopedia reports that Jay Hormel paid Kenneth Daigneau $100 for suggesting the name. Most people believe it is short for “spiced ham,” though the exact meaning is unclear.
Wikipedia adds that Hormel itself says the name’s meaning is known only to a small circle of former executives. Another guess is that it stands for “shoulder of pork and ham.” Whatever the origin, the four-letter brand stuck for good. Its biggest fans live in places travelers dream about, such as the islands covered in the best Hawaiian beaches to visit.
How 150 Million Pounds Reached the Military
Fresh meat was hard to ship to the front, so Spam became a staple of soldiers’ diets. Wikipedia says more than 150 million pounds went to the military before the war ended. MNopedia says the product needed no refrigeration and had a long shelf life, which made it well suited to mass feeding.
A 2023 Stars and Stripes history says Hormel sent about 15 million cans overseas every week during the war. The Lend-Lease Act of 1941 carried Spam rations to Great Britain and the Soviet Union as well. Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev wrote that the army told off-color jokes about it, but it “tasted good nonetheless,” according to the paper.
Troops did not always cheer. Stars and Stripes records the joke that Spam was “ham that didn’t pass its physical.” In a 1966 letter to Hormel, Dwight Eisenhower admitted to griping about it during battle but forgave the company for how much of it reached the troops.
The product also did odd jobs. MNopedia says flattened cans were used to patch aircraft, and cans were reshaped into cookware. It also notes that many veterans had eaten so much of it overseas that they avoided it after returning home.
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Hawaii Takes It Home
The war left a lasting mark in Hawaii. Wikipedia says Hawaii has the highest per capita consumption in the United States, at about 7 million cans a year. Stars and Stripes ties that to the large military presence there, which helped make Spam fried rice and Spam musubi island staples.
Wikipedia’s Spam musubi article says the snack’s origin is disputed, though most accounts link it to the canned meat’s spread through Hawaii during and after the war. One possible creator is Mitsuko Kaneshiro, who sold them in Honolulu and was making about 500 a day by the early 1980s. The snack was also a common item in the lunchboxes of plantation workers.
Korea, the Philippines and Beyond
The same wartime logic reached Asia. The Budae-jjigae article says the Korean stew descends from a dish that emerged around the Korean War, when South Korea was very poor and ingredients often came from scraps at American military bases. Spam was not legally sold in South Korea until 1987, and before then smuggling it was a crime.
Today the stew combines ham, sausage, Spam, baked beans, kimchi, instant noodles and American cheese. Wikipedia reports that South Korea ranks among the world’s biggest Spam markets, and MNopedia says it ranks second in sales behind the United States.
In the Philippines, Wikipedia says the product is a cultural staple, often served with garlic fried rice and a fried egg, and at least 10 varieties are sold there. Guam averages about 16 cans per person each year.
Where Spam Stands Now
MNopedia says Spam comes in more than 15 varieties and sizes and is sold in more than 40 countries. The company was renamed Hormel Foods Corporation in 1993. MNopedia also says Hormel produced its eighth billionth can in 2012, and Minnesota’s governor declared July 7, 2017, Spam Day to mark the product’s 80th birthday.
The brand even gave the internet a word. Wikipedia reports that a 1970 Monty Python sketch featuring Spam repeated the name constantly, and that this helped inspire the term “spam” for unwanted electronic messages.
The short version of the story is a surplus cut of pork, a $100 naming prize and a world war that sent the can to kitchens far from Austin, Minnesota. Nearly nine decades after the 1937 launch, the can is still on grocery shelves around the world.
This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Brennen Bearnes – CC0/Wikimedia Commons
