990633 "Miracle Meat" SPAM Turns 62

Los Angeles - In Hawaii they eat it in sushi. In South Korea it is a gourmet treat. In the Second World War it filled the stomachs that armies marched on, and in 1970 it inspired one of the most famous comedy sketches of all time.

Love it, loathe it or laugh at it, Spam has wormed its way into popular 20th century culture and its first official biography is now on the book store menu. From Spam cheesecake to the gourmet adventure of Spam escargots, the true story of the American “miracle meat” in a can is an affectionate tribute to the mushy, pink concoction of pork and ham that has been slithering onto dinner tables around the world for 62 years.

Raised on Spam herself, food writer Carolyn Wyman spent six months researching “Spam; A Biography” (Harcourt Brace) and still considers it “a treat.” She concluded that a simple luncheon meat that could spawn its own fan club, inspire pop artist Andy Warhol, earn plaudits from Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and give birth to Internet jargon for junk e-mail, called spam, had earned its place as a cultural icon.

“Spam (has) transcended its gastronomic origins to become a symbol of American popular culture on a level with Elvis and baseball. Its place in the Smithsonian National Museum of American history is proof of that,” Wyman said.

SPAM'S PLACE IN WESTERN CIVILIZATION IS SAFE

“At the risk of sounding as if I have Spam gelatin on the brain, I must admit that I have come to believe that it is possible to view our entire society solely through the lens of this luncheon meat ... It has been the dying soldier's last meal and the liberated war captive's first decent one in years,” she added.

After its humble birth in Austin, Minnesota, in 1937, Spam enjoyed its finest hour during the Second World War when it became an all-too-regular meal for American GIs and welcome sustenance for food-rationed British and Soviet citizens.

The name was chosen at a naming party thrown by Jay Hormel, head of the company that makes Spam, in 1936 and is attributed to his actor friend Kenneth Daigneau, Wyman says. It comes from the ingredients of Spam -- shoulder of pork and ham.

Spam fatigue soon hit the U.S. Army but in grateful England a young Margaret Thatcher -- later to become Britain's prime minister -- celebrated Christmas 1943 with a tin, and when the little rectangular cans were delivered to liberated Berlin and Poland they seemed like manna from heaven.

“They were the answer to an SOS, like Robinson Crusoe, a blood transfusion, salvation, I could go on forever,” Irene Urdang de Tour says in the book, recalling the food parcels handed out in Warsaw after years of slave labor in Berlin.

Gratitude gave way to derision in the postwar United States and Britain, where Spam went on popping up deep-fried as fritters, in sandwiches and even in vol-au-vent. Then came a three-minute TV sketch in 1970 from the surreal British comedy team Monty Python who gave Spam such a roasting that it was impossible ever to take it seriously again.

Despite the laughter that greeted the Python vision of a greasy cafe where Spam is served with everything -- including the gargantuan feast of “lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce garnished with truffle pate, brandy, fried egg on top and Spam” -- 90 million cans of the stuff were sold annually in the United States alone in 1997.

One third of all Spam -- 50 million cans a year -- are sold overseas, with appetites particularly strong in Hawaii, Guam, South Korea and Okinawa, Japan.

DEDICATED FOLLOWING

Regular eaters nowadays in the United States are mostly young, impoverished Southern families and older people for whom Spam brings back nostalgic memories of a simpler life. But it has not lost its appeal for Wyman, who is fascinated by the weird and wonderful ways in which Spam is still celebrated.

The official Spam fan club was launched in 1998, there are at least 18 Internet sites dedicated to it and the annual Spam Jam in Austin, its hometown, attracts around 20,000 aficionados to rhyming contests, sculptures and a picnic.

“I am interested in looking in a serious way at the things that a lot of people take for granted and think are just stupid. I think these stupid things and what we're eating say a lot about us as a culture,” Wyman said.

“Most Americans today are too busy to even do their laundry, but here are people sitting around writing Spam poetry. I think it is a wonderful thing that people take that time and interest in having fun,” she added.

One such Spam poem reads: “I think that I shall never see, a Spam as lovely as a tree.”

Spam makers Hormel are looking at promising new markets in Mexico, Poland and the former Soviet Union to add to the list of more than 50 countries where Spam is now sold.

But when you have pigged out on Spam bread, Spam and mincemeat candy truffles or Spam fruit cocktail buffet party loaf, there is still a place to escape: the Middle East, where the Muslim and Jewish ban on pork means that Spam will never be dished up under any guise.

Unless, of course, Hormel decides to change the recipe and creates something called “Speef” or “Spoat” or “Spamb.”

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