Spam

Spam is a canned luncheon meat manufactured of pork shoulder and ham by the Hormel Foods Corporation. Spam is popular in Hawaii and Guam and among many families in the American heartland but is viewed by many others as the symbol of everything that is wrong with American processed food. Spam, a pink block of fatty, salty pork, became a subject of derision during World War II, when its durability and affordability made it a favorite of armed forces food-purchasing offices. Spam became infamous to baby boomers thanks to a skit performed in 1970 on the popular British comedy television program Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The skit, which was about a restaurant with an all-Spam menu, inspired the Internet term for ubiquitous and unwanted e-mail messages and also the title of the Python’s Tony Award–winning 2005King Arthur musical Spamalot. Spam is as familiar to people who eat it as it is to those who do not. Those who do not eat Spam may wear Spam T-shirts or enter Spam-carving contests.