Spam: A Way to Peddle Pork Shoulder

Spam was invented in 1937 by Jay Hormel—the son of George Hormel, the founder of the meat company—as a way to peddle the then-unprofitable pork shoulder. The Hormel company, based in Austin, Minnesota, was a pioneer in producing canned pork products. The company introduced canned ham in 1926, and Hormel spiced ham and pork luncheon meats quickly followed. The new product had hardly reached delicatessen cases, however, before competitors produced their own versions. Jay Hormel determined that his company’s pork luncheon meat would have to be sold in cans sized conveniently for consumers and with a name that could be trademarked. In late 1936 at a naming party at Jay Hormel’s house, Kenneth Daigneau, an actor and the brother of a Hormel vice president, won the top prize of one hundred dollars for “Spam,” a portmanteau word that stood for either “spiced ham” or “shoulder of pork and ham” (company sources disagree). Sales were slow at a time when most meat was sold either fresh or cured. Housewives had trouble believing that canned meat could be safe to eat.