Spam was introduced to the general market on July 5, 1937. The name came from a contest held by Hormel, who had previously named the block of meat "Hormel Spiced Ham." The public had begun to lose interest, hence the name change.
On the bus the other day we were engaged in a discussion about Spam, and I offered that the name was an acronym for "Something, Pork, and Ham." While this was a better option than anyone else could come up with, the consensus was that "Something, Pork, and Ham" was, in fact, redundant, and no large company would do such a thing to one of their best selling products. So we looked it up. Come to find out, the name more likely stands for "Shoulder of Pork and Ham," which is probably a little more accurate, but no less redundant. The official Hormel website claims that "Spam is just that. Spam." This does not clear up the mystery.
Here are some other possible meanings (all data from Wikipedia, so, you know, be careful.): "Something Posing As Meat", "Stuff, Pork And ham" and "Spare Parts Animal Meat."
Nutritional .. A 56 gram (approximately 2 ounce) serving of original Spam provides 7 grams of protein, 2 grams of carbohydrates, 15 grams of fat (23% US Daily Value) including 6 grams of saturated fat (28% US Daily Value), and over 170 calories. A serving also contains nearly a third of the recommended daily intake of sodium (salt). Spam provides very little in terms of vitamins and minerals (0% vitamin A, 1% vitamin C, 1% calcium, 3% iron). It has been listed as a food that is a poor choice for weight loss and optimum health and as a food that "is high in saturated fat and sodium."
Once, when I was in high school, a friend and I went home and tried to fry some Spam for lunch. It smoked so badly that we were forced to open the windows and turn on the fans to air out the house for fear that the smoke alarms would go off. His kitchen smelled for days. (Kris, if you are out there – I hope your mom forgave us this transgression.)
Good luck going back to school.
-Hogan
Currently listening :
Are We All Forgotten
By Paper Route
Release date: By 2008-07-08