Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Spam Turns Serious and Hormel Turns Out More (Spam making a comeback)
nytimes. ^ | November 14, 2008 | ANDREW MARTIN

Posted on 02/12/2009 4:24:55 PM PST by dennisw

Spam, a gelatinous 12-ounce rectangle of spiced ham and pork, may be among the world’s most maligned foods, dismissed as inedible by food elites and skewered by comedians who have offered smart-alecky theories on its name

But these days, consumers are rediscovering relatively cheap foods, Spam among them. A 12-ounce can of Spam, marketed as “Crazy Tasty,” costs about $2.40. “People are realizing it’s not that bad a product,” said Dan Johnson, 55, who operates a 70-foot-high Spam oven.

Hormel declined to cooperate with this article, but several of its workers were interviewed here recently with the help of their union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union Local 9. Slumped in chairs at the union hall after making 149,950 cans of Spam on the day shift, several workers said they been through boom times before — but nothing like this.

Spam “seems to do well when hard times hit,” said Dan Bartel, business agent for the union local. “We’ll probably see Spam lines instead of soup lines.”

Even as consumers are cutting back on all sorts of goods, Spam is among a select group of thrifty grocery items that are selling steadily.

Pancake mixes and instant potatoes are booming. So are vitamins, fruit and vegetable preservatives and beer, according to data from October compiled by Information Resources, a market research firm.

“We’ve seen a double-digit increase in the sale of rice and beans,” said Teena Massingill, spokeswoman for the Safeway grocery chain, in an e-mail message. “They’re real belly fillers.”

Kraft Foods said recently that some of its value-oriented products like macaroni and cheese, Jell-O and Kool-Aid were experiencing robust growth. And sales are still growing, if not booming, for Velveeta, a Kraft product that bears the same passing resemblance to cheese as Spam bears to ham.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: food; spam; spamspam; spamspamspam; spamspamspamspam; spamspamspamspamspam
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-124 next last
To: dennisw
From their new site:

SPAM!

61 posted on 02/12/2009 5:00:26 PM PST by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dools007
It’s a lot like those raunchy White Castle hamburgers.

White Castle...better than the colon cleansers they sell on those infomericals

62 posted on 02/12/2009 5:00:26 PM PST by A_Tradition_Continues (formerly known as Politicalwit ...05/28/98...Ain't no Newbie!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: calcowgirl

Yeah... you are right


63 posted on 02/12/2009 5:03:58 PM PST by dennisw (Archimedes--- Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: calcowgirl

There ya go1


64 posted on 02/12/2009 5:04:01 PM PST by CaptRon (Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: Doogle
I think it's served in HI as an 'whore's dervre' with a pineapple chunk on top ... for ‘howlies’
65 posted on 02/12/2009 5:05:33 PM PST by MHGinTN (Believing they cannot be deceived, they cannot be convinced when they are deceived.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

SPAM has the perfect amount of salt and fat to cook nicely with pinto beans. It has a strudy, storeable container and also keeps forever without refrigeration. Even if one doesn’t consider it gourmet fare, it’s a very good thing to have in ones emergency provisions (along with pinto beans).


66 posted on 02/12/2009 5:05:59 PM PST by VR-21
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

Is their CEO the same Hormel who is a flaming Soros-type liberal faggie whom B.J. Klintoon named as our ambassador to Belgium or wherever? I mean, he lisped his snippy defiance at Senate Republicans during confirmation hearings.

Reason enough to stick to the WalMart version or the Food Lion version.

(fireproof suit donned)


67 posted on 02/12/2009 5:06:41 PM PST by elcid1970 ("O Muslim! My cartridges are lubricated with pig grease!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: CaptRon

http://www.magicbluepill.com/vs.shtml


68 posted on 02/12/2009 5:07:13 PM PST by CaptRon (Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: Drango
Spam is the State food of Hawaii.

Yeah, it's everywhere on the Islands. In fact, I tried a Spam dish at one of those L&L Hawaiian Barbeque fast-food joints. Overall, the food there is okay - but I'd skip the Spam Musubi. Basically a chunk of grilled Spam and a wad of sticky white rice, wrapped up in a hunk of seaweed. It may just be my individual palate, but the taste of Spam just doesn't go with seaweed - or vice versa.

Otherwise, I like the stuff - especially dunked in an egg wash, rolled in bread crumbs and pan fried. It's an angioplasty on a plate, but damn, it's tasty.

69 posted on 02/12/2009 5:08:41 PM PST by Charles Martel ("Endeavor to persevere...")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: elcid1970

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hormel

The gay Hormel you mention doesn’t run Hormel foods but is a grandson of the founder


70 posted on 02/12/2009 5:11:32 PM PST by dennisw (Archimedes--- Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: dennisw

>>>Austin, Minn., (where Hormel makes Spam) has 13 restaurants with Spam on the menu, including Johnny’s.<<<

Now that I get to go to Austin weekly, I’m going to stop at Johnny’s....


71 posted on 02/12/2009 5:13:08 PM PST by Keith in Iowa (ESPN MNF: 3 Putzes talking about football on TV while I'm trying to watch a game.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: CaptRon
What's an electronic cookbook? Can you program it to do all the cookin? ;-)
72 posted on 02/12/2009 5:13:23 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: VR-21
SPAM has the perfect amount of salt and fat to cook nicely with pinto beans. It has a strudy, storeable container and also keeps forever without refrigeration. Even if one doesn’t consider it gourmet fare, it’s a very good thing to have in ones emergency provisions (along with pinto beans).

That combo has lots of protein and good quality carbohydrates in the pinto beans
I'm sure it could sustain life for a few months if you had vitamin C pills

73 posted on 02/12/2009 5:14:43 PM PST by dennisw (Archimedes--- Give me a place to stand, and I will move the Earth)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

To: calcowgirl
LOL! No! I use a program called Mastercook. It's searchable by any number of parameters. I have 60K recipes in it.
74 posted on 02/12/2009 5:15:56 PM PST by CaptRon (Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: GeronL

LOL

THe iofficl shelf life of SPAM is

(wait for it)

infinity.

AS long as the package is intct, it has no exp date. All Hormel products are that way.

In Alaska’ SPAM and Sailor Boy pilot bread of the “Stuff Of Life”. You can leave them in your cabin forever and they are as good as the day you brought them out.

MMm-mmm-good-ness


75 posted on 02/12/2009 5:19:01 PM PST by ASOC (This space could be employed, if I could only get a bailout...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: CaptRon

Just googled Mastercook. That looks pretty cool. Years ago, I bought a program called “Dinner at 8” (same idea — recipes, searchable, it even combined a shopping list for you). Unfortunately, the software was outdated within a year or two and wouldn’t run on any of the newer operating systems. So, I resorted to good old word files, organized in folders. It’s searchable and does the trick.

In about 1998, I actually wanted to set up a website for recipes and do something similar. I wish I had done it then. I still haven’t seen anything as good as the framework I laid out that could easily have sustained itself with quality advertising.


76 posted on 02/12/2009 5:22:07 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: calcowgirl
I've used Mastercook for years. It also does shopping lists. Recipes are scalable and it gives nutrition information. Unfortunately it won't work with my new Vista machine but I have an XP machine as well so that is my recipe machine.

One good thing about MC is the newer versions have a tool that allows you to collect recipes from the web by highlighting portions of the reciped, click on the title of the portion (title, ingredients, directions, etc) and then just load them into the program.

77 posted on 02/12/2009 5:25:49 PM PST by CaptRon (Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: ASOC

a lil bit o heaven


78 posted on 02/12/2009 5:25:54 PM PST by GeronL (please stand by...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 75 | View Replies]

To: Doogle

LOL Tater Salad...


79 posted on 02/12/2009 5:27:15 PM PST by goat granny
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: CaptRon
One good thing about MC is the newer versions have a tool that allows you to collect recipes from the web by highlighting portions of the reciped, click on the title of the portion (title, ingredients, directions, etc) and then just load them into the program.

Hmmm... that would certainly be handy for converting all of the recipes that I have in my personal cookbook (word files). I only have a few hundred recipes, so it wouldn't be too tough. I may have to puchase MC one of these days.

As to PC's, I'm keeping my old Windows 2000 laptop as a permanent emergency machine for old software and programs.

80 posted on 02/12/2009 5:30:59 PM PST by calcowgirl ("Liberalism is just Communism sold by the drink." P. J. O'Rourke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100 ... 121-124 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson