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 ...
I agree. My wife's biscuits and a decent red wine would make it more bearable still. Navy Beans also cook well with SPAM.
“keeps well in the cupboard”
Hell Spam will survive a nuclear blast that wipes out the human population.....
I used to be recreation director at a Summer retreat which each year had around 30 Japanese Students. Every year they would put on a “Japan Day” in which they would perform Japanese acts, serve Japanese food etc.
Some of the food such as the small bits of grilled chicken were delicious but the seaweed dishes were just plain inedible. I would see the American kids slipping up to a garbage can and when no one was looking, quickly drop the stuff in the can.
Hardly. why do you think they are setting up health care for the elderly the way they are? We won’t treat you anymore, even if you can pay for it. They want soylent green for dogs.
Scoialist fvckers.
Diced and fried with red onions and green peppers, then scrambled into a mount with fresh eggs, topped with cheddar cheese! Yum
***Try your recipe wrapped up in a warm tortilla topped with salsa. Great for breakfast or dinner.***
Making my mouth water! I used to make my own Salsa, but it got to be too much prodcution for the taste. Sam’s Club sells a pretty good version, and I can buy pico at the local Mexican restaurant.
Incidentally, I would leave off the eggs if wrapping in a torilla.
The recipes have to be in HTML. But you could open them and save them as HTML from word.
>>>LOL! No! I use a program called Mastercook. It’s searchable by any number of parameters. I have 60K recipes in it. <<<
There’s an equivalent to Master Cook for Macs - It’s MacGourmet - and it can import Master Cook files too :)
Well, it’s a project for another day (or year), LOL.
Thank you for all the info!
You had Spam during WWII? You must have been rich. We had to exist on potted meat. Gag. If it hadn't been for my brother's rabbits we would have starved. LOL. The rabbits stayed busy keeping us in meat through the war. Kept them in the backyard in town.
***I remember Nikita Khrushchev said he would have starved during WWII if not for Spam. I think we sent huge amounts to the Soviet Union.***
I remember a Bill Mauldin cartoon abouut the Russians in WWII. Two Russian officers are looking in a Russian-English dictionary to try to figure out what the Liberty Ships had brought.
There was SPAM and MAZOLA oil.
I personally like SPAM!
Actually, I thought that MC had a Mac version, but Sierra sold the title to a company called ValuSoft and it hasn't been the same since so maybe there isn't a Mac version.
Ah, you broke my heart. They have to be scrambled eggs...breakfast buritto?
I suppose that is just a co-winky-dink.
Forgive me, m’Lady. I would not break a maidens heart over eggs.
Two movies come to mind.
In BATTLEGROUND the soldiers get supplies dropped to them, they open it and find SPAM. One spits on the cans with tobacco juice.
In ISLAND IN THE SKY John Wayne retrieves dropped supplies, opens them and grabs the pack of SPAM and throw it as far as he can.
I like Spam! It and canned hamburgers is what I ate while at U-Tapao air base in Thailand in 1969. The chow hall was too far away.
While SPAM is tasty, it is far from economical in plain nutritional terms. At $2.40/12 oz., that works out to about $2.90/lb. Plain ground pork can be had for around $2.00/lb. in this neck of the woods and I’m about an hour’s drive from Austin, MN where SPAM is made.
For my money, I look for pork butt that is currently selling with frequency at, or around, $1.00/lb. When pork goes back up, pork trimmings can be had for under $1.50/lb. It is a very simply task to convert the pork into the most delicious, nutritious and lean sausage you’ve ever eaten. As a matter of fact, I just finished smoking about 15# of Kielbasa last night (well, actually 50/50 venison and pork). Trust me, this is sausage to kill for.
I like SPAM, but I can do much better - and for much less.
Apology accepted, kind sir. (Done with the finest British accent, of course.)
All Riiiiight!!!!
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