This tinned meat product continues to be a popular cupboard staple amongst many British households. After being introduced in the US in 1937 it became popular in the UK during the Second World War in the face of wartime rationing.
This was partly down to its low price and long shelf life.
It is estimated that 100 million pounds of SPAM was sent to military personnel during the war, which was a huge help to the war effort and is something the product will always be revered for.
Despite being incredibly processed and perceived as unappealing to many, SPAM is still being bought around the world, with 9 billion units being sold since it was first introduced to the market.
The tinned foodstuff is made from pork shoulder, which is considered to be one of the least desirable cuts of meat.
The letters S, P, A, and M were widely considered to be a portmanteau of spiced ham, but recent research undertaken by BBC Bitesize has put this theory to the test.
According to the spokesman for Spam’s maker, Hormel Foods Corporation, the true reason the food is called SPAM is top secret and only known by a small group of the company’s former executives.
The iconic name was born after a competition during a New Year’s Eve party in 1936.
The company’s president at the time, Jay Hormel, organised the contest which was won by actor Kenneth Daigneau, a brother to one of the executives. He came up with the name SPAM, further explaining that it stood for ‘spiced ham’, and receiving a 100-dollar prize for his thinking.
So ‘Spiced Ham’ is still the given definition but the people at Hormel Foods Corporation are happy to keep everyone speculating what the true origin of the name is.
The fact that the meat isn’t all that spicy adds further mystery to where the name actually comes from.
The Hormel Foods Corporation even contradicted the widely accepted meaning, and once said that SPAM means “Shoulder of Pork and Ham”. Other definitions mentioned have included “Specially Processed American Meat”.
We may never know the true meaning of its name, but the controversial meat product has since trended on TikTok and generated further popularity, so it’s not going away anytime soon.
