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It’s Chuseok time again in Korea and time for those boxed gift sets of soap, sesame seed oil, tuna, and Spam that Koreans give as gifts to family, friends, and colleagues.

Some of these gifts seem practical like hand soap or even sesame seed oil, but for all the years I have been in Korea, I could never understand why Spam is so popular here, not only as a gift, but also a part of the Korean’s diet in dishes like Budae-chigae (a stew made of Spam, kimchi, hot dogs and ramen that originated during the Korean War). To be sure, when I was a kid growing up back home in the Midwest, Spam was usually the subject of jokes and urban legends that became a part of popular culture and folklore, which all pretty much asked the same question: what exactly is this “mystery” meat in the can?

The history of Spam, a canned precooked meat that is made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, dates back to July 5, 1937 when the product first entered our culinary vernacular and digestive tracts. The name “Spam” was first used because the product’s original name, Hormel Spiced Ham wasn’t too memorable enough and just didn’t cut it. Although the original meaning of Spam, according to one Hormel official meant “Shoulder of Pork and Ham” other backronyms (and some hilarious ones at that) have included “Specially Processed American Meats,” “Spare Parts Animal Meat,” “Stuff, Pork, and Ham,” and my favorite, “Something Posing as Meat.”

The original classic Spam (believe it or not, there are 12 varieties of Spam, including Spam Lite, Spam Mild, Spam Golden Honey Grail and if you are a spreader and not a slicer, there’s Spam Spreadable) ingredients include chopped pork shoulder meat, ham, water, salt, sugar, and sodium nitrate to keep its color. As for its gelatinous glaze, or aspic, this is formed when the meat cools.

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And just how nutritious is Spam? A two-ounce serving provides seven grams of protein, two grams of carbohydrates and fifteen grams of fat (including just six grams of saturated fat) and for those watching their calories, only 170 calories. Not surprisingly, Spam provides very little in vitamins and minerals.

Sold in 41 countries around the world, outside of the US, the largest consumers of Spam are the United Kingdom and South Korea.

Although it is popular in the US, it is often associated with economic hard times. Interestingly, Hawaii and Guam consume the most Spam per capita in the United States. In Guam alone, each person consumes sixteen cans of Spam a year and in Hawaii, Spam® is so popular that it is sometimes called, “Hawaiian Steak” – though the Hawaiians have come up with their own special Spam dish: Onigiri, which is Spam cooked with rice and seaweed.

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There is a reason for the popularity of Spam in such locales as Hawaii, Guam, as well as the Philippines because it was brought there during the US occupation in World War II. Obviously, because fresh meat was hard to get the troops on the front lines, Spam became popular-for better or worse. Troops ended up eating more than the lion’s share worth of Spam for breakfast, lunch and dinner and came up with such witticisms like “ham that didn’t pass the physical” and “meatloaf without basic training.”

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Aside from its popularity in the United Kingdom (Spam was once deep fried and called Spam Fritters) it too, has had the stigma of being a poor people’s food. Interestingly, during World War II, it was one of the few foods excluded from wartime rationing (perhaps that explains the Monty Python skit when a waitress, Graham Chapman in drag explains the menu to Eric Idle: “Well, there’s egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam…”)

Copyright 2009 ©  Jeffrey Alan Miller

Not so in South Korea where during Chuseok (Korea’s Harvest/Ancestral Celebration) and Sollal (Lunar or Chinese New Year) Spam is anything but a poor people’s food with expensive Spam gift sets (around $30.00-$40.00). Likewise, it is often used in Kimbap (a sushi roll made of seaweed laver, rice, and vegetables) and the ever-so popular Budae-chigae (army stew). The origin of Budae-chigae could be attributed to Korean soldiers assigned to American units during the Korean War who might have scrounged some food from the Americans such as Spam and hot dogs (two of the main ingredients in Budae-chigae) for their kimchi and ramen stew.

Spam is also popular in the Philippines where it is eaten with eggs and fried rice as well as Okinawa, Japan where it is used in the traditional Okinawan dish chanpuru and sold as a Spam Burger at the fast food outlet Jef.

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And if all these varieties of Spam and the various dishes don’t celebrate this product enough, there is the Spam Jam in Austin, Minnesota (known as Spam Town, USA and the headquarters of the Hormel Corporation) that is a carnival-like festival held around the same time as Fourth of July festivities. Austin is also home to, believe it or not, The Spam Museum.

That’s about the size, or the spam of it. Or as the Viking Chorus in that famous Monty Python skit sings, “Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!”