SPAM
A Biography: The Amazing True Story of America's "Miracle Meat!"
By Carolyn Wyman
(Mariner Books, Paperback, 9780156004770, 144pp.)
Publication Date: July 1999
Categories: History, Popular Culture - General, Specific Ingredients - Meat
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Over sixty years ago, when meat was bought from a butcher, Jay Hormel's idea for pork in a can was nothing short of revolutionary. How in the world (and why in the world) did he do it? In nine highly engaging and entertaining chapters, complete with over 200 illustrations and photos, author and Spam-fan Carolyn Wyman traces the unbelievable success story of this one-of-a-kind, all-American, all-pork product, including: Spam's place in history, its role during World War II, and how Spam saved the Russian army from starvation, the making (yes, the ingredients) and the selling of Spam, from 1937 to today, spamming the Globe: From Zimbabwe to Anguilla, stories of Spam overseas, the infamous Monty Python skit and Spam's other starring roles and cameos in television, movies, cartoons, and music, delectable recipes like Spam Fritters, Spamtastic Mincemeat Truffles, and the award-winning Spam Cheesecake, Cyber Spam: The best of Spam on the Internet, including poetry from the Spam Haiku Archive. A fascinating portrait of an icon in a can, Spam: A Biography will delight everyone from the culinarily curious and connoisseurs of kitsch to netheads and veterans-and of course, Spam's true fans: the millions of people who eat America's "Miracle Meat" for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. SPAM-tistics: (1)Spam is sold in over 45 countries around the world. (2)Over 100 million cans are consumed by 60 million Americans each year, averaging 2.8 cans per second (3)The Spam can is part of the Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection (4)Over 5 billion cans of Spam have been sold since 1937. (5)Hawaiians are the highest per capita Spam eaters-averaging 4 cans/year per person-followed closely by Alaska, Arkansas, Texas, and Alabama (6)Hormel-sponsored Best of Spam Recipe competitions are held each year at more than 75 state and regional fairs (7)Over 20,000 people attend the Spam Jam in Spamtown, USA, aka Austin, Minnesota, Hormel's headquarters.
Carolyn Wyman is the author of Spam: A Biography, I'm a Spam Fan, and The Kitchen Sink Cookbook. She has written for several trade magazines and national publications, such as the Boston Globe, the Christian Science Monitor, and the New York Times. For over ten years her weekly column, "Supermarket Sampler," a review of new food products syndicated by Universal Press, has appeared in more than one hundred newspapers across the country. Wyman lives in Middletown, Connecticut.
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