SPAM snobs

The SPAM is excellent tonight!

I developed an appreciation for SPAM when I was in the Boy Scouts; it tastes divine cooked in a skillet over a campfire; and it keeps indefinitely with out refrigeration; what's not to like? I loved cooking SPAM over a hot plate in college, but then I also ate American cheese; what did I know. I always thought the SPAM brand got a bum rap after its association with unwanted junk mail...damn those fools on Monty Python. Alas, in this country SPAM is doubly cursed, the subject of both culinary and cyber culture ridicule. But the Koreans clearly have a more discerning culinary sense; in Korea SPAM is a delicacy!

When Only Slabs of Pink, Jellied Byproduct Will Do

SEOUL — Stroll into an expensive department store and walk straight past the $180 watermelon with a ribbon twirled just so around its stem. Don't bother with the tea in a butterfly-shaped tin for $153, or with the gift boxes of Belgian chocolates or French cheeses.

If you're looking for a gift that bespeaks elegance and taste, you might try Spam. The luncheon meat might be the subject of satire back home in the U.S., but in South Korea, it is positively classy. With $136 million in sales, South Korea is the largest market in the world for Spam outside the United States. But here, some consider the pink luncheon meat with its gelatinous shell too nice to buy for themselves, and 40% of the Spam is purchased as gifts.

Especially during the holidays, you can see the blue-and-yellow cans neatly stacked in the aisles of the better stores. South Koreans are nearly as passionate about packaging as the Japanese are, and the Spam often comes wrapped in boxed sets. A set of 12 cans costs $44. "I can't understand what is funny about Spam," said Jeon Pyoung Soo, a CJ Corp. executive who is brand manager here for Spam.

Jeon recalled a recent visit to Austin, Minn., where Spam's manufacturer, Hormel Foods Corp., has created a museum devoted to the history and cult of Spam. Highlights include a 1970 Monty Python skit in which a group of Vikings drowns out all other conversation with a chorus of "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam." (The skit is credited with the word "spam" coming into use to mean unsolicited e-mails that likewise clog a computer's inbox.)

"Everybody was laughing and smiling but me," said the 27-year-old Jeon, who went to business school in the United States and is fluent in English. "I knew all the words, but I didn't get the joke."

"It is a curious thing about Spam that in the Far East, it is taken very seriously, while in the United States, particularly on college campuses, it has this quirky, kitschy retro feel to it," said Julie Craven, public relations manager for Hormel.

When Only Slabs of Pink, Jellied Byproduct Will Do - Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Norm Miller]

I think your first four words hit the nail on the head. I think one develops an appreciation for the canned meat, versus a more instinctual appreciation. Either way, I think it's bum rap started long before email, and don’t you think that connection has probably helped sales of SPAM more then it's great taste. :) It certainly has done a lot for brand recognizition, moreso then what Hormel has probably been able to accomplish on their own.

The food network covers the annual SPAM cook-off, so if you are not a SPAM purist and are looking for more ideas then just frying in a pan, like Herb Crusted Rack of SPAM with Spamcetta Rolls and Crispy Grits and Butternut Squash Puree, yum, try http://foodnetwork.com/food/show_cc/episode/0,2495,FOOD_20077_23991,00.html

[Bob]

If you really want to appreciate Spam from an Asian perspective, try Spam Haiku:

http://www.pitt.edu/~blair1/spam-haiku.html