1 00:00:23,480 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: Hello everyone, ridiculous historians. Thank you for tuning in. This 2 00:00:28,280 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: is the show where we look at some of the strangest, weirdest, 3 00:00:31,000 --> 00:00:34,519 Speaker 1: most bizarre, and yes, ridiculous people, places, things, and events 4 00:00:34,520 --> 00:00:39,240 Speaker 1: throughout the span of human civilization, animals, vegetables, minerals today. 5 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: I'm not sure which category this topic falls under, but 6 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:46,720 Speaker 1: it's it's a thing, it's historically driven, and it's a 7 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: fun thing. It is a fun thing. You know what 8 00:00:48,200 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: just happened? I want to plan out. By the way, Ben, 9 00:00:50,159 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: what's that? Noel, our super producer Casey Pegram said, Okay, 10 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: start talking, go right, go. He literally cracked the whip 11 00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,840 Speaker 1: at us I I because you would you had thrown 12 00:01:02,920 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: both Casey and I under the bus before the before 13 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: the show started. Yeah, by by saying that you are 14 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: more grateful than anyone for particularly surprising, amazing thing we 15 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,440 Speaker 1: have happening in this episode. That's just me overcompensating. You 16 00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: notice about me, Ben, You're notice about me? Do you 17 00:01:21,280 --> 00:01:24,280 Speaker 1: want how about this? Let's let's drop the drop the goods. 18 00:01:24,319 --> 00:01:26,479 Speaker 1: What do we have today? That's right, that's correct. Yes, 19 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:31,039 Speaker 1: So we have today, uh, an amazing story about an 20 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:35,360 Speaker 1: iconic food product that everyone in the US is aware 21 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 1: of and I assume many people throughout the world are 22 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:41,720 Speaker 1: aware of this. It is called spam. But you and 23 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: I are not exploring this story alone. Today. Thank god, 24 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:49,960 Speaker 1: we called in an expert. Folks, we'd like to introduce 25 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 1: you to our friend and today's co host, Annie Reese. Hi, everybody, 26 00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: thanks so much for having me. Guys, did you know 27 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:00,320 Speaker 1: that you were a spam expert? Annie? Spam s Burt? 28 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: You know, I am disgusting. That does sound really gressy. 29 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: It didn't work. It's like what happens when you open 30 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,680 Speaker 1: the can and a little bit of the juice. Oh 31 00:02:08,840 --> 00:02:11,640 Speaker 1: I did not need that mental image, did You didn't 32 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: know it? But she did? Any Okay, expert? Maybe not. 33 00:02:15,240 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 1: I don't know. We're all kind of like armchair experts 34 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:20,239 Speaker 1: on a lot of things. We have a good time researching. 35 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: I don't know how you would get the qualification of 36 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 1: spam expert, but I'm gonna refer to you as our 37 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:28,560 Speaker 1: spam spirit guide today. How about that about spam consultant. 38 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,519 Speaker 1: I'm going like an email, like I come in and 39 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:36,560 Speaker 1: you're getting a lot of spam sorted out, Like make 40 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:39,040 Speaker 1: all the filters on your emails, I feel like I'm 41 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: chopping at a grocery store and I'm going, oh wait, 42 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:45,240 Speaker 1: there's so many different things, and then you appear and 43 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:47,800 Speaker 1: you explain it in a step by step basis, And 44 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: I just want you to know that I am, um 45 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: preemptively very appreciative of that. I feel like i'd be 46 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:58,160 Speaker 1: good at that. I'm not sure more very efficient and 47 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: you are. You are a co host of our food podcast, 48 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: Saver Food Lifestyle Travel. Could you tell us a little 49 00:03:06,600 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: bit about sabor. Yeah. Saver is a show where we 50 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:17,080 Speaker 1: explore the science history culture of food and drinks and 51 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: why we like what we like and how you can 52 00:03:19,040 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 1: get more of that. It used to be called food Stuff. 53 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,560 Speaker 1: We recently rebranded, but we did a whole episode on 54 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,960 Speaker 1: spam um back when it was old school food stuff. 55 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:31,239 Speaker 1: And I have a confession to make that Noel and 56 00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: I were talking about it briefly before this. Anyone who 57 00:03:34,320 --> 00:03:38,680 Speaker 1: knows anything about Apple podcast reviews, you don't read them 58 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:43,440 Speaker 1: unless you're a massa chist, yeah right, which I am. Well, 59 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: you're a brave result in me. But one time a 60 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: friend of mine left review and was like, you've got 61 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:49,840 Speaker 1: to go find it. You've got to read it and 62 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: I said, do you know what you're asking me to do? 63 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: But eventually I got over it and delved into the nightmare, 64 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 1: into the shark pit, that is podcast reviews like I 65 00:04:01,160 --> 00:04:06,240 Speaker 1: like the reviews. That might say something about you, but 66 00:04:06,360 --> 00:04:08,840 Speaker 1: it might say something about me as well. But one 67 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:12,760 Speaker 1: of the number one recurring negative reviews was that I 68 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 1: have never tried any of the foods we're talking about. 69 00:04:15,520 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 1: And when we recorded spam, I had not tried it. Yeah, 70 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 1: that was You're very open about it on the show, 71 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:24,680 Speaker 1: though it seems like a very misplaced complaint. You know, 72 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:27,359 Speaker 1: you're talking to your owning up to it. You honestly, 73 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:29,240 Speaker 1: maybe it's better that you haven't tasted the stuff. It 74 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:32,280 Speaker 1: makes you more objective about it. Have you still tried it? 75 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 1: I tried it. Afterwards, I went and got um spam 76 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: subi and that was it was lovely spam what musubi? Musubi? Yeah, 77 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 1: it's a very popular you can find it convenience stores 78 00:04:46,520 --> 00:04:48,360 Speaker 1: in Hawaii, that's how popular it is. And it kind 79 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:51,160 Speaker 1: of to me looks like nagiri like sushi, but it's 80 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,720 Speaker 1: it's spam. Oh yes, okay, yeah, I'm familiar with that, 81 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,919 Speaker 1: and what we know nowadays, is that in most grocery 82 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,279 Speaker 1: stores that carries spa am, you won't just see the 83 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:05,919 Speaker 1: iconic regular garden variety spam. You'll see stuff like turkey spam, 84 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:12,200 Speaker 1: spam with bacon, spam light. And because this is so recognizable, 85 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 1: we have to ask ourselves, how how did this thing 86 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: which people love or hate, how did it become so 87 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:25,160 Speaker 1: ubiquitous in the world today? How how come everybody vegetarians, 88 00:05:25,240 --> 00:05:27,839 Speaker 1: vegans included. I know what you're talking about when you 89 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: say spam. Well, first of all, it's good branding, right, 90 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,279 Speaker 1: say the SPUs sound is one of my favorites, and 91 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 1: then add the am and it's just a delight to 92 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 1: say out loud. Um, and it's it's it's meant to 93 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:42,920 Speaker 1: be an acronym, but the origin of what its acronym 94 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:45,360 Speaker 1: actually might be is a little bit lost to history. 95 00:05:45,440 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: Or it's kind of a little murky, right, Yeah, there 96 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:50,720 Speaker 1: are a couple of stories about where the name came 97 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:54,359 Speaker 1: from from the people who should know where it came from. 98 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: One is that it's like spiced ham, or maybe it 99 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 1: stands for scientifically processed animal matter animal matter so delicious 100 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:10,920 Speaker 1: not quite meets animal matter. And there's there's others. Two, 101 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:13,960 Speaker 1: there's a shoulder of pork and ham and like you said, 102 00:06:14,000 --> 00:06:15,600 Speaker 1: spiced ham. And then if you want to really get 103 00:06:15,600 --> 00:06:18,159 Speaker 1: into the weeds that's utterly not food related. There's Stop 104 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,599 Speaker 1: Pornography and Abusive Marketing Act. There's also the State Police 105 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 1: Association of Massachusetts that we forget. I didn't realize that 106 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: that was in the running schools of the Pacific Atmospheric 107 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:35,240 Speaker 1: Monitoring Society for the Publication of American Music UH Systems 108 00:06:35,279 --> 00:06:38,960 Speaker 1: Personnel Activity Meeting that's from Yale in my personal favorite 109 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:43,240 Speaker 1: society for palm top advancement through meetings, through only through 110 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:46,479 Speaker 1: meeting That seems like a fascinating use of time. But okay, 111 00:06:46,520 --> 00:06:49,800 Speaker 1: so Spam. It dates back to nineteen thirty seven in 112 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: a town called Austin, Minnesota, a k a. Spam Town USA, 113 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:59,800 Speaker 1: and it was made by Hormel Foods. They initially pitched 114 00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: as a way to help busy homemakers serve quick and 115 00:07:06,200 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 1: easy pork dishes without having to slave away for hours 116 00:07:09,720 --> 00:07:11,480 Speaker 1: in front of an oven. But in like an Edward 117 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:14,400 Speaker 1: Burnet's style stroke of genius, it also did a thing 118 00:07:14,440 --> 00:07:18,800 Speaker 1: where it um Hormel the guy um had a slaughterhouse, 119 00:07:19,120 --> 00:07:23,000 Speaker 1: and he had these byproduct parts that weren't very sellable, 120 00:07:23,200 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: aka the pork shoulder. Um, we now kind of dig 121 00:07:26,400 --> 00:07:28,720 Speaker 1: pork shoulder. That's like a thing that's like a delicacy, 122 00:07:28,800 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: right or like people eat it at the Thanksgiving table 123 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: or whatever. People are into it now, yeah for barbecue, 124 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 1: I think, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly so. But he 125 00:07:37,240 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: had this surplus of pork shoulder. It was not a 126 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 1: popular cut, and so he wanted to figure out a 127 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:46,080 Speaker 1: way to make this, as you say, ben convenient product 128 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: that could be marketed to homemakers who were all about 129 00:07:49,760 --> 00:07:52,000 Speaker 1: canned food at the time. It was all the rage, 130 00:07:52,200 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 1: and they haven't really fussed with the ingredients too much. 131 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: You know. It's it's strange because when you think of 132 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: shelf's stable, that shall stable being the term for stuff 133 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:06,160 Speaker 1: that can stay at room temperature without going bad. I 134 00:08:06,200 --> 00:08:08,720 Speaker 1: guess getting worse than it originally was. When you think 135 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:12,280 Speaker 1: of that, usually think of a ton of chemicals with 136 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:14,720 Speaker 1: so many syllables in the name that it sounds like 137 00:08:14,720 --> 00:08:18,000 Speaker 1: a spell from Harry Potter, right. But in the case 138 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 1: of spam, they have what six ingredients is just pork slash, ham, 139 00:08:23,960 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: salt water, potato, starch, sugar, and of course sodium nitrate. 140 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:34,000 Speaker 1: Of course for color. Yes, that captivating pink issue. It 141 00:08:35,360 --> 00:08:41,920 Speaker 1: describe it. So spam didn't immediately become this worldwide sensation. 142 00:08:42,440 --> 00:08:47,280 Speaker 1: There were other things happening across the planet that eventually 143 00:08:47,360 --> 00:08:50,920 Speaker 1: would lead to uh spam becoming like the king of 144 00:08:51,080 --> 00:08:55,280 Speaker 1: canned meat. And it goes into an angle that a 145 00:08:55,280 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: lot of people might not be aware of. It goes 146 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: to tensions between the US and Japan during the nineteen thirties. 147 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 1: There's a guy, Donald M. Shug at the University of 148 00:09:04,480 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 1: Hawaii who published a paper on this, and he says 149 00:09:08,520 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: that the US military began to view Hawaii's fishing fleet 150 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 1: as a serious threat to national security. So, you know, 151 00:09:17,720 --> 00:09:20,319 Speaker 1: at this time, Hawaii is still not a US state, right, 152 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:25,320 Speaker 1: So when the Japanese government arranged for many of Hawaiis 153 00:09:25,400 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: Japanese fishermen to attend fishing schools in Japan, there were 154 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:34,359 Speaker 1: concerns that these fishermen were actually being interrogated by Japanese 155 00:09:34,440 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 1: navy officials. Yeah, but to what end? Band to what end? 156 00:09:37,960 --> 00:09:42,280 Speaker 1: So this eventually, okay, walked through this real quick. So 157 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,839 Speaker 1: in nineteen forty three years after the invention of span. 158 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: Suspicions about the loyalty of Japanese immigrants resulted in the 159 00:09:51,240 --> 00:09:55,280 Speaker 1: implementation of a federal statute that stopped or banned fishing 160 00:09:55,360 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: vessels of five tons or more from obtaining licenses unless 161 00:09:59,720 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: the ers who owned the vessel was a US citizen. 162 00:10:02,760 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 1: The next year one they passed the law prohibiting quote, 163 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:11,600 Speaker 1: aliens from fishing with gil perse or these different kinds 164 00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:14,199 Speaker 1: of nets within one mile of shore because they wanted 165 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:18,840 Speaker 1: to preserve the fishery resources for Native Hawaiians and US citizens. 166 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:20,599 Speaker 1: This ended careers of a lot of people in the 167 00:10:20,679 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 1: fishing industry in Hawaii, and then that meant that without 168 00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:29,400 Speaker 1: spam these other can meets and sardines, the economy would 169 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:32,760 Speaker 1: have collapsed. They had to find something to replace this 170 00:10:33,120 --> 00:10:36,080 Speaker 1: massive fishing industry. And let's not forget about Executive Order 171 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:40,840 Speaker 1: nineties sixty six UM where Franklin Roosevelt basically banned Japanese 172 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:44,920 Speaker 1: Americans citizens who were occupying military zones had them put 173 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:48,080 Speaker 1: in internment camp. So this whole anti Japanese sentiment was 174 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 1: wide rife in the country, and weirdly enough, it trickled 175 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:57,080 Speaker 1: down to this canned meat product and Of course, these tensions, 176 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:03,360 Speaker 1: these discriminatory laws and economic practices were only ripples of 177 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:07,720 Speaker 1: a much larger event on the horizon, which is World 178 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:12,120 Speaker 1: War Two. And when the war begins, spam also has 179 00:11:12,160 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 1: a part to play. Yeah, it does, because, um, if 180 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: you remember, spam was pretty new around the time that 181 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:22,840 Speaker 1: America was getting involved in World War Two, but it 182 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:27,920 Speaker 1: was a popular option for soldiers because, um, getting fresh 183 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:32,760 Speaker 1: meat or fresh anything to Hawaii was difficult, um for 184 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:38,920 Speaker 1: American soldiers station there. So the US government was sending spam, 185 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:41,640 Speaker 1: or it might not have been exactly spam. Wasn't it 186 00:11:41,640 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 1: just kind of like leftover meat parts that they had 187 00:11:43,960 --> 00:11:46,360 Speaker 1: that they shipped to Hormel and then they made them 188 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:51,240 Speaker 1: my spam like stuff. Yeah yeah, yeah, so Hormels canning them. 189 00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: But it probably wasn't exactly what spam is today or 190 00:11:55,600 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: what we think of it today. And it was cheap, 191 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,520 Speaker 1: non perishable, could withstand all sorts of weather conditions. But 192 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:07,640 Speaker 1: soldiers weren't exactly happy with spam. They were sometimes eating 193 00:12:07,679 --> 00:12:10,720 Speaker 1: it three times a day, so I'm sure they were 194 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: tired of it. Some of them even wrote hate mail 195 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: to Hormel, which the company kept In a quote scurril 196 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:21,840 Speaker 1: less file and some of my favorite dishes are quote 197 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: meat loaf without basic training, ham that didn't pass its 198 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:29,720 Speaker 1: physical and the real reason war was hell, that's great, 199 00:12:29,840 --> 00:12:32,520 Speaker 1: that's fantastic. It's pretty harsh, So there's some sick burns. 200 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: Do you think that this would have been like branded 201 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:37,480 Speaker 1: as spam, wouldn't have come in the tins, like with 202 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:39,839 Speaker 1: the logo on it and everything, because you kind of 203 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:41,800 Speaker 1: made a point on your episode of food Stuff back 204 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,040 Speaker 1: when it was called that that almost like the proper 205 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:47,320 Speaker 1: spam kind of got a bad rap because this was 206 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 1: like almost like bootleg spam, but it was being manufactured 207 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 1: in Hormel's canning facilities. Because I'm wondering if they like 208 00:12:54,320 --> 00:12:57,079 Speaker 1: branded it differently or called it like Mr. E Spam 209 00:12:57,200 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: or something, or I don't know, do you find anything 210 00:12:59,200 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: about that in your east. I didn't find much about 211 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,439 Speaker 1: that at all. In fact, the fact that it wasn't 212 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,720 Speaker 1: spam was sort of a deep cut. It was kind 213 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: of lost on people. Clearly they were writing those letters, 214 00:13:11,920 --> 00:13:14,160 Speaker 1: those angry letters. Oh yeah, and it's also it reminds 215 00:13:14,200 --> 00:13:15,920 Speaker 1: me of the kind of people that write mean things 216 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 1: about podcasts. Well, it's also in the case of spam, 217 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: there's an interesting linguistic thing that occurs because they're using 218 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:26,560 Speaker 1: it as one word to describe this umbrella of umbrella 219 00:13:26,600 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 1: of processed meat. So the image it just got weird 220 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:31,320 Speaker 1: for me. But you know, it's it's similar to the 221 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 1: way that instead of people saying search for something on 222 00:13:34,679 --> 00:13:36,880 Speaker 1: the Internet, they say google it, or instead of make 223 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:41,880 Speaker 1: a copy, xerox this right, and it's it seems pretty 224 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 1: certain in the history that only a few soldiers received 225 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: genuine spam. But because there had already been this can 226 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:53,839 Speaker 1: be product around since the late thirties, that's just what 227 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:59,480 Speaker 1: people called it. So maybe spam got an unfair uh mark, 228 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 1: a screw realist mark on its its reputation. I wonder 229 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:07,000 Speaker 1: if it's possible too that because spam was new and 230 00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:10,160 Speaker 1: at the time there was such a push to be 231 00:14:10,440 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 1: like but behind the boys and you know, all American soldiers, 232 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:17,960 Speaker 1: and America is doing great in the war. Annie is 233 00:14:18,000 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 1: Annie has throwing some great propaganda. She's got these tiny 234 00:14:21,680 --> 00:14:24,800 Speaker 1: American flags and she's gently twisting between her thumb and 235 00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:28,200 Speaker 1: four fingers shut off a firecracker. I always come with crops, 236 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,920 Speaker 1: I always come with props um. But I wonder if 237 00:14:32,240 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: maybe they made a miscalculation and thought, oh, spam is 238 00:14:36,400 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: supporting the soldiers, and this will really get our name 239 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: out there. And it did, but not in the way 240 00:14:42,040 --> 00:14:45,040 Speaker 1: that they were hoping. Oh man, this is like a 241 00:14:45,280 --> 00:14:48,440 Speaker 1: like an attempt, like a ham fisted half attempted, a 242 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,240 Speaker 1: kind of stunt fisted spam fisted attempt. That's even better. 243 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: And he took her the next level, like you do. 244 00:14:55,000 --> 00:14:57,760 Speaker 1: I'm just curious if there was an element of that 245 00:14:57,840 --> 00:15:00,160 Speaker 1: behind it, because I could see I could see the 246 00:15:00,280 --> 00:15:04,200 Speaker 1: calculation there, because it is free advertising when you think 247 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: about it. That's a good point because these soldiers from 248 00:15:08,040 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 1: the US are traveling around the world. They're going to Europe, 249 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 1: they're going to the Pacific, they're going to various different islands, 250 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,680 Speaker 1: and they're bringing spam along with them. Yeah, and it's 251 00:15:18,680 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: a government contract, so you're getting paid to do it. 252 00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:26,600 Speaker 1: I bet there was something like that going on, and 253 00:15:26,920 --> 00:15:30,400 Speaker 1: the backlash from the soldiers generated one of my favorite 254 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: quotes about spam, because there are a lot of excellent 255 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:35,120 Speaker 1: quotes about spam. Hormel describes it as meat with a 256 00:15:35,160 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: pause button, which I love. I'm gonna need you to 257 00:15:37,440 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: unpack that for us a little bit meat with a 258 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:43,320 Speaker 1: pause button, meaning like it never goes bad. Or is 259 00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: that the implication? Yeah, like where you put it in 260 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:48,880 Speaker 1: that can, it's like a time capsule. It's just gonna 261 00:15:48,920 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: stay the same. I got it pushing pause. Another one 262 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: of my favorite quotes comes from a New Yorker piece. 263 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:01,920 Speaker 1: It was all about as a profile on J. Hormel, 264 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:05,680 Speaker 1: and in the article, the author wrote, I got the 265 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:09,200 Speaker 1: distinct impression that being responsible for spam might be too 266 00:16:09,240 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: great a burden on any one. Man. I love that idea, 267 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:18,560 Speaker 1: being cursed by the success of spam. Yeah. So is 268 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:21,080 Speaker 1: it that the soldiers genuinely didn't like the taste? Or 269 00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 1: is it? Do you think it's really more because as 270 00:16:23,240 --> 00:16:26,240 Speaker 1: you said, they were eating it so often. I think 271 00:16:26,600 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: it was a couple of things. I think it was 272 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:32,600 Speaker 1: they were eating it so often, they were eating it cold. 273 00:16:33,320 --> 00:16:37,560 Speaker 1: And one of the reasons I found when looking into 274 00:16:37,560 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: this question of why spam is so popular in Hawaiian 275 00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: and like other Asian Pacific countries, is because not only 276 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: were they kind of their hand was forced because of 277 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:52,520 Speaker 1: the things you were talking about earlier, where Japanese immigrants 278 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:59,080 Speaker 1: couldn't fish, they also were incorporating spam in ways that 279 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,640 Speaker 1: were delicious, like they were putting them in recipes that 280 00:17:02,680 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 1: they made. Anyway, they were adding them into spam fried 281 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,080 Speaker 1: rice or spam and eggs. Um soldiers were just eating 282 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:11,480 Speaker 1: them cold. Out of ten, I think I have very 283 00:17:11,600 --> 00:17:14,160 Speaker 1: limited experience with spam. I don't know about the two 284 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:19,119 Speaker 1: of you, but limited purpose. I will make a confession 285 00:17:19,160 --> 00:17:22,520 Speaker 1: that Casey and Annie probably know, you probably don't know 286 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: UM I received in my early years working when we 287 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: all started working together, I received an m v P award. 288 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:33,399 Speaker 1: Do you remember this, Annie? It's just three cans of 289 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:40,639 Speaker 1: spam that have been wrapped together and artistically artistically designs 290 00:17:40,640 --> 00:17:43,520 Speaker 1: so that parts of the spam logos say m v 291 00:17:43,600 --> 00:17:46,600 Speaker 1: P or something like that, and uh, it's It's one 292 00:17:46,640 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: of the most prestigious awards I've ever received. It's also 293 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: still in our office in case of an emergency, in 294 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:57,160 Speaker 1: case of a trophy emergency, case of a trophy murdery 295 00:17:57,240 --> 00:17:58,959 Speaker 1: case we're trapped here and we have to eat spam. 296 00:17:59,200 --> 00:18:02,960 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I think about that. But but the UM 297 00:18:03,000 --> 00:18:06,280 Speaker 1: I might have just a little bit more familiarity with 298 00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: this stuff because in boy Scouts we would camp a 299 00:18:09,640 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: lot and we would have to we would have to 300 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:13,560 Speaker 1: eat that stuff, and we tried to find different ways 301 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: to make it taste interesting. So it's not the same 302 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:18,040 Speaker 1: old thing, but it's already spiced. I mean, what else 303 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: does it needs? Right, the secret and I don't know 304 00:18:24,040 --> 00:18:26,560 Speaker 1: what else you're missing, but yeah, it's I think it's 305 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:28,600 Speaker 1: the thing that a lot of people did, as you said, 306 00:18:28,640 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: the the assimilated spam, yes, um, and to get back 307 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: to the point that they were putting it in things 308 00:18:36,359 --> 00:18:39,800 Speaker 1: that I think we're probably much well definitely much more flavorful. 309 00:18:40,480 --> 00:18:45,320 Speaker 1: And so they had a positive experience with spam um. 310 00:18:45,320 --> 00:18:47,840 Speaker 1: And on Hawaii after soldiers left, a lot of soldiers 311 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: when they went home, they brought with them their distaste. 312 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:54,360 Speaker 1: They were also turning spam into spaminade, right, I mean, 313 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,080 Speaker 1: they were flooded and inundated with all this the spam, 314 00:18:57,400 --> 00:19:00,840 Speaker 1: and because they couldn't get protein from fishing, and didn't 315 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 1: the US kind of like send them a lot of 316 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:06,240 Speaker 1: the spam because they had like a surplus of the stuff. 317 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: And that wasn't just during World War two, continue during 318 00:19:10,359 --> 00:19:14,160 Speaker 1: the Korean War as well. I believe, yes, because um 319 00:19:14,359 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 1: spam was included in a lot of foreign aid packages, 320 00:19:18,160 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: and during the Korean War people made something that I'm 321 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:27,640 Speaker 1: not entirely sure what's in there, and other folks weren't either, 322 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:31,760 Speaker 1: but they called it army stew, and uh, spam was 323 00:19:31,800 --> 00:19:34,280 Speaker 1: one of the ingredients that we do know. It was 324 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: featured in Armies Army ste And to this day, Korea 325 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,240 Speaker 1: is spam's second largest market and it's a popular gift 326 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:48,560 Speaker 1: on Lunar New Year in that country. Oh wow, Oh 327 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:52,399 Speaker 1: that's cool. Is there? Do they have different varieties of 328 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:57,400 Speaker 1: spam in different countries, like different flavors and such. I yes, 329 00:19:57,760 --> 00:20:00,919 Speaker 1: I'm not I couldn't speak to specific, but I do 330 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:05,280 Speaker 1: know that there's a wide variety of spam flavors and 331 00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:09,840 Speaker 1: that it does vary in um different countries. But Hawaii 332 00:20:09,960 --> 00:20:13,840 Speaker 1: for sure is the biggest market. Yeah. Do you have 333 00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:17,800 Speaker 1: some stats for us about that? Do I? Ever? And 334 00:20:17,840 --> 00:20:20,520 Speaker 1: I'm not sure. I didn't know that spam had this 335 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 1: association with Hawaii until I did that the research for 336 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:26,439 Speaker 1: that episode, But I think it's pretty common knowledge at 337 00:20:26,480 --> 00:20:30,400 Speaker 1: least here in the United States. But Hawaiians consume about 338 00:20:30,600 --> 00:20:35,280 Speaker 1: five million pounds of spam every year, which is about 339 00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:39,359 Speaker 1: two million a little over two million kilograms and on 340 00:20:39,480 --> 00:20:42,280 Speaker 1: average that's about three pounds per person or about one 341 00:20:42,280 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 1: point three kilograms a year, or I think around six 342 00:20:45,560 --> 00:20:49,919 Speaker 1: cans a year for every man, uh, every man, woman, child, 343 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:53,679 Speaker 1: any type of humans consuming about six cans of spam 344 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:57,680 Speaker 1: a year. I can't we completely forgot hey, Casey, yes, 345 00:20:58,080 --> 00:21:01,360 Speaker 1: do you have do you have an experience or familiarity 346 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: with spam? Just the other weird al song, the R 347 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:08,760 Speaker 1: E M parody? Yeah? Wait, which was spam in the 348 00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: place where you live? You know that one? I don't. 349 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:15,680 Speaker 1: It's a deep weird alcave. Let's stand by R E M. 350 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:19,200 Speaker 1: But stand I was not aware there was is this? 351 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:22,240 Speaker 1: Is this like classic? Yeah? Mid eight I means whenever 352 00:21:22,240 --> 00:21:25,000 Speaker 1: stand was out so that I did not Casey on 353 00:21:25,040 --> 00:21:30,480 Speaker 1: the case, Casey on the case. I like that has 354 00:21:30,480 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: a sound effect and everything. Any oh yeah, I mean 355 00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: it's got to because he's on the case. We we 356 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:40,320 Speaker 1: love being able to drop the sound cuse and multiple times. Yeah, 357 00:21:40,400 --> 00:21:44,159 Speaker 1: well just listen after after Casey spinds this intofferent spins 358 00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:48,440 Speaker 1: the spam into gold, We're gonna be shocked. Um. Hawaii 359 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:52,360 Speaker 1: also has what looks to be one of the festivals. 360 00:21:52,359 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: I would just be over the moon to attend. It's 361 00:21:55,760 --> 00:21:59,760 Speaker 1: called spam Jam Festival in y Ki Ki and I 362 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:03,199 Speaker 1: was looking at pictures for it. There's just mascot stressed 363 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,680 Speaker 1: as all the different types of spams, spam eating contest. 364 00:22:06,760 --> 00:22:12,400 Speaker 1: I think somebody got married there once. It looks awesome 365 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: and I would love to go and um. Spam is 366 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,439 Speaker 1: also called Hawaiian steak, which I wasn't sure if it 367 00:22:18,480 --> 00:22:20,120 Speaker 1: was a joke or not when I was reading that. 368 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 1: In the state they call it Hawaiian steak. Okay, so 369 00:22:22,960 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 1: actual native Hawaiians call it that, But from what I 370 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: understand from what the Internet tells me is okay. I'm 371 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:31,880 Speaker 1: just I'm trying to figure out if if we can 372 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:35,520 Speaker 1: say that or if that's mocking it. Yeah, right, I 373 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:39,120 Speaker 1: not here to mock. Surely they also have steak in Hawaii. 374 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:44,520 Speaker 1: Surely they do, but probably yeah, I mean, I'm sure 375 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:46,960 Speaker 1: steak is certainly much more expensive than it is here 376 00:22:46,960 --> 00:22:49,879 Speaker 1: on the mainland, that is true. Yeah, yeah, they kind 377 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:51,439 Speaker 1: of take for granted the fact they are sort of 378 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:55,959 Speaker 1: isolated and require all of their goods to be shipped 379 00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,120 Speaker 1: in literally you know, by plane or by sea. Yeah, 380 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:04,920 Speaker 1: which makes things expensive. So the legacy of spam established 381 00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:08,480 Speaker 1: during World War Two and the Korean War takes this 382 00:23:09,040 --> 00:23:14,280 Speaker 1: canned food product, this animal matter from Minnesota to its 383 00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:18,040 Speaker 1: new home in He said, Hawaii's by far the largest market, 384 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:22,440 Speaker 1: Korea's second. That that would that should surprise a lot 385 00:23:22,480 --> 00:23:25,600 Speaker 1: of people, right, because spam feels like such an American 386 00:23:25,600 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: food because of the way it's spread across the planet. Yeah, 387 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,239 Speaker 1: it surprised me. I do find it really fascinating that 388 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:36,399 Speaker 1: it's so local. Lot, it's so specific where people love it. 389 00:23:36,840 --> 00:23:38,919 Speaker 1: And then I feel like the rest of the world 390 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:42,160 Speaker 1: and and the rest of the US, we're kind of like, 391 00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:46,919 Speaker 1: that's that weird food thing. What is that exactly? But 392 00:23:47,040 --> 00:23:50,000 Speaker 1: I would like to mention that there is an amazing 393 00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,360 Speaker 1: I've never been, but listeners have sent like, um some 394 00:23:54,359 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 1: some stuff they've gotten from this museum and um austin Minnesota, 395 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:02,439 Speaker 1: which is, like you said, spam m USA. And if 396 00:24:02,480 --> 00:24:06,240 Speaker 1: anyone has the opportunity, I highly recommend it. Its hands 397 00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:13,840 Speaker 1: on you the sam hands on right. Nice. You get 398 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:17,320 Speaker 1: to race to see how many cans of fake it's 399 00:24:17,359 --> 00:24:21,480 Speaker 1: fake spam that you can make in a minute. It's practice. Yeah, 400 00:24:21,720 --> 00:24:25,119 Speaker 1: like you're trying to shove it into the can and 401 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:28,679 Speaker 1: you're competing against like a robot. So it's kind of 402 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,879 Speaker 1: like the world of Coca Cola in Atlanta, but with spam. Yes, 403 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:33,720 Speaker 1: I would hope that you would have the opportunity to 404 00:24:33,720 --> 00:24:38,439 Speaker 1: sample different spam, the spams of the world, a world 405 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 1: of cove that would be super cool. Um. We didn't 406 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: really talk about this, and I think it's fine to 407 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:48,399 Speaker 1: save it for the end. Spam is cooked in the can. Yeah, 408 00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:50,439 Speaker 1: the way it's made it isn't that weird that that 409 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:53,480 Speaker 1: struck me as super odd And there's a reason for that, right, Yeah, 410 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:57,040 Speaker 1: And it has to do with that whole shelf stable 411 00:24:57,080 --> 00:25:00,600 Speaker 1: thing because you wanna you wanna mix the meat in 412 00:25:00,640 --> 00:25:03,879 Speaker 1: a vacuum and vacuum seal it and then cook the 413 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:05,679 Speaker 1: whole cam that's part of the whole meat with a 414 00:25:05,720 --> 00:25:08,879 Speaker 1: pause button thing. It's so nothing gets in there that 415 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,000 Speaker 1: you don't want, unless maybe you don't want the spam, 416 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:15,399 Speaker 1: but that's a whole different argument. Um. And when you 417 00:25:15,440 --> 00:25:19,359 Speaker 1: cook it, the meat breaks down and you're left with 418 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:22,640 Speaker 1: a little a little loaf of spam and some juices. 419 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: We're not making it sound very appetised, semi gelatinous, almost 420 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:29,440 Speaker 1: not as gelatinous as it could be if it didn't 421 00:25:29,440 --> 00:25:31,200 Speaker 1: have that additive right, because it was there, one of 422 00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:33,879 Speaker 1: those additives that keeps it from forming like a gross 423 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:37,040 Speaker 1: congealed layer of goo on the top, to make something 424 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: that's already not super appetizing practically inedible. And I'll tell you, guys, 425 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:44,400 Speaker 1: I will I make a mean spam fried rice if 426 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,040 Speaker 1: you ever want to come over. If you cut it 427 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:49,600 Speaker 1: in the little cubes like that, it's like you hide it. 428 00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:51,879 Speaker 1: It's like the way I feed my kid vegetables. I 429 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,240 Speaker 1: chopped the carrots up so small you can't even see them. 430 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:56,840 Speaker 1: I mean, spam, for all intensive purposes probably taste fine, 431 00:25:57,320 --> 00:25:59,480 Speaker 1: but the texture of it and the look of it 432 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 1: and the idea of it just give me the give 433 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 1: me the gross out. It's the fact that it comes 434 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,440 Speaker 1: out can shaped. I think for a lot of people, 435 00:26:06,520 --> 00:26:09,960 Speaker 1: you see the rills in the can and yeah, yeah, 436 00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:14,440 Speaker 1: but not everybody. Not everybody hated it, right, we said, 437 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:18,560 Speaker 1: Hawaiian's welcomed it with open arms. People in parts of 438 00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:22,680 Speaker 1: the Pacific Rim also really enjoyed it, and the Russians 439 00:26:22,720 --> 00:26:26,200 Speaker 1: liked it. They called it Roosevelt sausage. Had to be fair. 440 00:26:26,280 --> 00:26:29,439 Speaker 1: Russian Russian food is pretty gross. I feel like, in 441 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:32,800 Speaker 1: terms of cuisine, Russians already very familiar with a lot 442 00:26:32,840 --> 00:26:38,080 Speaker 1: of canned meat products, you know, like anchovies, different potted meats, 443 00:26:38,320 --> 00:26:42,000 Speaker 1: So maybe it was just something that already seemed familiar 444 00:26:42,000 --> 00:26:43,960 Speaker 1: to them. Okay, And first of all, for any Russian 445 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:46,919 Speaker 1: listeners out there, I want to apologize for insulting the 446 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:51,080 Speaker 1: entire cuisine of Russia, but I just never really run 447 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,399 Speaker 1: across Russian food that was particularly appetiting to me. It 448 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:56,960 Speaker 1: seems like a lot of cabbage, a lot of like 449 00:26:57,280 --> 00:27:02,480 Speaker 1: barred based things and borsch and you know, very rustic 450 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:05,960 Speaker 1: kind of there's a stuff. There's a great Russian restaurant 451 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,560 Speaker 1: up north of Atlanta where we are based, and I 452 00:27:09,560 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: would highly recommend checking it out. And actually, you know, 453 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,600 Speaker 1: in defense of Russian food, this is totally non span 454 00:27:16,480 --> 00:27:20,040 Speaker 1: but in defense of Russian food, Uh, make friends with 455 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,400 Speaker 1: someone who cooks Russian food themselves and it will be amazing. 456 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:27,920 Speaker 1: There's always like thirty dishes of things. Yeah, I would 457 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:32,520 Speaker 1: imagine that there's probably a lot of food that is 458 00:27:32,880 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: historically Russian that is we just have lost. Yeah, we 459 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: we've forgotten that it is, or we've made it our 460 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:42,360 Speaker 1: own thing. I'm sure there's I'm not thinking of any 461 00:27:42,480 --> 00:27:45,359 Speaker 1: right now, but I'm sure there's good Russian fair and 462 00:27:45,359 --> 00:27:47,439 Speaker 1: we do like a chicken Kiev. Yeah, we could do 463 00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,399 Speaker 1: a Russian food update to I'm sure we're going to 464 00:27:50,440 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: get some emails about this one. Another one of, perhaps 465 00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:55,639 Speaker 1: one of the most famous Russian fans of spam was 466 00:27:55,720 --> 00:28:00,280 Speaker 1: Soviet Premier Nikki Ta Kruschev. Oh yeah, he wrote about 467 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 1: spam in his memoirs called Krushchev remembers not the most 468 00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 1: amazingly innovative threat. Yeah, he probably had some threats in there. 469 00:28:13,320 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 1: He probably took some shots. But in the memoir he 470 00:28:16,480 --> 00:28:19,800 Speaker 1: specifically shouts out spam by saying, quote, there were many 471 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,360 Speaker 1: jokes going around in the army, some of them off 472 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:27,359 Speaker 1: color of American spam. It tastes good. Nonetheless, without spam, 473 00:28:27,440 --> 00:28:29,880 Speaker 1: we will not feed our army. We would have lost 474 00:28:29,960 --> 00:28:34,479 Speaker 1: our most fertile land, most fertile land. Got it? Got it? 475 00:28:34,560 --> 00:28:40,640 Speaker 1: Who was that Russian guy? I was? It was terrible. 476 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,200 Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, we've got to I've got a practice 477 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:45,920 Speaker 1: on the accents, folks. But he raises an interesting point, 478 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:50,520 Speaker 1: you know that similar to what was happening with war 479 00:28:50,600 --> 00:28:54,440 Speaker 1: survivors in the countries on the Pacific Rim. There were 480 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:59,120 Speaker 1: people who would have starved without access to this easily transportable, 481 00:28:59,360 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: infinitely durable food. Yeah, kind of along the same lines. 482 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:06,520 Speaker 1: Margaret Thatcher called it a wartime delicacy. She called spam 483 00:29:06,520 --> 00:29:11,320 Speaker 1: a wartime delicacy. And it's interesting, I think, because there 484 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:14,800 Speaker 1: is an odd sense of nostalgia for spam that a 485 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:18,800 Speaker 1: lot of people have, and I feel that it needed 486 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:23,280 Speaker 1: time to get away from the war the direct aftermath, 487 00:29:23,640 --> 00:29:28,000 Speaker 1: but then after that people had this association with spam. 488 00:29:28,040 --> 00:29:31,600 Speaker 1: It was there for me when I needed it. Yeah. 489 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:33,560 Speaker 1: It's also one of those things where it's like it 490 00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,959 Speaker 1: hasn't changed much. The branding is the same. It's you know, 491 00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:40,280 Speaker 1: people have fond memories of that and they like the idea. 492 00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: You know, everything in this in this fast paced, mixed 493 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: up world of ours, everything's always changed in a mile 494 00:29:45,080 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 1: a minute. But we can rely on spam. Yes, the 495 00:29:48,200 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: spam never changes. Like our true North. There we go, 496 00:29:52,200 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 1: true North of canned animal matter. I do have a question, 497 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,960 Speaker 1: this is something that I was wondering if we could 498 00:29:59,080 --> 00:30:04,640 Speaker 1: explore together, how did spam also become a term for 499 00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:11,000 Speaker 1: uh deluges? Of bizarre emails. Well, then it has to 500 00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:15,400 Speaker 1: do with Monty Python. Oh yeah, yeah, that's catch right. Yes, 501 00:30:16,040 --> 00:30:17,880 Speaker 1: can you describe the games? We should just play a 502 00:30:17,880 --> 00:30:22,840 Speaker 1: clip of it all. You got the egg and bacon, egg, 503 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,920 Speaker 1: sausage and bacon. I can span egg, bacon and SPA, 504 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: Bacon sausage and Span, SPAN bacon sausage and SPA, SPA 505 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:39,000 Speaker 1: Stan bacon and Span, Span Span spanag and Span, spam 506 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: spam spans, Span, Span Span BA clean spam spam span aspall. Oh, 507 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 1: lost door prevents for the moon. I saw collanda and 508 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:55,720 Speaker 1: probably and span. Do you want anything without spaming it? Well, span, egg, 509 00:30:55,800 --> 00:30:58,520 Speaker 1: sausage and span. There's not much spamming it. I don't 510 00:30:58,560 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 1: want any spam. The end credits for that episode, by 511 00:31:01,240 --> 00:31:04,960 Speaker 1: the way, include UM spam with every company member spam, 512 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:10,560 Speaker 1: Terry Jones, Terry Spam, sausage spam, eggspam UM, and the 513 00:31:10,680 --> 00:31:13,120 Speaker 1: idea of just like inundating you with something, yeah, like 514 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:16,640 Speaker 1: annoying you always kind of just blaring in the back 515 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: of your mind. UM. It has no appreciable content. It's omnipresent. 516 00:31:23,800 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: But as you can imagine, Hormel doesn't exactly love that association. Yeah, 517 00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,680 Speaker 1: I think they've even tried to. I think there was 518 00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:40,000 Speaker 1: some very quickly defeated legal way they tried. It's not 519 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 1: like anybody branded spam. It's just in the zeit guys. 520 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:46,360 Speaker 1: You would just toss it around, you know it. I'm 521 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:50,800 Speaker 1: not sure everyone, I'm not sure what they thought. They 522 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:54,120 Speaker 1: could just send out a message to everyone, a spam message, 523 00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: and say, please use a different term for this, what 524 00:31:58,120 --> 00:32:02,120 Speaker 1: this thing is that we're sending. Usually when people or 525 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,880 Speaker 1: institutions or companies attempt to do something like that, they 526 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,200 Speaker 1: just make the problem much much worse, such as when 527 00:32:09,240 --> 00:32:12,440 Speaker 1: a celebrity politely asked the Internet to take down a 528 00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:17,040 Speaker 1: photo of them. Yeah, what I mean, So they've probably 529 00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:19,200 Speaker 1: done the math and they thought, if we ask people 530 00:32:19,280 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 1: to not do this, it's not gonna work. I know 531 00:32:21,400 --> 00:32:25,520 Speaker 1: there's some Um, there's a bit of a renaissance sometimes 532 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:31,120 Speaker 1: for spam, every so often in more high end restaurants, right, yes, Um. 533 00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,000 Speaker 1: I saw this a lot when I was in San 534 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,560 Speaker 1: Francisco a couple year or so ago. And there's one 535 00:32:38,640 --> 00:32:42,200 Speaker 1: restaurant I think it's called Leo Leo Yacht Club something 536 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:46,000 Speaker 1: like that, and they have a lot of spam options 537 00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 1: on their menu, and it's a very nice restaurant. Visit Hawaiian. Like, 538 00:32:50,600 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 1: it's just like, what's this loco moco I keep hearing about. 539 00:32:53,720 --> 00:32:58,840 Speaker 1: Loco is good. It's like spam with gravy or something. Yes, rice, 540 00:32:58,920 --> 00:33:03,800 Speaker 1: maybe it's rice, spam gravy and a fried egg. You 541 00:33:03,840 --> 00:33:07,080 Speaker 1: can also get it with ground b for other meats, 542 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:10,160 Speaker 1: for a hamburger patty. Yes, so that's what I had. 543 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:14,040 Speaker 1: I didn't have spam locomoco okay, okay, I did have 544 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: the other one. And it was very interesting that there's 545 00:33:16,160 --> 00:33:20,400 Speaker 1: like high end Hawaiian restaurants that still use this uh 546 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: pretty cheap, not very nutritional canned meat. Speaking of nutrition, 547 00:33:26,520 --> 00:33:28,320 Speaker 1: just want to point out real quick that one of 548 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 1: these Kansas spams twelve ounces and it apparently contains about 549 00:33:32,400 --> 00:33:37,120 Speaker 1: six servings um which contain so the six servings and 550 00:33:37,200 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 1: they can which come only, and it contains of the 551 00:33:44,440 --> 00:33:50,080 Speaker 1: daily recommended fat intake for the US and thirty of 552 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:54,520 Speaker 1: the sodium. So it's not a health food no. But 553 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,520 Speaker 1: but there's another set. American ze'd approximately three point eight 554 00:33:58,560 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: cans per second. Problem with that step because I think 555 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:05,400 Speaker 1: Hawaii is throwing off the average. I yes, I would agree, 556 00:34:06,040 --> 00:34:09,560 Speaker 1: I can't really recall spam ever coming up in my 557 00:34:09,719 --> 00:34:13,120 Speaker 1: childhood as an option. Well, you clearly didn't have elderly 558 00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: parents like I did. They you know, remembered it fondly 559 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:20,439 Speaker 1: from the wartime where my parents weren't alive in World 560 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:22,840 Speaker 1: War Two, but their parents were, and so it was something. 561 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:24,880 Speaker 1: You know, a lot of people that went through the depression, 562 00:34:24,960 --> 00:34:27,920 Speaker 1: they like they learned how to hoard properly, and they 563 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:30,800 Speaker 1: learned how to like be frugal and like use canned 564 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:33,400 Speaker 1: meats and things. I remember growing up and my grandpapa 565 00:34:33,440 --> 00:34:36,880 Speaker 1: would make brains and eggs, which is like the brain. 566 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:39,160 Speaker 1: It's literally I didn't even realize this until many years later. 567 00:34:39,200 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: It's like cow brains and eggs. But it was like 568 00:34:41,680 --> 00:34:44,000 Speaker 1: a cheap part that you could just you know, added 569 00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:45,919 Speaker 1: a little texture and a little flavor to your eggs. 570 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,880 Speaker 1: Same with spam or something called liver pudding or scrapple 571 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:52,440 Speaker 1: is what it's known as in the wearing that the 572 00:34:52,480 --> 00:34:57,399 Speaker 1: Midwest like up in the Yeah, yeah, exactly. I liked 573 00:34:57,440 --> 00:34:59,800 Speaker 1: all of those things and didn't think anything of it. 574 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:04,239 Speaker 1: But they're both kind of these congealed meat cubes that 575 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:06,839 Speaker 1: you then slice up and fry like spam, So there's 576 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:15,040 Speaker 1: there's there's other analogs to spam. Absolutely, these are foods 577 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: that come about out of necessity, you know, And I 578 00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:23,239 Speaker 1: think necessity and nostalgia are inextricably intertwined here. So I 579 00:35:23,320 --> 00:35:25,160 Speaker 1: guess I guess the next question would be what is 580 00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:28,680 Speaker 1: the what is the future of spam? Are they slowing up? 581 00:35:28,840 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 1: Are they speeding up? I think they they're in a 582 00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:36,120 Speaker 1: good place. I definitely don't think that they need to 583 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:40,359 Speaker 1: be worried. I Hawaiians love it. They're going to keep 584 00:35:40,440 --> 00:35:45,680 Speaker 1: the market going. Um. Like we said, these fancier restaurants, 585 00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:47,520 Speaker 1: and this is a trend. We see a lot where 586 00:35:47,920 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 1: the combination of high end and low end. I've seen 587 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: around Atlanta government cheese at really nice restaurants pretty frequently. 588 00:35:58,480 --> 00:35:59,719 Speaker 1: So I don't think they have to be worried. What 589 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:04,560 Speaker 1: they should be worried about is theft. That's right. Okay, 590 00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:06,719 Speaker 1: can you tell us a little bit about this? Yes, 591 00:36:07,120 --> 00:36:09,840 Speaker 1: we love well. I can't speak for you, but I 592 00:36:10,239 --> 00:36:12,200 Speaker 1: love I love a good high story. Do you love 593 00:36:12,239 --> 00:36:13,840 Speaker 1: a good high story? Now you were wrong. You shouldn't 594 00:36:13,840 --> 00:36:16,760 Speaker 1: have spoken. Of course, I love a good high story, 595 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: especially when it involves an absurd potted meat a spam 596 00:36:20,680 --> 00:36:24,560 Speaker 1: high story is it's up there. That's a good one. Lately, 597 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:28,640 Speaker 1: there have been a spate of spam thefts in Hawaii. 598 00:36:29,600 --> 00:36:32,920 Speaker 1: In one account, three women filled a cart with eighteen 599 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:35,400 Speaker 1: cans of spam at a drug store and made a 600 00:36:35,480 --> 00:36:38,360 Speaker 1: dash for the exit. But this customer, he just planted 601 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:40,680 Speaker 1: himself in front of the doors and said, what are 602 00:36:40,719 --> 00:36:43,640 Speaker 1: you doing with that spam? He didn't say that, but 603 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:46,719 Speaker 1: along those lines, and they made a run for it, 604 00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:48,839 Speaker 1: and they did not succeed in their heist, but enough 605 00:36:48,880 --> 00:36:52,719 Speaker 1: people have that now some stores have started storing their 606 00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:56,279 Speaker 1: cans of spam locked in those plastic cases that are 607 00:36:56,320 --> 00:37:03,400 Speaker 1: typically used for expensive items electronics. Yeah, now spam is 608 00:37:03,480 --> 00:37:08,320 Speaker 1: back there. You have to go ask for key. The 609 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:10,440 Speaker 1: reason for this is super interesting. It has to do 610 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:13,880 Speaker 1: with a change in the law in Hawaii where I 611 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:18,200 Speaker 1: think like in the past theft up to three hundred 612 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,279 Speaker 1: dollars was considered a felony, and then they raised it 613 00:37:21,400 --> 00:37:25,080 Speaker 1: to seven hundred, So you could steal up to seven 614 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,440 Speaker 1: hundred dollars worth of spam and it would be just 615 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: a misdemeanor if they caught you. But also it's like, 616 00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,319 Speaker 1: how are you gonna, you know, track down the purp 617 00:37:33,400 --> 00:37:36,040 Speaker 1: if you don't catch them doing it. And the fact 618 00:37:36,120 --> 00:37:40,640 Speaker 1: that this famous spam shelf stability means that you don't 619 00:37:40,680 --> 00:37:43,239 Speaker 1: have to fence it right away. You can sit on 620 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,080 Speaker 1: your stash for a while. And this great article from 621 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:48,640 Speaker 1: grub Street that you turned us onto Annie Hawaiian grocery 622 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:54,320 Speaker 1: stores reportedly overrun with spam bandits spammed its um that 623 00:37:55,160 --> 00:37:58,200 Speaker 1: it's it's like an epidemic, and it's a lot largely 624 00:37:58,920 --> 00:38:02,239 Speaker 1: the article can jectures folks are stealing the stuff so 625 00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,640 Speaker 1: that they can flip it and buy drugs. Um. But 626 00:38:06,080 --> 00:38:09,200 Speaker 1: it's so flippable because the market for spam in Hawaii 627 00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:13,720 Speaker 1: is like through the roof. Yeah. Tina Yamaki, the president 628 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:17,680 Speaker 1: of Retailed Merchants of Hawaii, calls it organized retail crime, 629 00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,640 Speaker 1: and she she's spoken a lot about the spam black 630 00:38:21,719 --> 00:38:25,719 Speaker 1: market and how you can buy spam out of somebody's car, 631 00:38:25,960 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 1: like out of their trunk. Wow, it's just you know, 632 00:38:29,200 --> 00:38:32,840 Speaker 1: usually if I see somebody with a ton of canned 633 00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:35,880 Speaker 1: meat in their trunk standing by the side of the road, 634 00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:39,520 Speaker 1: my first instinct isn't to ask them how much and 635 00:38:39,600 --> 00:38:43,000 Speaker 1: what the going prices. You clearly are not a spam fan, Ben, 636 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:46,280 Speaker 1: I'm not. You know what I'm I can say safely. 637 00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:47,719 Speaker 1: I'm a fan, but I don't think I'm built to 638 00:38:47,760 --> 00:38:50,480 Speaker 1: be a spam tycoon. I hope they're out there somewhere 639 00:38:50,520 --> 00:38:53,400 Speaker 1: in Hawaii. I hope there's a black market spam tycoon. 640 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:55,959 Speaker 1: And I hope that you are listening to this show. 641 00:38:57,200 --> 00:38:59,880 Speaker 1: We want to make God have mercy on your soul. 642 00:39:00,120 --> 00:39:03,279 Speaker 1: You gotta have mercy on your spam. I think we 643 00:39:03,400 --> 00:39:06,920 Speaker 1: all want to hear spam recipes from listeners if you're 644 00:39:06,960 --> 00:39:09,359 Speaker 1: a fan of spam. Well, speaking of spam recipes, when 645 00:39:09,400 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: we talked about like how the Hormeil company is doing 646 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,560 Speaker 1: and moving forward or whatever, well they've really embraced a 647 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:17,240 Speaker 1: lot of this kitch surrounding spam and like the Massu 648 00:39:17,360 --> 00:39:19,239 Speaker 1: bees and all that, and they have like recipes on 649 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,840 Speaker 1: their site. For this fantastic national geographic article by April 650 00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:25,120 Speaker 1: Fulton shows some images of some of the stuff that 651 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:27,560 Speaker 1: I'm talking about. One of them is a Hello Kiddie 652 00:39:27,640 --> 00:39:30,200 Speaker 1: Spam musubie that they show you how to make um. 653 00:39:30,320 --> 00:39:33,080 Speaker 1: They also have a tour, a national tour called the 654 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:36,760 Speaker 1: Tiny House of Sizzle Tour where they are shopping around 655 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:40,480 Speaker 1: the whole us of a um a spicy spam breakfast 656 00:39:40,560 --> 00:39:44,800 Speaker 1: burrito recipe made by their chef Jordan's and Dino, and 657 00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:47,279 Speaker 1: it's like a traveling link Spam food truck, sort of 658 00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:49,880 Speaker 1: the way you see the Oscar Meyer wiener Uh mobile 659 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:53,239 Speaker 1: or whatever. So you know, Spam's not slowing down. They're 660 00:39:53,280 --> 00:39:57,120 Speaker 1: they're they're rising to the occasion. They're adapting to the times. Yeah, 661 00:39:57,280 --> 00:39:59,719 Speaker 1: they're adapting times. They always haven't want to show you, guys. 662 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:01,879 Speaker 1: One of my favorite pictures, so Annie on this show. 663 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:07,120 Speaker 1: We love vintage advertise too, So Spam Dandy is one 664 00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:09,759 Speaker 1: of my one of my favorites. And they have these 665 00:40:09,840 --> 00:40:14,879 Speaker 1: collections of all their ads that have the exact nostalgia 666 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:18,480 Speaker 1: tone um for anybody who enjoyed our previous episode on 667 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:24,040 Speaker 1: what was It? Noal? Was it meat jello? Yeah, aspects 668 00:40:24,320 --> 00:40:28,239 Speaker 1: and also just like various savory gelatin dishes that were 669 00:40:28,360 --> 00:40:31,680 Speaker 1: very popular as like centerpieces and made you seem like 670 00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:35,160 Speaker 1: you really had your homemaking skills in order. And spam, 671 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:37,760 Speaker 1: I'm sure it's all part of this, like the food 672 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,240 Speaker 1: of the Future movement. Oh, we'll just eat out of tins, 673 00:40:41,320 --> 00:40:43,920 Speaker 1: and that's super progressive and like shows that we have 674 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:46,800 Speaker 1: money or something. Even though it was cheap and gelatine 675 00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:49,680 Speaker 1: was cheap, it was a very odd dichotomy and that 676 00:40:49,800 --> 00:40:53,040 Speaker 1: really interesting to look back on. Gelatin Just when you 677 00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:55,360 Speaker 1: see pictures of those things at the center of a 678 00:40:55,400 --> 00:40:57,879 Speaker 1: dining table, it strikes me as love crafty and I'm 679 00:40:57,880 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 1: gonna be honest, it's something from like the Dark beyond 680 00:41:00,680 --> 00:41:04,520 Speaker 1: the stars. Oh, I love looking at a good aspect 681 00:41:04,680 --> 00:41:07,920 Speaker 1: or meat jelly. They're they're hilarious and they are that 682 00:41:08,080 --> 00:41:13,120 Speaker 1: interesting intersection of At the time, if you didn't have 683 00:41:13,160 --> 00:41:16,040 Speaker 1: a lot of money, you wanted to put a lot 684 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:19,040 Speaker 1: of work and artistry into a thing to show that 685 00:41:19,239 --> 00:41:23,040 Speaker 1: you were successful and that you could afford to do this. 686 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: But it was a cheap food thing. It was everyone 687 00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:30,400 Speaker 1: was participating in kind of this masquerade, of this facade. 688 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:35,239 Speaker 1: And and spam is a similar food in that it 689 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:39,040 Speaker 1: does have that futuristic it'll last forever vibe, but it's 690 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:44,200 Speaker 1: very cheap. And during the recent recession in two thousand eight, 691 00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:48,360 Speaker 1: because of this, spam saw an increase of sales of 692 00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:52,800 Speaker 1: ten because yeah, it is a food that that people 693 00:41:53,239 --> 00:41:56,640 Speaker 1: people can't afford and there aren't strict numbers, but according 694 00:41:56,680 --> 00:42:00,560 Speaker 1: to the Hormel website UM they estimate of point eight 695 00:42:00,680 --> 00:42:04,520 Speaker 1: cans of spam are consumed every second across the planet. 696 00:42:05,120 --> 00:42:08,480 Speaker 1: Mostly that's not even to speak of the ones that 697 00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:12,040 Speaker 1: are just hoarded in a bombshell right or in the 698 00:42:12,160 --> 00:42:16,640 Speaker 1: trunk of a Cadillac driving so where near you. I 699 00:42:16,760 --> 00:42:18,600 Speaker 1: love it. Well. I don't know about you, guys, but 700 00:42:18,640 --> 00:42:21,360 Speaker 1: I'm filled with gratitude at the end of this episode 701 00:42:21,440 --> 00:42:24,279 Speaker 1: for you, Annie. My heart is just bursting out of 702 00:42:24,320 --> 00:42:26,960 Speaker 1: my chest with gratitude, clearly more gratitude than either Been 703 00:42:27,080 --> 00:42:31,759 Speaker 1: or Casey are capable of mustering. Annie, I wasn't really 704 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:33,800 Speaker 1: listening when Nolan is talking about I do want to 705 00:42:33,840 --> 00:42:36,320 Speaker 1: say thank you so much for coming on the episode. 706 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:39,000 Speaker 1: I'm kidding, no, I think we're both really happy that 707 00:42:39,160 --> 00:42:42,120 Speaker 1: you took the time here and uh taught us so 708 00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:44,040 Speaker 1: much about spam. I'm wondering if I'm going to cook 709 00:42:44,080 --> 00:42:45,960 Speaker 1: something this weekend. We've talked so much about it. I 710 00:42:46,040 --> 00:42:49,640 Speaker 1: feel like we've almost in a way consumed it ourselves 711 00:42:49,840 --> 00:42:52,480 Speaker 1: just by exploring this concept. I think we should do 712 00:42:52,560 --> 00:42:56,719 Speaker 1: a potted meat like uh pot luck. Let's do it Look, 713 00:42:56,920 --> 00:43:01,600 Speaker 1: it would be a pollock potted potted meat. Look, this 714 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,879 Speaker 1: is the office to host such an event. There would 715 00:43:04,880 --> 00:43:10,000 Speaker 1: be very creative concoctions behind the curtain. Folks. We recently 716 00:43:10,320 --> 00:43:13,800 Speaker 1: hung out after work and had a game night where 717 00:43:14,000 --> 00:43:17,239 Speaker 1: we learned. Uh. Well I think you already knew all 718 00:43:17,280 --> 00:43:21,280 Speaker 1: the games, Annie, but we both learned some really cool stuff. 719 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:24,080 Speaker 1: So shout out to Dix it right, Dix it fun 720 00:43:24,160 --> 00:43:26,600 Speaker 1: to say, fun to play. That should be their tagline. 721 00:43:26,600 --> 00:43:29,000 Speaker 1: That should have it. You're gonna give it to them 722 00:43:29,040 --> 00:43:31,200 Speaker 1: for free? Well, I don't know. They can send me 723 00:43:31,320 --> 00:43:34,759 Speaker 1: some some swag, some mugs or something. You guys can have. 724 00:43:35,200 --> 00:43:36,879 Speaker 1: It was so fun, it was It was really really 725 00:43:36,960 --> 00:43:38,600 Speaker 1: enjoy and it was a successful game nine. I look 726 00:43:38,640 --> 00:43:40,719 Speaker 1: forward to doing it again, um, but I also look 727 00:43:40,760 --> 00:43:43,840 Speaker 1: forward to having you Annie on the show again. Yes, please, 728 00:43:43,960 --> 00:43:46,759 Speaker 1: yes please. This was so this was so much fun. Yes, 729 00:43:46,840 --> 00:43:49,839 Speaker 1: We're so glad you enjoyed. Uh. I'm a huge fan 730 00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:52,359 Speaker 1: of food history, as you know from some of our 731 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:56,800 Speaker 1: works outside of this show. But in the meantime, before 732 00:43:56,880 --> 00:44:01,040 Speaker 1: you make another return appearance, where can our listeners here 733 00:44:01,200 --> 00:44:04,680 Speaker 1: more of your work with how Stuff Works? You can 734 00:44:04,880 --> 00:44:09,520 Speaker 1: find me um over at Favor podcast your Internet humans, 735 00:44:09,520 --> 00:44:11,520 Speaker 1: I'm sure you can find it, but I will say 736 00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:15,480 Speaker 1: it's Savor without the you. So for the non American 737 00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:19,080 Speaker 1: listeners among you. Um, and I also am a co 738 00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:21,160 Speaker 1: host of a show called Stuff Mom Never Told You, 739 00:44:21,239 --> 00:44:24,160 Speaker 1: which you can google Google right away and you'll find it. 740 00:44:24,520 --> 00:44:27,759 Speaker 1: Fantastic shows. Do check them out, Uh, the shows that 741 00:44:27,840 --> 00:44:31,279 Speaker 1: I personally listened to in my free time. So okay, yeah, 742 00:44:31,280 --> 00:44:33,839 Speaker 1: I don't want a fanboy out too much, but maybe 743 00:44:33,880 --> 00:44:36,399 Speaker 1: i'll ask your autograph after the show. I definitely listened 744 00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:38,200 Speaker 1: to the Spam episode today and crypt most of my 745 00:44:38,280 --> 00:44:40,480 Speaker 1: notes of this episode from that episode. So this is 746 00:44:40,560 --> 00:44:46,920 Speaker 1: where that yeah mistake that consumes its tale. Uh, and 747 00:44:47,400 --> 00:44:51,160 Speaker 1: we have more tales to tell. We had earlier said 748 00:44:51,239 --> 00:44:54,080 Speaker 1: that we would be exploring some more spooky stories as 749 00:44:54,160 --> 00:44:58,239 Speaker 1: we lead up to Halloween, So tune in next time 750 00:44:58,600 --> 00:45:03,360 Speaker 1: when we delve into of this strange story of well mummies, 751 00:45:03,600 --> 00:45:06,400 Speaker 1: yeah Mexican mummies to be precise. And in the meantime, 752 00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:09,640 Speaker 1: like to thank casey our superproducer Alex Williams, who composed 753 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:13,800 Speaker 1: our theme, research associates Christopher Hasciodas and Eve's Jeff Code 754 00:45:13,960 --> 00:45:16,120 Speaker 1: and Ben as usual I'd like to throw a little 755 00:45:16,160 --> 00:45:18,680 Speaker 1: thanks your way, my friend, and just being you, I 756 00:45:18,719 --> 00:45:22,080 Speaker 1: would like to treat that thanks like a boomerang, add 757 00:45:22,160 --> 00:45:24,200 Speaker 1: some extra thanks to it, and make sure it gets 758 00:45:24,320 --> 00:45:25,600 Speaker 1: right back to you. Why do you guys have to 759 00:45:25,640 --> 00:45:27,520 Speaker 1: want up be on the thanks my man? I just 760 00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:30,040 Speaker 1: like hanging outright. We'll see you next time, folks,