WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How SPAM Works 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.920 M Hey everybody, it's me Josh and for this week's 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:08.319 s Y s K Selects, I've chosen spam. There's so 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:12.080 much to understand about spam, including one of my favorite 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:17.120 facts of our entire show that spam never goes bad. 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:27.320 So enjoy spam. Now, welcome to Stuff you Should Know 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:36.159 from House Stuff Works dot com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:40.400 the podcast on Josh Clark. I am Josh Clark, and 0:00:40.400 --> 0:00:43.680 there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant and that's a stuff you 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:48.680 should know. Let's all go home. Some people are probably 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.800 already home. Well, go to bed, Okay. He told me 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:54.680 that in the email the other day. Go back to sleep. 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:58.680 I don't get that. You're just being goofye okay, just 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:06.040 lightning the moon like um, yeah, hey buddy, Hey Josh, 0:01:06.080 --> 0:01:07.959 I have a story for you. All right, let's hear it. 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:11.839 So last November, not too many months ago, stop looking, 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.960 just listen, all right, Uh, there was a carnival cruise 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:21.040 liner that had a little fire. The Carnival Splendor was 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:23.959 on a seven day trip to the Mexican Riviera and 0:01:24.800 --> 0:01:27.800 about forty four miles off the coast of Mexico, it 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.800 went adrift because of fire in the engine room just 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:33.880 knocked everything out so they lost power, which means it 0:01:33.959 --> 0:01:37.720 was basically just like UM being on an abandoned boat, 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.000 but filled with people ghost ship a ghost ship and 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:43.640 filled with not just people, filled with two hundred and 0:01:43.680 --> 0:01:48.919 fifty magicians who were on a convention. Um. That sounds 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:52.200 like my idea of hell on Earth. Okay. In addition 0:01:52.240 --> 0:01:56.000 to the magicians, which apologies to any magicians listening, we 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:59.400 got sculptures melting. You've got magicians they can't find their 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.680 rabbits um. You've got UM toilets of their own flush. 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:07.640 You've got UM cabins that are UM stuffy. You have 0:02:07.880 --> 0:02:13.360 UM warm food or warm drink. Yes, so Carnival in 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:17.280 their credit did UM give away free beer and wine 0:02:17.320 --> 0:02:20.079 and all that. But it was warm. So for three 0:02:20.160 --> 0:02:24.480 days all these people were just sitting adrift, right, and 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:29.400 a very just They weren't very happy. The US Navy 0:02:29.440 --> 0:02:34.600 flew sorties out to this UM this ship and dropped 0:02:34.639 --> 0:02:39.000 off supplies. They dropped off canned lump crab meat, they 0:02:39.080 --> 0:02:42.400 dropped off pop tarts, they dropped off a little something 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:48.280 called spam canned meat. And when the ship was finally 0:02:48.720 --> 0:02:54.359 I think towed back to uh Port. The people dubbed 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:58.200 this crazy vacation. What do you think do you think 0:02:58.200 --> 0:03:01.720 they they dubbed it the hop tart Cation? Now do 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:04.560 you think they dubbed it the lump crab meat Cation. No, 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:09.160 of course they dubbed it spam cation two thousand ten. Yeah, 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.400 that's like Chad's story. Our buddy Chad was on a 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:14.720 cruise remember when he was younger, that the power went down. 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:17.080 He never told me this one. Oh yeah, he said 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:20.239 it was like Sodom and Gamora for a couple of days. Really, 0:03:20.360 --> 0:03:23.240 Oh yeah, yeah. He said that people were having a 0:03:23.240 --> 0:03:26.000 lot of fun and engaging inside of me, just in 0:03:26.120 --> 0:03:29.040 Gamore and me having a good time, is what he 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:32.120 how he characterized it. That's crazy. I wonder if he 0:03:32.480 --> 0:03:34.160 just didn't realize that it would have been like that 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:36.160 either way, with the power on or off. He was 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:38.360 just exposed to the power off part. I don't know. 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:40.480 He kind of made it seem like that with the 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.200 power down, people just it was a little nutty. It 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:45.080 was sort of like the end times are here. We're 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.880 on a cruise ship adrift, and let's just have have 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:51.200 fun with each other. Crazy. Yeah, I've never been on 0:03:51.240 --> 0:03:54.720 a cruise, you know. Yeah, I'm not a cruise guy. 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.720 My dad he's turned into a cruise guy. He and uh, 0:03:59.000 --> 0:04:02.200 he and my step mom and the cruises. But they 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:04.160 know my dad's way into him. Every time they go, 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:06.760 they come back with like a stomach bug or the 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:11.360 flu or just apparently they just it's like the epidemic 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:16.279 just goes through like crazy, like wildfire. My friend Andrew 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.239 in New York or from l A, but from the Bronx. 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:22.760 Andrew his uh, he showed me the tape of his graham. 0:04:22.760 --> 0:04:24.159 I think it was his grandmother. Maybe it was his 0:04:24.200 --> 0:04:27.200 aunt this, you know, like the old Jewish lady and 0:04:27.200 --> 0:04:31.200 you talking about a cruise and she was explaining about 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:32.800 the cruise and how much it costs and how much 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:34.760 you get, and she was like, it almost costs, he said. 0:04:34.839 --> 0:04:36.920 She said it costs more to stay at home, Like 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:38.800 she thought it was cheaper to go on a cruise 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.120 than to just live her life at home. Huh, well, 0:04:41.240 --> 0:04:43.680 she doesn't live in New York. It was very funny though. Yeah, 0:04:43.920 --> 0:04:47.000 I didn't tell her right, but Andrew, if you're listening, 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:50.279 I still remember that. And if you're listening, Chuck, sorry 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.560 for that one. I am. So that was spam cation 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:54.800 two thousand ten, and of course they named a spam 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:58.480 cation spam the food. By the way, if you were 0:04:58.480 --> 0:05:01.840 hoping to hear about spam, email, sorry, we'll mention that. 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:06.159 We'll mention that briefly. But this is about the iconic 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:10.240 potted meat, right, which, by the way, Chuck. Next July 0:05:10.480 --> 0:05:15.760 five will be it's seventy fifth birthday. July twelve, it 0:05:15.800 --> 0:05:19.880 was interruced to the public twelve, it will have been 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.240 seventy five years since it was trademarked and technically born. Yeah. 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:25.760 And then now in twenty five years there will be 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:29.240 a spam tennial is what they'll probably call it, yes, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:34.440 which will be fantastic. So, Chuck, um, let's talk about spam. 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:36.719 It's shrouded in mystery. No one has a clue what's 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:39.360 in it, or in what degree, or what it's made of. 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.840 So Chuck, what is spam? Josh? Spam is a pinkish 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:48.159 brick of meat that is canned and it is We 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:50.320 actually do know what's in it. It is pretty easy. 0:05:50.400 --> 0:05:55.800 It's uh, pork shoulder and ham. Yeah, and ham's from 0:05:55.839 --> 0:05:59.320 the butt, right, it's from the rear, hind legs and 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.200 rear end of a pig is what ham is. It's 0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:05.280 also got a lot of salt because you need that 0:06:05.360 --> 0:06:08.240 to help flavor and preserve the meat. And I got 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:12.000 a little bit of sugar for flavor and uh water 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:15.320 and then a tiny amount is what they say on 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.239 the Hormel site. They use the word tiny A tiny 0:06:18.279 --> 0:06:22.120 amount of sodium nitrite, which keeps the botulism away. It's 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:24.440 keeps a botuli is um away. And it also keeps 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:28.920 the pink a shoe because if not, spam would turn gray, 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:31.920 which is not very appetizing. It's they're doing their best 0:06:31.960 --> 0:06:34.880 to keep it pink. So um. I don't know that 0:06:34.920 --> 0:06:38.000 the pinker the gray with spam specifically would make a difference. 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:41.599 But the grabster, for some reason who wrote this article 0:06:41.680 --> 0:06:46.320 how spam um? He didn't He left out potato starts 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.599 for some reason. How was that in there? Yeah, potato 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:51.640 starts in there too. I did not see that spam 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.080 has a Hormel on the website says the shelf life 0:06:54.200 --> 0:06:58.640 is indefinite. No, yes, wow, they say it's indefinite. They 0:06:58.640 --> 0:07:01.359 recommend you eat it. It It is amped within three years 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:06.480 of the stamped. Because the flavor quote gradually declines. It 0:07:06.600 --> 0:07:08.960 declines to the bottom of the can. Yeah, but it's 0:07:09.000 --> 0:07:11.160 still abedible to shake it up. I'm sure it goes 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.880 right back. Yeah, that's really something. So should we do 0:07:14.920 --> 0:07:18.480 history first or should we go into the production? Um, 0:07:18.560 --> 0:07:20.080 we need to make sense to do history first. Well, 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.239 let's do history then. You know, before it was called spam, 0:07:23.280 --> 0:07:27.080 there was a product on the market UM called Hormel 0:07:27.280 --> 0:07:30.040 spiced ham. Did you know that? I did not know that. 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.200 And it wasn't selling very well. Well because Hormel was 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:37.080 in the fresh meat biz, right, And apparently it's just 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:38.760 it was hard to make your name in the fresh 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:40.880 meat biz because it was just kind of all the 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:44.160 same looking right, like, look at this turkey breast. It 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:46.280 looks like the turkey breast next to us. Imagine they 0:07:46.280 --> 0:07:49.120 still have the same problem today. But they decided to 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:51.120 get into the can meat business. Well, that was George 0:07:51.120 --> 0:07:54.320 Hormel's problem. Jay Hormel was the one who said, well, 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:57.160 let's just let's yeah, get into canned meat. And he 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.040 was the son of George the found or. And this 0:08:01.160 --> 0:08:05.600 was in the late eighteen hundreds in Austin, Minnesota, Yes, 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:09.080 which is still the home of UM. Hormel. Yeah right, 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.880 and where it's one of two places it's produced. No, 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:15.440 there's a few others. Oh, they added, Yeah, there's a 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:19.520 care South Korea, Denmark, and I can't remember where the 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.320 third one is. Okay, in North America. You're right, Fremont, 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:27.320 Nebraska is the other place. So, Um, Jay Hormel is 0:08:27.440 --> 0:08:30.320 I guess the he comes into his father's business and 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:34.520 just revamped him and probably kept it going today can 0:08:34.520 --> 0:08:38.600 meat exactly. Um. One of the reasons why he got 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.720 into caned meat was because they were just not able 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:43.480 to make a name for themselves in the fresh meat, 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:48.040 but also because he came into the business um during 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:53.079 the depression, and there was a lot of thrifty nous 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:57.920 so people wanted something that um was cheap and delicious 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:00.959 that they could feed their family but meaty, right, and 0:09:01.160 --> 0:09:04.199 jahor Mel gave him spiced ham. But it wasn't called 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:08.040 spam at first, like I said, it was called spiced ham, right. Yeah, 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:10.640 Well he had he had problems at first, um packaging 0:09:10.640 --> 0:09:12.360 it because it took a lot of trial and error 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:17.040 because canning meat it was a pretty new fangled thing 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:21.800 at the time, and apparently sell walls the heat would call. So, yeah, 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.760 we need to point out that spam is cooked. Yeah, 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:26.199 it comes like you can eat it right out of 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:30.000 the can. It's I have already have you man? Not me? 0:09:30.760 --> 0:09:32.839 I mean I haven't eaten spam literally since college. But 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:34.839 we used to take him on camping trips and fried up. 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:37.480 Well yeah, that's not right out of the can. No, 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:40.640 but I could also eat it out of the can circumstance. 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:43.000 I've never eaten it out of the can. Yeah, it's 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:45.120 you know, it's the tastes the same, but man fried 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.120 like I was remembering that taste today. I mean, it's 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:51.880 been twenty years, though probably not fifteen. It's been a 0:09:51.960 --> 0:09:54.439 lot less than that for me. Really. Oh yeah, you 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.600 and his families from Okinawa and Okanowan's are crazy for 0:09:57.640 --> 0:10:00.840 spam really. Oh yeah, like Hawaiian. Yeah, we'll get to 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:04.080 that too. Uh so, uh, the cell walls would break 0:10:04.120 --> 0:10:07.640 down and release the water from the meat. So what 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.000 would you would have was as dry meat floating in water, 0:10:11.679 --> 0:10:15.720 which is pretty gross. It's separate because the cells would lies. 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:19.079 That's right, It's just not good. So over time they 0:10:19.080 --> 0:10:22.160 figured out the canning process, which meant a lot of 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:26.160 salt in the precise uh temperature that you need to 0:10:26.200 --> 0:10:29.800 cook it at to preserve it to where it is moist. 0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.080 And it also has to be mixed in cannon a vacuum, 0:10:32.080 --> 0:10:35.040 which is really important. The key. That's the key. If 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.320 you yeah, if you mix it and can it in 0:10:37.400 --> 0:10:40.080 a vacuum, you should be okay. And speaking of key, 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:42.880 remember when you needed a key to open it? No, 0:10:43.480 --> 0:10:46.440 I wasn't alive, then you are. It wasn't that long ago. 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:48.840 I wasn't paying attention to spam. Yeah, there was a key. 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.959 It came attached to the can, and you would take 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:53.960 off the key and insert into a little thing and 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:57.440 roll it back like I guess like old sardine cans 0:10:57.480 --> 0:10:59.160 used to do the same thing. Okay, yeah, now I've 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.520 seen that in like cartoons from the sixties. But I 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:07.160 didn't know spam had that sam key before they went 0:11:07.200 --> 0:11:08.719 I guess with the pole tablet? Was that like a 0:11:08.800 --> 0:11:11.720 giveaway though, like a spam key, like you'd send off 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:13.559 for it or would they tell him at the story 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:16.160 came attached to the bottom of the can. Oh, gotcha, man, 0:11:16.200 --> 0:11:17.960 those are the good old days. It was self contained 0:11:18.000 --> 0:11:20.760 and fairly explainatory. All right, So J Hormel figures out 0:11:20.760 --> 0:11:24.160 how to can meat. But he's not. He's he was 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.520 a born marketer. The guy sold um. He came up 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:30.600 with Hormel's Chili kuncarnate. He hired a twenty piece Mexican 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:34.200 band to go around the country like touting it's goodness, 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.560 and that was Los Lobos, right um and Gypsy Kings, 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.600 I think, and uh so like he would come up 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.080 with great publicity since he was good at marketing, but 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.920 he was he was hamstrung by U by the name 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:50.560 Hornmel spiced Meat. It wasn't selling well. He had he 0:11:50.600 --> 0:11:52.960 had he had it figured out, uh and he later 0:11:53.000 --> 0:11:54.920 on kind of messed a little bit with the recipe 0:11:54.960 --> 0:11:56.520 to come up with spam as we know it today. 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:59.840 But there was something similar called Hormel Spiced ham. So 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:03.000 he was having trouble um coming up with the name. 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:06.000 And he had a New Year's Eve party, right yeah, 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:08.360 Well he had a contest before the party, yeah, and 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.200 it yielded nothing. It yielded names like brunch and Baby 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:17.840 Grand and he was like, we can do better than that, um, 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:20.040 And we should probably give a shout out to Nito Rama, 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:22.520 who had a pretty good little blog post about it 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:26.000 was that where he saw it. Um, so hormels like, 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.000 we need to do better than that. I'm gonna have 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:29.760 a New Year's Eve party, and I'm gonna tell my 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:31.760 guests that I will. They can get a free drink 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.640 for every name they write down on a slip of paper. 0:12:35.360 --> 0:12:37.839 And there's a quote from him saying that along about 0:12:37.880 --> 0:12:42.880 the fourth or fifth drink, people started using their imaginations. Right. Uh. 0:12:42.920 --> 0:12:47.640 And finally a an actor named what was his name, Chuck? 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:52.800 His name was Kenneth d A I g n e 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:59.640 a U Danielle daniel We'll go with that, Okay. He 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.160 was a Broadway actor, I believe. Um, he came up 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:06.080 with the name spam and one bucks. He had like 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:10.560 five slow gin fizzles and came up with spam right, 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.840 one hundred cash right, and that was it. I guess 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:16.880 he had to sign away the rights. Oh, I'm sure 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:21.200 right there on the spot. Yeah, He's like, I'll sign it, yeah, spam. Yeah. 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.960 I wonder how he came up with it, besides the 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.480 fact that he was drunk. It's introuded in mystery. It's 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:28.840 lost to mysteries a lot of If you go onto 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.640 the Spam official site and they're like, what what does 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.360 spam mean? And there's a lot of there's a lot 0:13:35.400 --> 0:13:39.280 of conjecture that it means things like um uh something 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.400 posing his meat, like it's an acronym um, or that 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:49.960 it's a it stands for stuff pork and meat. Okay, 0:13:50.040 --> 0:13:53.880 it's another acronym. Apparently there's dirty ones too. Yeah. But 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:56.040 what we need to point out though, again that spam 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.800 is not some weird mystery meat with all sorts of 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:02.280 like disgusting part. It's it's unless you think pork shoulder 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:05.360 and ham is disgusting, right, I mean, we know what's 0:14:05.360 --> 0:14:11.240 in it. That's true. Um, So apparently it's lost to time. 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.760 They think it's just basically taking spiced and ham and 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.160 put together. But again, if you go on the official 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:20.200 spam website, they're like, spam meat, spam, Now that's what 0:14:20.280 --> 0:14:49.240 we're going with. Sure. Um So that's where the name 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:54.360 came from. That Hormel trademarked it, introduced it to the public, 0:14:54.480 --> 0:14:57.120 and it started to take off pretty well. But it 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:02.680 was actually aided by um in a an obscure act 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:07.120 by the US Congress that that was past in one 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:10.080 called the Lend Lease Act. Right, that has something to 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:14.640 do with the exportation it did so in America was 0:15:14.760 --> 0:15:18.520 neutral still in the in what was becoming World War Two, 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:22.120 and they the Congress passed the Lend Lease Act saying 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:25.560 that the President had the authority to send weapons, supplies, 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:28.000 and food to countries that were fighting the Access Power, 0:15:28.040 --> 0:15:32.640 which effectively reversed the neutrout neutral stance we had. Right. Yeah, 0:15:32.640 --> 0:15:34.880 and spam is a good thing to send because it's 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:37.640 you can have it forever, it's in a can that 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:43.120 can get dented up, and soldiers apparently could eat a 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:45.400 lot of it, and not just soldiers, people in other 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:48.520 countries in restaurants. They shipped a hundred million pounds of 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:51.480 this stuff. Yeah, So Hormel was like, hey, we've got 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:53.520 a bunch of stuff for you, give us a contract, 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:58.560 and they did, and it became ubiquitous in World War two, 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.560 especially in the CIFIC. Right, So, two things are going 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.320 on with the g I s. Well, two things are 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:07.360 going on with World War Two. One, the g i's 0:16:07.400 --> 0:16:10.760 are eating this stuff or what they thought was spam, morning, 0:16:10.840 --> 0:16:14.760 noon and night and hated it because they've got so 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:17.160 sick of it. And then secondly, it was also being 0:16:17.160 --> 0:16:19.320 shipped to countries that were part of the Pacific and 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.640 European theaters. And then after World War Two stopped, these 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:26.000 people had developed a taste for spam. Well, even the 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:28.320 soldiers that hated it came back and they were kind 0:16:28.360 --> 0:16:30.400 of like, boy, now I kind of misspam. They could 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:33.600 really go persone spam exactly. So World War two is 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:39.800 like this incredibly strange, perfect marketing platform for spam. Yeah. Uh. 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:42.000 And then right after World War Two, apparently J. Hormel 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:45.840 recognized what was going on and he um let out 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:48.160 another advertising blitz back here in the States, and that 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:50.240 was a household name. From that point on, it was 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:55.400 a perfect sporm if you will. Sorry. Uh, Now, does 0:16:55.400 --> 0:16:57.800 that explain why it's popular in Hawaii and Japan because 0:16:57.800 --> 0:17:01.560 the Pacific thing? Yeah, and especial sleep in Okinawa. Um, 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:06.600 there've been marines there forever and um Apparently anywhere the 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.080 American military goes and has like a very big open 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.800 presence in the local population, spam is a big thing. 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.880 But for some reason, people of Asian descent are crazy 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.320 for spam. Well they make it. I know in Hawaii 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:21.480 they have it and like sushi rolls and stuff like that. 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:23.639 Imagine they do in Japan too. Yeah, it's um. I 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:28.919 haven't seen it in Japan. It's called um sam spam musubi. 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:33.960 It's slices spam on a slab of rice wrapped in newry, 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:39.399 which is a seaweed. There's your not even like avocado 0:17:39.480 --> 0:17:43.440 or row or anything like that. It's spam. Man, Is 0:17:43.480 --> 0:17:45.560 it cooked or is it raw? It looked cooked in 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:47.480 the picture I saw. Well, I'm sure you can find 0:17:47.520 --> 0:17:52.920 it anyway. You're talk cooked. But it was like cooked again, right, okay? Um. 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.439 And in in Hawaii also Burger King and McDonald's you 0:17:56.440 --> 0:17:59.160 can find like spam, rice and eggs on their menu 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:03.000 their breakfast. Man. You it's everywhere it is. It is ubiquitous. 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:07.480 And they're nearing their eight billiant can of spam pushing 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:09.760 it out there. Yeah, all right, so that's the history. 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:14.720 Oh we should also say the Hormel Corporation is um 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:20.320 often like alleged often has alleged unfair labor practices and 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:24.560 stuff like that these days. Um. But J. Hormel was 0:18:24.720 --> 0:18:29.119 dubbed by I think Fortune magazine the red Capitalist because 0:18:29.160 --> 0:18:33.080 he was really progressive with labor relations in a good way. Yeah. 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:34.800 There was like a three day strike once and He 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:38.080 had a platform built so he could meet with the 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.320 labor leaders, and he hammered out things like UM an 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:47.000 annual wage, uh A, fifty two weeks notice before termination 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:50.359 for workers a year, like a year from now you're 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:53.359 going to be laid off, UM profit sharing, all this 0:18:53.400 --> 0:18:56.159 stuff that was unheard of. He became like a really 0:18:56.359 --> 0:19:00.119 like and he managed to create really good relations with 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.480 his employees, which helped, you know, get them to really 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:06.240 work hard to turn this stuff out. I'd say fifty 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:09.080 two weeks is almost foolish as an employer, Yeah, because 0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:11.199 when it near, it's like, no, no, we need to 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.600 don't worry about that. Yeah, all right, So that's the 0:19:14.720 --> 0:19:16.680 spam history. Now we should talk a little bit, Josh 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:20.960 about spam production because it's pretty neat. Oh, like we said, Austin, 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.760 Minnesota and Freemont, Nebraska's where it's made here in the States. 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:27.480 And it is such a highly automated process that apparently 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:31.000 it only takes thirteen workers to run the spam factory. 0:19:31.280 --> 0:19:34.760 And imagine a lot of those are shaving trimming ham 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:40.960 because Ed says, pig pieces arrive at the plant machines 0:19:41.280 --> 0:19:45.359 the street. Yeah, they grow, the grow the pigs they 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:48.800 they grow and kill the pigs across the street. The 0:19:48.840 --> 0:19:52.120 machines removed the pork from the bone, but the ham 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:55.440 is trimmed by hand. Uh. They grind it up into 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:59.480 eight thousand pound batches, flash, cool it, blend it and 0:19:59.520 --> 0:20:03.040 mix it with the other stuff, and then pipe it place. 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:05.919 Love it when meat is pipe pipe it to a 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:08.119 conveyor belt where it's pumped in a can and sealed 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:12.600 shut right off the bat right, and then it's cooked. Right. 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.240 It is cooked in these in the can. It's cooked 0:20:15.280 --> 0:20:19.280 in the can right in these six story cookers that 0:20:19.359 --> 0:20:21.879 can hold up to like sixty six thousand cans at 0:20:21.880 --> 0:20:25.200 a time, which is something because I think they they 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:29.560 all of the um the capacity for all of I 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:35.200 think five spam factories is something like umto thousand cans 0:20:35.240 --> 0:20:39.080 an hour, so they need this huge capacity to cook 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:44.120 that many cans at once. Your stomachs growling, Sam right now. 0:20:44.920 --> 0:20:47.560 I almost I thought about bringing some in because we 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:50.120 kind of regretted with the Twinkie cast not eating Twinkies 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:53.040 live on the air. But um, yeah, spam, Jerry, do 0:20:53.040 --> 0:20:57.040 you have any spam? She's fresh out, Okay, nothing fresh 0:20:57.040 --> 0:20:59.800 about it. So it is cooked in the can that 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:03.719 hills the bacteria and obviously cooks it, wash it and 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:07.600 cool it, and then applied the plastic label. Used to 0:21:07.640 --> 0:21:10.600 be lithographed on the can itself, which I remember, and 0:21:10.600 --> 0:21:12.919 it had a different picture. It had a loaf of 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:16.399 spam with clothes in it, and now it's a spam burger. 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:19.160 I prefer the old picture. Yeah, and that the lithic 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:22.640 the lithograph one away, and I think and they went 0:21:22.680 --> 0:21:26.040 with probably the cheaper plastic rap on the can. I 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:29.840 imagine that's why they did it. Lithography is not cheap um. 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:32.840 And then it is shipped all over the country and 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:35.240 then they license it, like I guess they they probably 0:21:35.240 --> 0:21:36.840 don't ship it all, well, they probably should it. You 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:38.840 know the ones here, the two and the one in 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:42.440 Nebraska and the one in Minnesota supply North America, South America, 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:47.000 and Australia. Okay, Yeah, And they say on the Hormet website, 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:50.040 if you've ever wondered what spam tastes like, it is 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:54.000 a quote wonderful combination of a savory, salty, sweet taste 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:56.840 that will make your taste buds dance. And now they 0:21:56.840 --> 0:21:59.240 did a lot of self promotion on the official website 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.480 if you ask me dance and tastes. Oh yeah, of course. 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:05.040 It was like did you go through all the questions? 0:22:05.400 --> 0:22:08.119 It was like, how should I eat spam? Eat delicious spam? 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:14.639 Anyway you deliciously spamily want to spam? Uh. They have 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:17.399 a museum, of course, the Spam Museum, which is free, 0:22:18.000 --> 0:22:20.920 which is as it should be, and it sounds awesome. 0:22:21.080 --> 0:22:23.520 Did you read the Roadside America article on it. Yeah, 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:25.240 and I looked at some of the pictures too. It's 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:28.320 it's cool, like it's a cool museum. There was one 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:32.359 guide on the Roadside America article named John who seemed 0:22:32.359 --> 0:22:34.720 to tell it like it is like he talked about 0:22:34.760 --> 0:22:37.719 the hog place across the streets, like they slaughter twenty 0:22:37.760 --> 0:22:41.200 thousand head a hog across the street there every day. 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:44.679 It's like at the spam meats you. That's in the 0:22:44.720 --> 0:22:48.879 spam Museum. It was one of the guides, and apparently 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:53.399 they employee retired spam factory workers as guides. And this 0:22:53.440 --> 0:22:56.640 guy was just like a straight shooter, right yeah, So 0:22:56.800 --> 0:22:59.840 if you go, you should ask for John. That's what 0:22:59.880 --> 0:23:01.879 I That's what I gathered. I can't wait to hear 0:23:01.880 --> 0:23:04.440 from people from Minnesota about this that live near there. 0:23:04.440 --> 0:23:09.720 I wonder what the man the smell that gives. Uh. 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:14.120