Voices > Journey to the Center of SPAM
Journey to the Center of SPAM
Inside Minnesota’s SPAM museum
By Jenna Zakrajsek
As I coasted down I-35 and looked around, there was nothing that remotely resembled civilization, not even a gas station where I could stop. There had been a sign for an upcoming rest stop, but I have a deep-rooted fear of rest stops from watching countless horror movies in middle school.The only thing I could see was land, land and more land.
Luckily, a sign appeared. I stopped in a small town serendipitously named “Hope,” got directions and headed to Austin, Minn., to explore our state’s claim to fame in the food world. The place had nothing to do with state’s official edibles like the blueberry, the Honeycrisp apple or the walleye. Rather, our state’s pride and joy comes in a can. Itcan be fried, baked, eaten raw and it’s always in season. I was headed to the SPAM Museum.
Pulling into the parking lot, the bronze-colored statue of two pigs and a farmer planted outside the front doors signaled I was in the right place. I stepped inside the museum and found myself in awe of this blue-and-yellow-SPAM-centered universe. I scanned the entryway to see the smiling faces of the museum employees (officially known as “Spambassadors”), a life-sized version of Spammie the mascot, and a spinning globe (yellow and blue, of course) surrounded by 3,390 cans of SPAM.
I was handed a museum map, and set loose to explore the world of SPAM. But how much could there be to know about SPAM? Meat in a can. It’s as simple as that … or so I thought.
I started off by watching a short film titled SPAM: A Love Story. The misconception that SPAM is slowly sinking into oblivion was quickly shot down by the film’s staggering statistics. Though SPAM is certainly not the first thing on my grocery list, it must be on many others’ if a can is consumed every 3.6 seconds worldwide. Slightly nauseous and a little shocked, I headed out through doors shaped like a pig’s face to learn more.
I passed through a hallway known as SPAMBURGER™ Alley. I looked up to see a giant bun, a slice of cheese, a tomato and a 25-square-foot pinkSPAM patty hanging above my head. If it was real, the patty would be large enough to make 4,800 SPAMBURGERS.
I made my way through the alley to discover more of SPAM’s wonders. For example, although it’s perceived as unnatural, mystery meat, SPAM is made of just five ingredients: pork with ham, sugar, water, salt and a little sodium nitrate to retain the meat’s color. I was a little skeptical of the “naturalness” of sodium nitrate, but decided that I would rather have a little of that in my SPAM than the alternative: gray SPAM.
I learned about SPAM’s important role in World War II from a talking G.I. Joe, and even showed my patriotism by stopping at the World War II memorial honoring Hormel plant workers in the armed forces.
Not only do Americans love their SPAM, but so does the rest of the world. There are SPAM plants in six countries, and their products are sold in 47 worldwide, which includes every continent except Antarctica.
I stopped at the TV lounge, “Chez SPAM,” to watch well-known chefs prepare different dishes using SPAM. I watched Japanese chef Shinji Nakasone make Goya Champlu using SPAM and British chef Richard Ullah make SPAM fritters, which didn’t look half bad!
The mass consumption of SPAM also involves mass production, so I tried my hand at packing SPAM. With bologna-colored bean bags that resembled blocks of SPAM, lids, covers, cans and labels, I raced against the clock to package, label and box six cans of SPAM. Though I was alone, my competitive side emerged, and I definitely tried this activity multiple times. My best time was 1:41. I felt pretty good about my SPAM-canning ability until I realized how many cans the Hormel factory produces in the same amount of time: 707. Feeling defeated, I moved on.
I followed the overhead conveyor belt carrying cans of SPAM, SPAM Lite, Spicy SPAM and other varieties to the end of the tour. I had become a SPAM-loving Minnesotan. This pink, salty, pork-and-ham concoction may not qualify as an “all-natural” or “organic” food choice, but it’s certainly interesting. As far as I’m concerned, the blueberry and the walleye have nothing on SPAM.