Spam Museum

The Spam Museum is located in Austin, Minnesota and is the world headquarters for Hormel Foods.  The Spam ham product was named by Ken Daigneau, a Hollywood actor who coined the word from what the product is made of:  "spice" and "ham" or S-P-A-M and for which he won a $100 prize when the name he came up with was chosen by Mr. Hormel.  From its inception in July 5, 1937 to now SPAM has remained a constant popular product of the Hormel Foods Company and is marketed around the world.  There are now ten flavors available including the original Classic SPAM flavor, SPAM with cheese, SPAM with pepper, SPAM with jalapeno, Spam Light, Spam Hot & Spicy or Low Sodium SPAM for example.  The U.S. state it is most popular in is Hawaii when annually they have an event called SPAM Jam the last week of April.  Japan and Australia are also top consumers.

SPAM got its kick-start during the World War II effort with the military using it to feed the troops.  It was marketed on the radio starting in 1946 by the first women's military band ever created at the time.  With only women who had served during the war playing in the band, the product and the band gained huge popularity.  As television became more available, dancers were added to the Hormel Girls with everyone traveling around the country to promote SPAM in uniforms and driving white cars with Hormel and SPAM lettering.  The act continued until 1952 when it became too expensive to maintain.  But by then SPAM was a household staple.

The museum is moving from its building at the Hormel factory to downtown Austin.  We were lucky to see it before it closes for two years to make the move.  The visit was interesting and we now know more about Spam than we ever knew.  We are also the proud new owners of two cans acquired in their really nice gift store (two of the tamer versions-Classic and Spam with Cheese.)  I was also surprised to see how many products Hormel has on the market that I buy regularly.  We'll let you know how the taste test works out....

The company holds many trademarks (see photo above) and also emphasizes safety since its inception.  Processing 10,000 hogs a day, they produce 44,000 cans of SPAM per hour!