Boiled eggs and spam

Spam (n): unsolicited marketing e-mail communication distributed to a large number of e-mail addresses.

There was once a time when the word 'Spam' had little to do with e-mail and the Internet. Spam was instead just the brand name of a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation.

Spam belongs to a range of canned meats (including Hamper's Camp Pie and Bully Beef) that have the reputation of sustaining generations from the Great Depression right through the Second World War and the post-war rationing and are still consumed the world over today.

In fact, Spam is often credited with 'winning the war' as it was part of the ration-packs for American GIs and Allied forces during World War II.

Spam is made of a few simple ingredients: ham, pork, sugar, salt, water, a little potato starch, and some sodium nitrite (which helps to keep the pink colour - without it Spam would be grey).

Spam was first created in 1937, and since then over 6 billion cans of it have been sold world-wide. The Spam we get on the supermarket shelves here in Australia is canned in factories in the USA. There are also factories in Denmark, the Philippines and South Korea.

I've always shied away from even the idea of Spam. I treat any food that claims to be able to last forever with a little suspicion.

Information on the Hormel Foods Spam website suggests that, "As long as no air gets into the can, the vacuum sealed goodness inside will be as delicious and safe as the day it was made. It’s like meat with a pause button."

But, I know that before our time, many, many people grew up eating and enjoying Spam, so I set myself the task of trying it out.

When I mentioned my plans to other people, their reactions fell into two camps:

a) EEeeeeewww. Why would you want to eat that? (anyone younger than about 50)

b) Oh! Spam! That takes me right back. We used to have it... [insert description of how it was served in their homes]

My Dad had particularly enthusiastic memories of how Spam was eaten in his family home in Scotland in the 1950s, and talked me through recreating the experience.

The Spam was sliced finely.

And was served with a fresh garden salad consisting of lettuce, sliced tomato and boiled eggs with mayonnaise on the side. In his family's case, the lettuce and the eggs were home-grown.

A friend popped in while I was in the process of serving up the Spam.

"No, no." he declared. "You need to fry the Spam. That's the way we always had it."

So I ventured both ways.

The end result was certainly palatable, not nearly as bad as I had feared - although I think I preferred the fried option to the fresh.

Dad recalled that Spam and salad was served as a quick summer meal in his home, and I can see that with some cans of Spam in the cupboard and a small vegetable garden, you could easily whip up a reasonably nutritious meal in minutes.

During the Second World War, and into the post-war period in Britain when fresh meat was difficult to come by, canned meats definitely had their place. By canning meats in countries that had greater supplies, a valuable source of protein and nutrition could be transported huge distances with no need for refrigeration. There was also no need for the meat to be refrigerated in the shops, or the home.

I, like many others of my generation however, have been fortunate enough to grow up with ready access to fresh supplies of most foods...and I take refrigeration for granted. We therefore see items such as canned meats to be more of a 'camping' source of food - the type of supply you would take if you went outback with no power sources.

I can't say that canned meats will be appearing regularly on my dinner table, but they could. It wouldn't be the end of the world.

What is your experience of Spam?