Hoo boy. You know times are tough when The New York Times splashes a story about SPAM across the cover of its Business Day section.
According to author Andrew Martin, production of Spam -- “perhaps the emblematic hard-time food in the American pantry” -- is in overdrive these days. Employees at the Austin, Minn. Hormel plant are working furiously to crank out more of the gelatinous blocks of spiced ham and pork. Many workers put in two shifts each day….and Darwin Sellers, a Spam “formulator” (the man who adds the salt, sugar and nitrates to each batch) says they are scheduled to work every day, except Thanksgiving and Christmas, for the remainder of 2008.
“Through war and recession, Americans have turned to the glistening canned product from Hormel as a way to save money while still putting something that resembles meat on the table,” Martin writes. He calls it a “sign of the times” that Hormel is once again cranking up production of the infamous loaf.
Martin writes:
“Invented during the great Depression by Jay Hormel, the son of the company’s founder, Spam is a combination of ham, pork, sugar, salt, water, potato starch and a “hint” of sodium nitrate “to help Spam keep its gorgeous pink color,” according to Hormel’s Web site for the product.
Because it is vacuum-sealed in a can and does not require refrigeration, Spam can last for years. Hormel says “it’s like meat with a pause button.”
For every hungry soul out there who prizes Spam as a source of protein, there are probably two who value it as a source of humor. How can we forget the 1970s Monty Python skit involving diners at a café ordering breakfast from a Spam-clogged menu while a group of Vikings sings heartily of “Spam, lovely Spam, wonderful Spam.”
(Martin explains that this chaotic chorus was the basis of the Internet term “spam” to refer to junk email that “overwhelms other dialogue.”)
The NYT article goes beyond Spam in exploring the buying impulses of consumers in the present economic slump. Pancake mixes and instant potatoes sales are also booming. Rice, beans, beer and frozen pot pies are hot, too. Kraft Foods claims that such “value-oriented” products as macaroni and cheese, Jell-O and Kool-Aid are “experiencing robust growth.”
I have seen the future…..and I have heartburn.
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