"Hormel" news and stories

Spam, that most mocked of foods, is apparently experiencing an upswing thanks to the recession. People may not be able to afford steak, but they can always dig up some change for a $1.99 can of putty-pink goodness. So the industrious workers at the Hormel factory in Austin, Minnesota are cranking out the Spam 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, according to the New York Times. That equals about 150,000 cans of Spam daily.

Spam is just one of the many cheap, filling foodstuffs flying off the shelf across America. Others include pancake mixes, instant mashed potatoes, and Jello-O. While I'm not opposed to the occasional fried Spam sandwich on white bread with mayo and tomatoes, when it comes to budget food I'll stick to lentils and tuna, thanks.

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I've had corn beef exactly one time in my life, about 20 years ago. I was over a good friend's house and his wife made it, and I thought I was going to be sick. Nothing wrong with the way that she made it, I just don't like corned beef (which I quickly discovered that night). The entire meal was a chore, trying to smile and talk while I'm chewing the corned beef a thousand times, afraid to swallow.

But don't let that story ruin your celebration of National Corned Beef Hash Day! Maybe you can try this recipe from About.com, or perhaps this one from HillbillyHousewife.com. Or just visit the Hormel site and buy some of the stuff in the cans.

I'll be celebrating the day by having pizza or chicken or something.

Web Zen's latest compendium of brain candy is devoted to Spam, both the canned "meat" and junk e-mail. Spamhenge (pictured) comes from a site devoted to the Seventh Annual Spam Scultpure Contest. There's also a link to the Spammobile, Hormel's answer to the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

If you're planning a white-trash menu for Thanksgiving this year you may want to look at the link for Spam recipes. It includes such delicacies as cheesy country spam puffs and New Mexican Spam soup. Naturally, Web Zen includes a link to the Spam Haiku Archive. And they'd be remiss if they didn't include a Youtube link to the infamous Monty Python sketch. Note the Japanese subtitles. The non-food related links are pretty cool, too. Especially the one on how to strike back at e-mail scammers.
[via Boing Boing]

To commemorate the opening of the Monty Python musical Spamalot in London, Hormel is unleashing Stinky French Garlic Spam upon the British Isles. I'm not quite sure how I missed it, but the makers of the much-maligned canned meat product, introduced this "collector's edition" tin in the States some two years ago when the show made its New York debut.

Hormel's European arm plans to step up its decidely tongue-in-cheek campaign by sending a tin of Stinky French Garlic Spam to Jacques Chirac. This move is inspired by Chirac's tendency to complain about British chow. It's also a tip of the hat to the scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where French soldiers and King Arthur's knights trade insults, notably, "I fart in your general direction."

Although he used to eat spam, Eric Idle (pictured), the musical's creator, hasn't tasted the funky new flavor. He gave up meat more than 30 years ago. Has anyone out there had the, er, pleasure of sampling this Pythonesque product?

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