spam

+-------------------- Bizarre Foods ----------------------+  
  
Perhaps one of life's most mysterious foods is SPAM. Here are some interesting facts that you may not have known about the "other" other white meat.  

Spam stands for Shoulder, Pork and hAM.  

It was launched by the Geo. A. Hormel Company of Austin, Minnesota, in 1937 and became a great favorite of military cooks during WWII because it contained protein, was easy to digest and convenient.  

A six-year-old Dorset boy became addicted to Spam and ate his way through six tins of the stuff every week for three years. He had to be sent to a child psychiatrist to get him back on a normal diet.  

Over four billion cans of Spam have been sold worldwide.  

The Hormel Plant at Austin contains an oven that cooks 450 cans of Spam a minute.  

Spam came to Britain as part of the Lend Lease Act whereby food given to the U.K. would be paid for when the war was over. Often the only meat available, it became indispensable until rationing ended in 1954.