Repost: No More Spam
A terrific story from the IHRA and a lead-in to my Monday post !! ENJOY!!
First published on our blog in 2015, this story will appear in Ken’s Men Against the Empire, Vol. II.
Throughout World War II, the subject of food was regularly brought up, usually because it was so terrible and the occasional good meal was worth writing home about. While the 43rd Bomb Group was staying in Port Moresby, they put up with field rations that included canned mutton, powdered eggs and “corn willy,” which was Aussie slang for canned corn beef.
Obviously, visits to the mess hall left much to be desired. There was one chef in the 403rd Bomb Squadron who decided to have a little fun with the menus each day and began writing up items such as “Spam ala King,” “Spam Peking,” “Sweet and Sour Spam,” etc. One day, he ran out of ideas and wrote “Just Plain Ole Hairy Spam.” We do not know if scenes…
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Posted on October 5, 2019, in Uncategorized, WWII and tagged Army, History, Military, Military History, Rations, Spam, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 62 Comments.
Pacific Paratrooper 
I don’t think I have eaten Spam since I was a child. We make the vast majority our food from scratch here. But as they say, any port in a storm. If that is what there is to eat, then it will taste good no matter what. 🙂
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Exactly. You understand (I knew you would.)
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Actually I rather liked the corned beef in the ration packs — salty and tasty. And I would bet that much of it was left over from WW2. I’ve never heard it called “corn willy” but corn junk was the term often used.
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haha, as long as you liked it and it served its purpose, eh?! Thanks for commenting, Dennis!
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As you know, I’m rather a fan. I’m still trying to run down some of the Pumpkin Spice Spam, just to give it a try! and I left a comment on the original post. There’s always something to add about Spam!
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You’re right, Linda. I’ve mentioned Spam before and it always brings up numerous conversations and experiences. Thank you for following the article over to the IHRA site – they are remarkable researchers!!
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I looked it up and Pumpkin Spice Spam is supposed to be available in Walmart.
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Well, it was. But it’s sold out, and believe it or not, it’s selling for $29 a can on Amazon. I suspect anyone who’s buying it at that price is hoping for a collector’s item. The good news is that the Spam will last!
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Walmart should get it back in. I don’t buy much (if anything) from Amazon, they’re always far more expensive than other sites. You’d think, as big as they are, they would come down on prices.
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Thank you for another repost! Looks like it started quite a discussion over here.
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Oh yes, it sure did!! You mention Spam to this bunch and they’re off and running. I am always honored to reblog one of your stories!!
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My father mentioned a dislike for Vienna sausages. I’ve had the displeasure of eating powdered eggs–as well as powdered milk. At one time, these surplus commodities were distributed, by the Department of Agriculture to low-income families and public institutions.
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To me, Vienna sausages have a mushy texture and don’t taste half as good as they look and powered milk tastes a bit like dirty dish-water, but I’ve never had the “pleasure” of powdered eggs.
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Hawaii’s love affair w/ Spam started in WWII, didn’t it, GP? I confess, on rare occasions a strange craving for it comes over me, too (LOL).
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I can not answer for Hawaii, Anna. But I do know they have some fantastic recipes for ham, so it is obvious why they like it – exactly when they were introduced to it, no clue.
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I know the history of SPAM, I´m living proof of it, even before WW2 in the 1920´s they made it for people like me. hopefully it will stay there, it´s like cocacola, what are without those two
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It will be around for a long time to come I suspect, Priest. I see in the grocery store it now comes in a variety of flavors.
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Yes, when I was in the U.S it was one flavour, but now I saw a documentary(go figure how I end up seeing these type of things…) that they are making a bunch of flavours. And as you said and the president of the company said that it Will be around for a long time. Just pure Americana,
I loved it and even miss it.
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Nowadays you’d think there should be a way to buy some on-line – no?
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I have no idea since I´m not a internet person, whatever that means. I use internet for only this WordPress thing and YouTube , but if they are not online…..probably are don´t fool me, but lets say they are not. They are classic Americana they´ll survive without internet. Although now a days obviously the social media-internet is crucial.
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This blog is the extent of my social media. I am best described as computer-illiterate.
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I enjoyed Spam – it is an insult to it to use it for cyber-junk 🙂
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haha, you can still enjoy it, Derrick. It’s still on the market.
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How similar the words. LoL BTW: A well sorted package, but not all day the same. I agree. Best wishes, Michael
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Good to know, thanks, Michael!
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😉 I meant our germanized “Spam-Mail” for “Junk-Mail”.
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Understood. Our Junk-mail is delivered by the mailman, and Spam-mail by our handy-dandy compute! 🙂
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Spam is a treat for us . . . and it was for my parents after the war in then-Yugoslavia and, eventually, Italy. I’ve always liked the taste.
I think the experience of eating it might have left a different impression on people depending on whether they were on the verge of starving or sated and picky (some might say snobbish). For people with difficulty finding good food, Spam was a welcome sight (and taste).
Hawaiʻians recognize it for the treat that it is. It was nice finding it on the menus of nearly all the restaurants we visited in the three years we lived in Hawaiʻi. Loco Moco with spam or the super-loco with spam . . . I miss it.
Now, I can only find Spam in my cupboard and I have to cook it myself
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Spam got a bad rap because the troops had to eat it or go without any meat. Spam must still be a favorite for some, I see in the stores they now have different flavors.
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Good food would have been such a treat to these guys. I’m imagining they used as much of the food on the runway as possible. More on Spam on Monday.
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We’ve talked a lot about Spam around here and I suppose it’s because Spam was such a huge part of their lives back then. I just told Disperser, someone must still like it because I see Spam in a bunch of flavors these days in grocery stores.
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A great read, GP!
I grew up on Spam! 🙂 Enjoy it! But, I do not enjoy the other Spam…”irrelevant or inappropriate messages sent on the Internet to a large number of recipients.”
HUGS!!! 🙂
PS…I left a comment/message on your last post and some more comments in reply to you on my LordBeariOfBow tribute post.
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I’ve had Spam, but keep wondering what the powered eggs taste like.
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I think I had powdered eggs as a kid…at a camp. But, I’m not 100% sure. And some of the stuff they feed us in the college cafeteria was suspect. Ha! They served stuff we called “Mystery Meat” because we could not identify it. Ha! 😀
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Ah-hah, standard commercial food stuffs, eh? I think I may have had that mystery meat – but like you say, it’s such a mystery – how is one to know for sure?
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They betray themselves because of a pukey, watery aftertaste. Boycotted restaurant buffets that used them instead of real ones for scrambled eggs. Hate them, and Ultra hate Spam. Can’t imagine why it is still available. Guess if you like a salt lick…
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haha, Spam comes in flavors now.
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C–p is still C–p. I tried it out of curiosity; it was so salty I was in disbelief; the only thing saltier are Salditos. Dried plums.
As a child, the only thing worse than “skim” milk, was the damn powered milk.
Poor families would mix it half and half with real milk to make it palatable… Still terrible!
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I have to agree about that powdered milk – yikes.
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Hello; guess only you will see this. I found a documentary of VF 17; the “Jolly Rogers” flying Corsairs. Cue at 41:40 and you’ll get these flyers opinion of Spam. (the entire doc is well worth watching.)
https://tubitv.com/movies/606418/fighting-17-the-jolly-rogers?start=true
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Thank you for sharing this documentary.
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Spam instead of chop meat in our poor days…
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I can understand that. It still sells well in grocery stores today.
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GP, what’s the rest of the story? The food was still there, except for broken eggs. Scrambled, anyone? I ate spam as a kid! It wasn’t that bad fried! 🤣 Christine
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That’s what I want to know. I’m hoping the IHRA discovered the answer to that one.
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Glad they made it to the airport but those eggs! Anyway, I like spam but Matt does not so I never buy it although young Matt bought some before hurricane Dorian. He decided to use them the other day. He had it diced with fried wild rice, shredded mangoes and carrots, pineapples, water chestnuts, red peppers, green onions, and eggs and homemade sauce, Quite delicious and healthy too! I don’t know what it’s called. He was the chef that night!
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I don’t know if young Matt has a name for that dish, but it sounds terrific!
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I think it’s his version of fried rice and we had some leftovers so I had some again last night. He loves to cook which gives me a reprieve in the kitchen.
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Good for him. My better-half and I both cook. Most of the time we have different tastes, so we each make our own meal.
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I did not learn how to cook till I got married. My two kids learn to cook after they left home and big Matt does now know where the kitchen is. hahaha. I can eat almost anything with few exceptions like eel and alligator meat. Aaargh!
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Being born on an island up north, I’ve had eel as a kid and would eat it again if I was sure it came from up north (cold water). The ones I’ve tried here in warm water are terrible!! You could eat alligator and never know what it is.
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Years ago, my kids came home from fishing on L.I. Sound and wanted me to clean the eel. No way would I touch the darned thing! I can clean fish but not eel. Anything that looks like a snake, I keep away from it. When we went to Savannah years ago, Matt had an alligator hamburger. Whew! No, thank you.
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hahaha.
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I wonder if a healthy serving of “Just Plain Ole Hairy Spam” might help replace some of the Chrome on my Dome? It’s worth trying, I suppose … 🤣😂
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Hey – ya never know!!
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I can’t do it, tried…just can’t 😉
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At least you tried!
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Isn’t it just sod’s law that while all the old ‘planes arrived without problems a nice new sparkly one had a disaster! I can imagine the relief that the crew got out…and also the disappoinment at an omelette on the runway rather than on the plate.
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I keep wondering just how much of it got eaten anyway! lol
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I was a big fan of Spam, and still am. My Mum served it as Spam Fritters most weeks, and also cold in sandwiches, with pickles.
It now comes in an ‘easy-open’ container here, and I occasionally enjoy some ‘memory lane’ Spam sandwiches. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete
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I think we both went and had some the last time I mentioned Spam. You’ll see it mentioned again on Monday! 🙂
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Nothing wrong with that! 🙂
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