Meat Spam: What Was In The Canned Food That The United States Supplied The USSR With In World War II
In 1937, the American company Hormel Foods began producing special canned foods. It was based on spicy minced pork. The canned food was called Spiced ham. Abbreviated as SPAM.
These canned foods became very popular during the Second World War. The U.S. began to supply its allies with these canned goods en masse.
During World War II in the USSR, American canned meat became truly iconic. It was one of the best meat products available to the Soviet troops.
Boris Ivanov, a Russian historian from the Russian State University for the Humanities, says: “Soldiers fondly remembered their taste decades later. Sometimes, however, it is ironic: “The Americans did not send troops to open the Second Front, but they did send canned food.”
Canned food was usually eaten with buckwheat and other cereals. And the technology of opening with a key attached to the jar was convenient. Many Soviet soldiers later kept these cans as souvenirs. The poet Joseph Brodsky had two cans of spam at home when he was in elementary school. And he considered it his “childhood wealth.”
During the war, the United States sent 2.1 billion (!) cans to the USSR as part of Lend-Lease! This was five times more than during the war years of canned food was produced in the Soviet Union itself.
The chef of one of the restaurants in Hawaii, Bruce Ronaldson, writes in his column on Quora.com: “In fact, this is a damn good product based on the Italian Mortadella (here in Russia Mortadella is known as Bolognese sausage – approx. author). Contrary to urban myths, Mortadella and SPAM are made only from pig’s feet and shoulder blades, not fat. It’s just as good as classic Italian cuts.”
This is what classic SPAM looks like
After the war, the United States was left with huge stocks of canned food. They were prepared for years to come. The canned food began to go rotten gradually. And the company staged a massive advertising campaign around the world to sell off the leftovers from the warehouse.
SPAM ads were visible on every corner. Signs on stores, outdoor advertising, transport – everything was in SPAM advertising. On the radio, every 30 minutes, there was a commercial about these canned foods.
British comedians from the band Monty Python mocked SPAM in their sketch. And since then, the word has become a household word. This is the name given to any intrusive advertising of a product of dubious quality.
By the way, SPAM is still being produced. Moreover, from 1945 to 2020, the company sold as many cans as during World War II. There has never been such a rise in sales in their history.