Happy 80th Anniversary, Spam! America's favorite canned meat.
On July 5, Spam celebrates its 80th anniversary.
Spam turns 80 years old this July 5th, and it's celebrating with a new mascot and a party at its chief US manufacturing plant. Once a staple of soldiers' diets.
1. Spam name.
On New Year’s Eve 1936, Jay Hormel threw a party and asked his guests to submit their most creative names for his new product. Kenneth Daigneau, a New York-based actor, wrote down Spam. Hormel loved the name, Daigneau won $100, and in July 1937, the first can of Spam rolled off the production line.
2. Since it's inception more than 8 billion cans have been sold.
3. Spam played an important part in the war effort during WWII.
During the war, Hormel provided 15 million cans of Spam every week to soldiers overseas, and provided inexpensive protein to the home front, when meat was scarce and expensive.
