SPAM and the Second World War?

[Bluebird Marsha]

SPAM may be one of the great comfort foods (unless you ate it too much during WWII) of all time. I'm looking at these posts, thinking I ate some of them. SPAM with brown sugar-check. SPAM chopped fine on crackers-check. SPAM with Miracle Whip- that's what went on my fried SPAM sandwich. The infliuence of those "recipes on the can" may be at work here. But I too had no idea of the positive reaction SPAM would garner. It's official, my next grocery store visit will involve SPAM.

I will admit that my great-uncles had precisely the reaction you'd expect from WWII veterans. Definitely not positive.

 

[obxgyrene]

I polished off two SPAMwiches earlier this evening. I personally like it. It is a bit ironic though that it is so expensive.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I polished off two SPAMwiches earlier this evening. I personally like it. It is a bit ironic though that it is so expensive.

I usually buy Spam at the local Asian markets where it's $2.75 to $2.99

I learned of Spam just a few years ago and I have to sneak it when I eat it. We are semi-observant and my wife does not allow SPAM in the house. If she caught me with a Spam Sandwich I will have to live in the Conex in backyard.

If there are issues with pork in your house, you might want to try turkey Spam.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Gotta buy the house brand version. Wal-Mart's is very inexpensive.

I polished off two SPAMwiches earlier this evening. I personally like it. It is a bit ironic though that it is so expensive.

 

[Mahagonny Bill]

I have an emergency SPAM on my bulletin board at work. Single slice, packed in foil, ready to eat, "Best by Nov 2014"

 

[Shangas]

Is that your fallout ration?

 

[LizzieMaine]

Gotta buy the house brand version. Wal-Mart's is very inexpensive.

The best "Spam" ever was the USDA surplus version in the 60s and early 70s -- it came in a round can, so before taking it to school, you'd trim the slices into rectangle shape so people wouldn't know you were on relief. But it was the best-tasting canned meat ever.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Same's true of Government cheese. I make it and it is better than any other cheese we make!

The best "Spam" ever was the USDA surplus version in the 60s and early 70s -- it came in a round can, so before taking it to school, you'd trim the slices into rectangle shape so people wouldn't know you were on relief. But it was the best-tasting canned meat ever.

 

[MPicciotto]

Same's true of Government cheese. I make it and it is better than any other cheese we make!

I'm friends with a half dozen or so Salvation Army Officers and we were visiting some in Logan, WV a couple of years ago. They had just gotten in a HUGE stock of that cheese. So much that they had to turn the AC way down in her office overnight to store the cheese because it filled up the fridge at the Corps. They had a bunch more in their home fridge. Had some on a sandwich. Darn good cheese! I don't know how you do it but that Government Cheese is GOOD stuff!

Matt

 

[KILO NOVEMBER]

There are only four things wrong with the Yanks ...

I have the impression that in Britain, food was pretty scarce. Starvation is probably an overstatement, but I have read that the residents of that sceptered isle had pre-war clothing that hung pretty loose by the end of the war. Even in the US, food and other consumer items were rationed. I once found my uncle's ration book in a box of old photographs that had belonged to my grandmother.

I have heard that resentful English (men, most likely), used to say of GIs waiting to invade the European mainland, "There are only four things wrong with the Yanks; they are overpaid, overfed, oversexed, and over here.

 

[Shangas]

I heard say that the Yanks would respond with that the only things wrong with the British were that they were underpaid, underfed, undersexed and under Eisenhower.

 

[John in Covina]

My dad was in the US Army and went through the Normandy beach heads about10-14 after the invasion.. They were allowed to go out and travel a little in England prior to the big day. One thing was that they were instructed that if they were invited to visit a family there in England they were not allowed to eat the family's food so if invited to dinner they had to bring their own rations. He mentioned that they would bring some extra food to give as gifts to the families and the families were very grateful to receive it.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

All I can figure is it's the government approved cheese, butter, and dry cream we get in to make it. Must be something special about it, otherwise we make it just like McDonald's, Burger King, or anybody else.

I'm friends with a half dozen or so Salvation Army Officers and we were visiting some in Logan, WV a couple of years ago. They had just gotten in a HUGE stock of that cheese. So much that they had to turn the AC way down in her office overnight to store the cheese because it filled up the fridge at the Corps. They had a bunch more in their home fridge. Had some on a sandwich. Darn good cheese! I don't know how you do it but that Government Cheese is GOOD stuff!

Matt

 

[Puzzicato]

I have heard that resentful English (men, most likely), used to say of GIs waiting to invade the European mainland, "There are only four things wrong with the Yanks; they are overpaid, overfed, oversexed, and over here.

Overpaid, oversexed and over here was also the complaint of the Australians when GIs were stationed in Queensland - the Battle of Brisbane. My stepfather was a schoolboy at the time, and he maintains a passion for SPAM fritters. I wonder if that was when his taste for them developed?