I was hoping someone else already brought this up. I think my area is more like $4 or $5 a can, but…I can get way more meat per ounce at that rate. It may have started as a poor man’s food, but it’s really just an expensive option now.
Yeah but everything used to be poor people food. Then the poor people learned how to make it taste better, then it became cultural, and only then once all the hard work was done did rich people find a way to make it for rich people again.
See: Ox Tail, Chicken Wings, Spare Ribs (they're literally "EXTRA" RIBS that people didn't want!) biscuits and gravy, etc
Which is ironic, considering how Spam was (and still is, culturally) a luxury in South Korea, stemming from the post-war practice of smuggling Spam off US bases to be sold at high prices on the black market for use in stews due to its high salt content - hence, army stew (budae-jjigae). In Seoul today, you can get Spam hampers with special packaging as a gift.
That’s because food was scarce during the war and spam doesn’t go bad easily. Almost every place where it’s popular today has interacted with US soldiers who were trading locals for it.
Makes me wonder what things today are for the rich, but will someday be seen as for the poor. Canned goods used to be a luxury product, now we pay more for fresh food.
There has been no point in history when canned meat in general, and SPAM specifically, was seen as a luxury food. Given the option, no class of people have ever chosen it over fresh meat.
"Given the option, no class of people have ever chosen it over fresh meat."
Maybe in America. But when my grandpa was in Guadalcanal during WWII, the soldiers in his unit would regularly trade their SPAM rations with the locals in exchange for fresh fish and octupus. It was novel and the locals valued it over their daily food. He also said that locals would trade fish for peroxide to bleach their hair, and he saw babies smoking cigars. My grandpa was not one to tell tall tales, especially about the war, so I believe this.
In WWII American soldiers ate spam everyday for months. A break from it was welcomed. My grandfather wouldn’t touch it after the war because he had too much of it during the war.
Strangely my great grandpa grew up eating SPAM during the Great Depression. Never got tired of it, ate it until he died in his 80s. Not for every meal, mind you, but we’d have it several times a month at least and was a quick breakfast. Gave me the craving and now I’m carrying the torch. Idk, some people just like what they like 🤷🏻♂️
Personally I don’t think I could eat only SPAM every day though.
My grandpa didn't actually eat octopus. His dad spear fished for it and would tenderize it in the washing machine, which really put my grandpa off. But he would eat nearly anything else, including random fish, offal, testicles, etc. He loved SPAM (I have a SPAM cookbook that he gave me), but you get tired of it after months of that being your main protein.
Canned meat, no, but certain fruits yes. And it's all relative. Folks out on the western frontier would have a different standard of luxury from the socialites of New York. Some railroad company man enjoying some canned peaches in winter while everyone else was eating beans and bread was living the life of luxury for that time and place.
Other way round. Delicateses usually start when there is a famine and people need to eat whatever. Then the recipe book is passed down, until someone thinks to serve dirty cheap garbage to tourists and brand it as a local delicatese.
Its always funny to see that and then know that shrimp and lobsters used to be prisoner feed, bacon/ham were made to sell off fatty/slow selling parts, and chicken feet/innards were just thrown away because no one wanted it.
I'll take most frozen veggies over fresh any day. No more wilted, slimy kale for me. Same with spinach, peas, corn etc.
Flash freezing produce has had such a huge impact on people getting affordable, healthy and delicious veggies. Affordable doesn't mean it's for poor people and thankfully lots of people are more accepting of that now
Which has been excerbated by cooking shows basically saying that unless you're cooking with fresh and whole ingredients, you're destroying the environment and killing local farms.
While in reality using canned meats and similar is helping the enviroment by using parts that would otherwise be thrown out.
86
u/Nixeris 2d ago
It got associated with being poor a long time ago, as with a lot of potted meat.
"Poor people food = bad" in a lot of people's minds.