What are the facts about Spam?

- Spam stands for Shoulder Pork and hAM

- It was launched by the Geo. A. Hormel Company of Austin,
Minnesota, in 1937 and became a great favorite of military
cooks during World War II because it contained protein, was
easy to digest, and convenient.

- Former Russian President Nikita Khrushchev admitted that
during the war "...without Spam we wouldn't have been able
to feed our army."

- At the end of the war, President Eisenhower, wrote to
Hormel:  "I ate my share of Spam along with millions of
other soldiers.  I'll even confess to a few unkind words
about it - uttered during the strain of battle, you 
understand.  But as the former commander-in-chief of the
allied forces, I believe I can officially forgive you your 
only sin; sending us so much of it."

- Spam came to Britain as part of the Lend-Lease Act whereby
food given to the U.K. would be paid for when the war was
over.  Often the only meat available, it became indispensable
until rationing ended in 1954.

- A six-year-old Dorset boy became addicted to Spam and ate
his way through six cans of the stuff every week for three
years.  He had to be sent to a child psychiatrist to get him
back on a normal diet.

- Over four billion cans of Spam have been sold worldwide.

- The Hormel plant at Austin measures the size of 19 football
fields and contains an oven that cooks 450 cans of Spam a
minute.

- Spam was not part of the G.I.s' diet in the Gulf War.  At
the request of the Saudi authorities it was taken off the
military menu, pork being a forbidden food there.

- Monty Python's Spam song was warmly greeted by the
manufacturers.  Michael Palin recalled "The Spam people were
very keen and promised they would send us several free tins
of Spam.  We said 'No, that's all right.  Thanks anyway...'"