Spam, Spam, Spam, Anthropology, & Spam

August 29, 2016 2:03 PM

Beyond Spam: Hormel's secret weapon for predicting the future of food Around 2007, Hormel quietly embarked on a venture that would take it deeper than it had ever been into the cupboards and kitchens of Americans, many of them immigrants, many of them young. It led to a series of acquisitions and a blitz of research and development that helped round out its pantry of products and inoculate it against the fickle modern food trends of a kale-and-quinoa world.
One of the first things it did was hire an anthropologist.

But Hormel’s hiring team was particularly intrigued with her research. Her dissertation was on medical pluralism, how different cultures quickly adopt each others' folk cures. A person battling something such as pancreatic cancer, she found, might supplement chemotherapy with Santeria or some other form of ritual healing, even if the spiritual practice wasn't culturally familiar. Hormel realized that she might be able to find similar insights into how people adapt their diets.

posted by CrystalDave (77 comments total)

oh god why does the background do that
posted by maryr at 2:14 PM on August 29, 2016 [7 favorites]

That is one meaty background.
posted by The River Ivel at 2:15 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

The article is a good read, once you scroll past the meat wall. Humans are not meant to see the meat wall.
posted by maryr at 2:21 PM on August 29, 2016 [21 favorites]

reminds me of this
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:21 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

Hormel spent $220 million...

Hormel made its biggest purchase to date, spending $775 million...

it plunked down an additional $286 million

Is it a food company or an investment bank? Good that anthropologists can get well-paid corporate work these days but I'm not sure how earth-shattering it is that a company bought a bunch of other similar companies to jack their revenue & share price. Admittedly companies seem to fuck up this seemingly simple strategy a lot of the time but on paper it's not very complex.
posted by GuyZero at 2:26 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

Interesting article, thanks.
posted by signal at 2:27 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Tell me more about the ramen and peanut butter. Don't leave me hanging!
posted by srboisvert at 2:28 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

I see your meat wall and raise you an ever growing Spam-tower progress bar.
posted by mudpuppie at 2:29 PM on August 29, 2016 [9 favorites]

Yeah, I think that given the framing around the foreign-born population (not actually that high, though it's presented as WHOA 13%!!!) I was expecting the purchases to be more around things that aren't (yet) commonly consumed in the US but are staples in other places. "It turns out, lots of people like peanut butter, so we bought Skippy!" was kind of a letdown. It's not like Skippy peanut butter is some obscure thing that they hope will be up and coming shortly.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 2:31 PM on August 29, 2016

Tell me more about the ramen and peanut butter. Don't leave me hanging!

thinking about how Hormel might capitalize on this, I imagined a jar of peanut butter with the soy sauce and ramen noodles already mixed in. still undecided if that would be disgusting or the best idea ever
posted by prize bull octorok at 2:33 PM on August 29, 2016 [10 favorites]

You guys. You guys. Hormel makes instant bread mix, just add water. Did you guys already know about this? Did all of you already know about pureed bread? I didn't know about it. I want to buy some. I imagine it to be like Rey's bread from The Force Awakens.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 2:51 PM on August 29, 2016 [16 favorites]

prize bull octorok, it's probably really similar to a peanut-sauce curry, don't you think? (I bet it is delicious.)
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 2:53 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

I went looking for pictures of the instant bread mix finished product and it looks like maybe this is a special dietary needs kind of food?

prize bull octorok, it's probably really similar to a peanut-sauce curry, don't you think? (I bet it is delicious.)

Yes! I'm sure the tent lady's ramen was hella tasty, I've made similar peanut butter stir-fry sauces myself. I'm just curious what it would end up as after passing through Hormel's food labs to become a ready-made product
posted by prize bull octorok at 3:17 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

We have something like that here in the ready noodle aisle. It's pretty tasty. It isn't jarred though - just a packet of noodles and a packet of sauce that you rehydrate/warm up.
posted by geek anachronism at 3:19 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yeah, there was a good decade when I ate that ramen-and-peanut-butter thing at least once a week. It's shockingly not-awful.
posted by nebulawindphone at 3:29 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

I make lazy poutine using Hormel's Beef Tips in Gravy with Trader Joe's Handsome Fries and Gruyere as substitute for the harder to find cheese curds.
posted by srboisvert at 3:34 PM on August 29, 2016 [12 favorites]

I thought the bit about developing a line of meals and nutritious drinks for chemotherapy patients was pretty interesting. There's a huge need there, because right now it's kind of just Boost/Ensure or some sort of soup or smoothie you'd have to make yourself. It's probably also a need that expands to people who aren't necessarily undergoing chemo but have other health issues and would want something with protein in it that goes down easily and isn't completely gross.
posted by Copronymus at 3:51 PM on August 29, 2016 [11 favorites]

I really like the concept of foods especially for chemo patients! I looked after someon on chemo for awhile and treatment days were horrid for her.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 3:55 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

My peanut - butter curry sauce is very easy. First fry up your onions and spices. At the point when you add water, stir in your peanut butter. Cook briefly, stirring constantly. It can burn pretty easily. I like to add a spoon of peanut butter to hot curried lentils. Damn that's good! :)
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 3:58 PM on August 29, 2016 [7 favorites]

Wait, onions? Spices? No, seriously, I'm talking ramen with a bit of the powdered soup mix it comes with and a glop of peanut butter mixed in.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:27 PM on August 29, 2016 [7 favorites]

Something with protein in it that goes down easily and isn't completely gross.

Soylent 2.0.

It's almost completely inoffensive and borderline flavorless.
posted by aramaic at 4:53 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

I don't understand all this cooking with peanut butter business.
The only thing I add to my peanut butter is a spoon.
posted by Baby_Balrog at 5:00 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Tell me more about the ramen and peanut butter. Don't leave me hanging!

Well- PB is relatively water soluble and cheap ramen is a bit short on protein and sweetness, which the PB brings to the table. Its a bit bland for my taste, but you could add some lime and pepper flakes or hot sauce to spice it up.
posted by wotsac at 5:15 PM on August 29, 2016

All I could eat during chemo was my sister's homemade macaroni and cheese. With the combination of that, the steroids they gave me, and the bone pain that kept me from any kind of exercise, I actually gained weight.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:15 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

During chemo all I voluntarily ate was toast and Burgerville. Sort of ruined Burgerville for me but it's academic because there aren't any in Michigan. If there was chemo-specific food that masked the horrible sticky chemically sweetness that it imparted on literally everything including tap water I would have been a slightly happier camper.
posted by zrail at 5:22 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

I once won a "come up with made up acronym for SPAM" radio contest. I won SPAM logo pencils and magnets. yay?
posted by futz at 5:27 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]

Stagg Dynamite Chilli...(drools)
posted by Damienmce at 5:27 PM on August 29, 2016

I don't understand all this cooking with peanut butter business

I seem to recall watching the Carol Burnett show with my mother and watching her scoff at sponsor recipe commercials that enthusiastically deployed Kraft products in new and revolting ways; peanut butter smeared on turkey, for example.
posted by CynicalKnight at 5:30 PM on August 29, 2016

I don't understand all this cooking with peanut butter business

It makes a good substitute for tahini, and it's a lot cheaper.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 6:35 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

You guys. You guys. Hormel makes instant bread mix, just add water. Did you guys already know about this? Did all of you already know about pureed bread?
I know that lulz is what we do best here, but pureed bread and other "thickened food" exist to meet the nutritional needs of patients in nursing care with debilitating diseases that impair the ability to swallow. And it's not just chewing/swallowing solid food that's a problem--normal viscosity beverages are also difficult to consume and can easily be aspirated and lead to pneumonia. Anyone who's ever had a loved one in condition to require thickened food/beverages will know that it's not funny at all.
posted by drlith at 6:37 PM on August 29, 2016 [8 favorites]

Several years ago I ended up with 20 or so from a set of 70-100 DVDs containing public domain or copyright-unrestricted commercials, documentaries, and video clip art. It was part of some huge series for video production.

The "SPAM: Where does it come from?" infomercial from the 50s was simply terrific and I'll put it up on youtube if I can find it again. How the sausage gets made, little Billy and Jimmy Whitekid. How the sausage gets made.
posted by aspersioncast at 6:38 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]

Instant ramen and peanut butter sounds like a DIY version of dandan noodles, which I can attest is very tasty.
posted by praiseb at 6:50 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

One of my dream jobs was a food scientist. I took a few classes in it (and anthropology!) in college, and loved it, but my major steered me elsewhere. I could have been this woman! Argh. Maybe in my next life.
posted by Fig at 7:08 PM on August 29, 2016

I've spent several years refining my idea for "Thanksgiving Dinner Hot Pockets." You know, a microwaveable tray containing a turkey hot pocket, a stuffing hot pocket, a green bean casserole hot pocket, and so on. But I could never figure out how to keep people from scalding themselves on the giblet gravy hot pocket.
posted by slkinsey at 7:11 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]

aspersioncast, do you mean This Is Hormel?
posted by Countess Elena at 7:13 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

I worked at a school down on the Navajo Nation. The kids often bought breakfast burritos on the school bus coming in. I once asked what was in those, and I was told spam and potatoes. I reserved comment, smiled and took a breath, which bought me the second or two, to hear the kid enthusiastically say, how good they were. After a time I was appreciative for this service. There were a lot of ad hoc food sources in the area.
posted by Oyéah at 7:29 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Figuring out what they can stomach and what they have the energy to prepare helped Hormel develop Vital Cuisine, a line of microwavable meals it started selling in May.
Is it too late to change the name to Vital Vittles?
posted by ckape at 7:38 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]

Vital Victuals sounds like gold-panners' food, vital vittles, sounds like cat food. Spamway to Heaven is not going to work in the chemo market.
posted by Oyéah at 8:29 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

People, it's instant ramen, peanut butter and sriracha.
posted by asockpuppet at 8:29 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

fwiw peanut butter on hotdogs is hella the most, I can viddy i must conduct the peeno botr y spam experimento expediamente
posted by mwhybark at 8:43 PM on August 29, 2016 [2 favorites]

I remember a few years ago someone brought some of the "spam singles" to Burning man. The writing on the packet had a lot of writing on it that was really trying hard to be hip and had advice about how you could put a string through the hole in the packet and wear it around your neck.

"Isn't this the most easy and convenient SPAM(r) ever? SPAM(r) singles are already cooked! This might just blow your mind. For you own safety, stop thinking about how easy SPAM(r) Singles will make your life. It's type to enjoy. Take another bite and throw your head back and think wonderful thoughts of faraway places while you chew. Like a magical SPAM(tm) castle in the sky and what a delicious and convenient visit you'd have. This is the meaning of SPAM(r) Singles. Crazy Tasty!"

A link to a blog with all the strange details.

We took to shouting out this important information via a bullhorn.
posted by boilermonster at 8:46 PM on August 29, 2016 [4 favorites]

Anyone who's ever had a loved one in condition to require thickened food/beverages will know that it's not funny at all.

True and serious, but I gotta say I really like the Star Wars association with this kind of product and will probably use it when required.
posted by asperity at 8:50 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Vital Vittles was already taken (the little market in my 'hood carries a few types of the bread they bake. I see the truck all the time. I've never tried a loaf, cause it looks super dense and dry. ).
posted by notyou at 8:53 PM on August 29, 2016

My ramen and peanut butter early experiments involved mustard and "Mongolian fire oil".
I also often bought the ramen with the tiny packet of sesame oil because it was objectively the best.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 9:05 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oh my goodness. That instant bread doesn't even need cooking. Just mix it up, pour it into a pan, then flip the pan over and start slicing. The magic doesn't end there. It is made of wheat yet somehow "No Gluten ingredients used in formation."

Why has not a single person has reviewed this amazing product on Amazon?

(check out the picture)
posted by eye of newt at 9:14 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

That instant bread Has been reviewed by Speech Pathologists, and Dietitians aplenty. This is for the Neuro rehab diet, various levels, based upon ability to chew and swallow, as a follow up to barium swallow studies to establish product safety, and patient safety.
posted by Oyéah at 9:17 PM on August 29, 2016

So in terms of personal story time, there was a year during grad school when I was single parenting a toddler and baby and qualified for food stamps. When I started making too much money to qualify, I got 30 days to spend down the rest of my benefits on my card. Apparently I'm the most frugal chef to ever chef, because I'd amassed something like $600 on the card, which I proceeded to use to buy non-perishable items to help me through the last year in grad school on a slightly-above-poverty-level salary.

Reader, I bought a LOT of spam.
posted by drlith at 9:17 PM on August 29, 2016 [10 favorites]

So that article was interesting but it made me really sad. Even anthropologists use their power for evil now? I mean, I get that anthropology has a tainted history and is inexorably linked with colonial ideology, and also, I totally understand that anthropology jobs that pay a living wage are few, but on the other hand, I don't want to think of anthropologists as all about helping The Man cash in on blood pressure raising mass produced ag surplus products.

I mean, I don't even fault this particular anthropologist who found a sweet job, but like, we're all locked in this (pun intended) meat grinder of a system of capitalism where we have no choice but turn the crank of our own self consumption.

Sad.
posted by latkes at 10:03 PM on August 29, 2016 [1 favorite]

and I was told spam and potatoes

I can see why you cringed, but I gotta tell you, my parents' weekly post-garage-sale saturday lunch is corned beef hash and potatoes, fried a bit crispy with an egg on top, and by god it is good.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 11:00 PM on August 29, 2016 [3 favorites]

and inoculate it against the fickle modern food trends of a kale-and-quinoa world.

If that was their given, no wonder the end result is so mundane. Food trends aren't really that fickle in the long term.

Hormel executives and scientists generally don’t hang out in backyard tents. “We forget that food is sometimes one of the most emotional parts of our life,” Aakre explains.

You are incredibly bad at your job as a food company exec or food scientist if you don't think every day about how food is one of the most emotional parts of a person's life. It's literally the point of your job.
posted by desuetude at 11:36 PM on August 29, 2016 [5 favorites]

The Raw, the Cooked, and the SPAM
posted by yoHighness at 2:17 AM on August 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

...my parents' weekly post-garage-sale saturday lunch is corned beef hash and potatoes, fried a bit crispy with an egg on top, and by god it is good.

My favorite guilty-pleasure breakfast is a single-serving can of Hormel hash mixed together with fresh rosemary, chopped green onion and grated parmesan, fried until semi-crispy and topped with a poached egg. Buttered sourdough toast and a glass of OJ on the side.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:22 AM on August 30, 2016 [9 favorites]

The Raw, the Cooked, and the SPAM

The Fresh and The Canned?
posted by nebulawindphone at 5:52 AM on August 30, 2016

My favorite guilty-pleasure breakfast is a single-serving can of Hormel hash mixed together with fresh rosemary, chopped green onion and grated parmesan, fried until semi-crispy and topped with a poached egg. Buttered sourdough toast and a glass of OJ on the side.

Oh my God ... *sprints to the grocery store then home to start frying*
posted by brilliantine at 7:10 AM on August 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

I'm a bit cringy right now because it seems like my earlier excitement about pureed bread was taken as a sarcastic/ironic take-down of "instant food" a la Hormel. It really wasn't. I was honestly marveling at the molecular gastronomy/food science involved in making a just-add-water bread product. I'm sorry that it came across as flippant or ignorant. One of my family members has dysphagia and yes, I realized that the Thick'n'Easy line of food is for people with swallowing issues.

But okay that doesn't really change the fact that it's awesome??? I'm seriously very tempted to buy some and experiment with it. I don't think that I'm making light of illness and disability to think that a thing that is useful for people with a certain disability is really cool. But, then, I think wheelchairs are cool and I don't ride around in a wheelchair just for the fun of it, because it seems like that would be awful. Because it seems like I'd effectively be pretending I "needed" a wheelchair, and that seems deceitful, even if I was super up front about the fact that I just thought it was fun. In terms of the food, I just think that this is a cool product, and I'd like to play around with it in my kitchen. I think there's a difference here, but I'm not sure exactly what it is.

But hey, it makes sense that Hormel hired an anthropologist. Food is fraught, man.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 7:12 AM on August 30, 2016 [9 favorites]

I don't know how people DON'T like Spam. Fat, salt...add a little sugar and make a Spam musubi with the umami of a nori wrapper and the starch of rice, it's practically the perfect food. Those Spam and potato burritos sound amazing. Dice up some Spam and put it in mac and cheese. Fry it crispy and make a sandwich with lettuce and tomato and plenty of mayonnaise, SLT.

I have a can of Spam in my pantry and I think it might be dinner tonight.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:24 AM on August 30, 2016 [6 favorites]

I love Spam so much.
posted by fiercecupcake at 7:26 AM on August 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

Dice up some Spam and put it in mac and cheese.

Mom used to do this, but with diced green peppers too. It was righteous.
posted by thelonius at 7:41 AM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Satan Posing As Meat!

I love spam. In fact, Tuesday is Hawaiian Taco Truck day at my office and I'm planning on a couple of spam musubi's for my long commute home today. Good article!
posted by endotoxin at 7:47 AM on August 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

I think there's a difference here, but I'm not sure exactly what it is.

Relevant article. Basically, when it comes to accessibility, you certainly don't want to make people think you have problems you don't? I think there's probably a point where it's too far: If you come up with some genius way to use this, be careful about spreading it around because making it go viral could cause shortages, which would be very bad in a food product. But that's only if it hits incredibly fast. For most things, if more people use them, then they get cheaper and more accessible. Even better if you can come up with variants that taste good and novel but are still workable with some degree of swallowing difficulty. More experimenting with food seems like it's a win-win kind of thing.
posted by Sequence at 7:59 AM on August 30, 2016 [2 favorites]

Thanks Sequence, that's a great article.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 8:57 AM on August 30, 2016

Metafilter: Satan Posing As Meat!
posted by Oyéah at 9:09 AM on August 30, 2016

Another ramen noodle + peanut butter recipe: Shanghai Cold Noodles With Peanut Butter Sauce

(I don't know why they used rice noodle in the recipe but ramen is the more orthodox choice.)
posted by of strange foe at 9:33 AM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Made of Star Stuff, I'm sorry I misinterpreted the tone of your comment. When the dominant mode of discourse seems to be snarky irony, it's easy to read things in that vein.

I think there's a huge element of classism built into the almost knee-jerk Spam-hate. I don't it's particularly more evil, nutrition-wise or corporate capitalism-wise, than many other packaged products on the supermarket shelves that are not subject to the same scrutiny because they're acceptably middle class--e.g., your standard Oscar Mayer cold cuts, or another ubiquitous Hormel product, those packages of unrefrigerated pre-sliced pepperoni. Having the time and money to be able to eat mostly non-mass-produced/non-processed food is a luxury that many people don't have.

I've got a can of spam on my shelf that I'd gotten to make spam gim bap, and I just may do so tonight, or try out one of the many spam musubi recipes on the recipe site.

Plus, omg, y'all, it now says "SPAM, Glorious Spam" right on the label!
posted by drlith at 10:10 AM on August 30, 2016

Why has not a single person has reviewed this amazing product on Amazon?

Because the item's intense, overpowering blandness turns even the wittiest reviewer's brain into a uniform beige.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:35 AM on August 30, 2016

"World's Most Insipid Crouton!"
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:36 AM on August 30, 2016

Dan Dan noodles with Spicy Szechuan Peanut Sauce from the amazing Barbara Tropp. I just made it yesterday so it's fresh in my mind.
2 TBS chopped garlic, packed
3 TBS chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves and upper stems, packed
Throw it in a food processor or blender with
1/2 cup natural unseasoned PB
1/2 cup plus 1 TBS soy sauce
5 TBS sugar
1-2 TBS hot chili oil (I use 1 TBS hot sesame oil)

Blend together, put it on some fresh Chinese egg noodles and dance with joy. One of my family's favorite meals. I serve it with steamed asparagus, grated carrot, and some cooked chicken and mix it all together on my plate and shovel it into my face.
posted by ceejaytee at 10:49 AM on August 30, 2016 [6 favorites]

When I visited the (awesome) Spam museum in Austin, MN I noticed the museum shop didn't stock musubi molds, so I wrote them a letter. They responded with great enthusiasm and many coupons!

I don't know if they actually followed through but if they did, you're welcome.
posted by padraigin at 11:07 AM on August 30, 2016 [3 favorites]

I used to love my mother's fried SPAM dredged in cornmeal, (with fried grits on the side) but I'm not used to that level of grease in my diet anymore.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 3:26 PM on August 30, 2016

Satan Seitan Posing As Meat!
posted by porpoise at 3:58 PM on August 30, 2016 [4 favorites]

I made seitan once, (get your mind out of the gutter.) It is not for the gluten intolerant.
posted by Oyéah at 6:42 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

My sister makes an amazing, umamilicious textured seitan loaf that we always call "roast beest."
posted by The Underpants Monster at 8:26 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

Oyéah - yeah, I've made it once, too. From scratch, it's labourious and it feels like such a waste to concentrate the wheat protein; I've been told that, traditionally, the (Buddhist) monks made seitan from wheat flour, then collected the soluble leftover starch byproducts to make the translucent wrappers for shrimp dumplings (hao gow).

I was devastated when the Bodhi Choi Heung, the best seitan cold plate ("jai") place in Vancouver, (finally) went out of business.

The second bests are laps behind Bodhi Choi.
posted by porpoise at 8:59 PM on August 30, 2016 [1 favorite]

The Underpants Monster - I'd love to see that "roast beest" recipe!
posted by porpoise at 9:00 PM on August 30, 2016

I grew up being served potted/canned pork products; some from China but most from Brazil via China. I didn't come across SPAM until my mid teens and thought that it was a poor imitation of 'luncheon meat.'

However, since I'm illiterate, I have a hard time telling whether a product has an updated logo or if it's a similar product with a similar/pirate logo/name. It's been hit or miss and I can't even trust stores to choose the better product(s) - this also goes for pickled radishes and tinned Pike Conger, too.

That said, (low sodium) SPAM is something that I can rely on and know what I'm getting. I *get* why SPAM gets denigrated but I really appreciate what it is - a shelf stable high protein relatively low cost food product - that can be tasty and/or be made to be tasty and/or make other nutritionally viable and inexpensive ingredients, but bland, more palatable.

Potted/tinned beef is another story. Just about anything that I can trust that I've encountered that actually originated in Argentina hasn't ever been bad.
posted by porpoise at 9:12 PM on August 30, 2016

Way upthread, but CountessElena, I think so? Hard to tell with the edits. I am now on a mission to dig it up.
posted by aspersioncast at 10:40 PM on August 30, 2016

I really don't understand how SPAM fucked it up.
They created the most perfect, most delicious meat, and yet everyone richer than me seems to think it's trashy. How does that happen??
posted by oceanjesse at 5:44 AM on August 31, 2016