Spam

Spam
1. a canned meat product
2. Unsolicited e-mail, often of a commercial nature, sent indiscriminately to multiple mailing lists, individuals, or newsgroups; junk e-mail.

 

Tasty!

    As for the second definition, anybody that has a blog has probably encountered these cockroaches. The more popular a blog becomes, the more spam it is likely to get and I am starting to get a lot on this blog. I usually keep pretty close track of my blogs and I get e-mails notifying me when someone has made a comment, so when I see a comment that has a link to another site, I immediately get suspicious. This site is for fun and I want visitors to enjoy coming here and not clicking on a link to another website that takes them somewhere they will wish they never went!
     Blogger has some sophisticated ways to block Spam, but for now the easiest way is for me to just delete it. This blog got almost 1800 hits last month, the chess book review blog got half that and the chess blog got over 9000, but most visitors don't comment so it's not a big problem. 
     As for the first definition of Spam, I actually like that kind. Spam is a brand of canned precooked meat products made by Hormel Foods Corporation. It was first introduced in 1937 and gained popularity worldwide after its use during World War II. By 2003, Spam was sold in 41 countries on six continents and trademarked in over 100 countries. In 2007, the seven billionth can of Spam was sold.
     According to its label, Spam's basic ingredients are pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, sugar, and sodium nitrite as a preservative. Of course there is also that nasty natural gelatin that forms during cooking in its tins on the production line...that's kind of gross. Spam is especially popular in the state of Hawaii, where residents have the highest per capita consumption in the United States.  For a complete history of the stuff see Wikipedia.
     You know what amazed me? I really enjoy watching Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. This guy eats rotten shark, slugs, the still-beating heart of a frog, raw fish and meat of every description, animal organs, he loves testicles and I've heard him comment that certain stuff he has eaten has a “poopy” taste. But he can't stand Spam. 
    Of course we all have foods we dislike and Zimmern just grew up hating the stuff. I grew up hating tomatoes because I just plain didn't like the way they tasted and my father grew them by the bushel. It did not help that one day he insisted I at least try one. Being stubborn I refused, but he was more stubborn; I had to sit at the kitchen table until I decided to taste one. I remember still sitting at the kitchen table while my parents were in the living room watching television and periodically my dad would yell, “Have you tried that tomato yet?” I eventually gave in, but never ate a tomato again for 40 years. I eat them today because it seems that as you get older your taste changes. Why is that?

A Brief History of Spam 
Spam History
11 Spam Recipes 
Eight Things You Didn't Know About Spam
More Tasty Spam Treats: Spicy Spam Snackers, Spam Nachos, Spam Pancake Slammer With Spam Fries, Spam and Macadamia Nut Sundae, Peanut Butter Ice Cream And Candied Spam Popsicles, etc.