The Food Programme: SPAM

Jaega Wise investigates the intriguing history of spam. Though a simple product of mostly pork and ham cooked in a can, spam carries a lot meaning all over the world. To some it means war and disaster, to others nostalgia and safety. It is still revered in many countries like South Korea and is seen as saving them from starvation. In the UK we have a complicated relationship with the tinned meat. It is often derided and goes against a lot of the food trends we have seen in recent years, but as the pandemic hit, sales shot up suggesting we still find comfort in salty, shelf stable meat