BY KAREN BOSSICK
That pork luncheon meat—or the “mystery meat” known as Spam, became popular during World War II when U.S. and even Soviet Union armies brought millions of pounds to feed their troops.
But it was invented during the Depression to increase the sale of pork shoulder, which was not a popular cut.
Learn the story of the meat, which was sometimes referred to as “ham that didn’t pass its physical,” and other Depression Era foods during a free lecture at 4:30 p.m. Monday, March 18, at the Hailey Public Library.
Dr. Susan Swetnam, a retired professor of English at Idaho State University in Pocatello, will discuss the relationship Americans had to food during the Depression. The lecture is part of the library’s ongoing presentations examining life in the United States and in particular Hailey decade by decade as it spends a year celebrating the library’s 100th anniversary.
The month of March is focused on the 1930s, a time of economic hardship when many fast and fried foods were invented. Foods like Spam and Bisquick resulted from dramatic food processing innovations and the heyday of the American Home Economics movement.