preparednessblog

After my post on the nutrition and economics of Spam, I received some emails and comments on a blog where I linked my entry, asking  whether I’d ever even tried Spam, and accusing me of being a, ahem, “Spam elitist”.

Now, if you read back, I never called Spam trashy food, never said it was disgusting. I merely pointed out that it’s both expensive and high in fat and sodium.

However, as it happens, I had, in fact, never eaten Spam. And, to be honest, that was bothering me, since one of my pet peeves is people who hold opinions without getting the facts. So, I’d been thinking that a taste test was in order.

Luck was with me, as my local grocery store had Spam Singles on clearance, 89 cents for a 3 ounce pack. I picked up two. One of those packs, in fact, wound up being free, because they rang up at the register at the normal, pre-clearance price. I suppose if you are going to eat Spam, free Spam would be the way to go.

I decided on a very basic prep, and pan-fried the slices until crispy, then served them along side fried grits and some collard greens.

They smelled good cooking, kind of bacon-y. I don’t typically eat pork, so, cooking bacon is a very rare scent in my kitchen. Curious children wandered in to the kitchen to inquire.

I plated up the food and tried my first bite.

UGH.

The taste is more salty than anything else. None of those nice smoky notes you get with bacon or ham. And the texture… I guess hotdogs, or perhaps very firm playdough, would be the closest comparison. It’s definitely not anything I associate with meat.

The younger kid, who is usually the healthiest eater, surprisingly, liked Spam a lot. The older one deemed it merely okay.

So…. I cooked. I ate. I gave Spam a chance.

Verdict: not likely to be added to my repertoire this side of the apocalypse.

The things I do for you people….

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