I agree with Patrick Boylan's comments.  While I enjoy joking about Spam as
much as anyone, in my opinion it's as good, taste-wise, as any canned food
product on the market, and I find that few of the people who deride it and
are astonished that I claim to like it have ever actually tasted it.  There's
nothing "infamous" about it.  And as an historian, I'm rather intrigued by
its importance in World War II and can't help musing about its history when I
indulge in it.

I assure you that my tastes are not strictly proletarian.  Tonight I attended
a lecture at the National Gallery of Art, followed by a dinner provided by
their excellent chef, consisting of the best mussels I've ever had (better
than I've had in Brussels), Cornish game hen, wonderful asparagus, etc., etc.
 Last week I went to a fine Indian restaurant, and I've dined at expensive
restaurants in New York, Paris, Italy, and Japan.  I can tell the difference
between good and bad French food and wine (two of the worst meals I've ever
had were in France--a coq au vin that consisted of the stringiest, driest
chicken I've ever seen and a "cassoulet" that was merely a wretched, watery
bean soup).  I'm a fan of sushi, risotto, Spanish tapas, Peking duck,
quenelles de brochet, cold herring with aqvavit, Vietnamese food,
bouillabaisse, cognac, Calvados--you name it.  I've been around the
gastronomic block.  But tomorrow night I'll get home from work late and won't
have time or energy to prepare anything resembling a gourmet meal, so I'll
probably have a few slices of Spam, some canned baked beans, cole slaw, and a
good English ale, and will thoroughly enjoy it.  I find no contradiction in
this.

Three cheers for Spam the Famous.  And I don't even have any stock in Hormel.

David Haberstich

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