SPAM, the canned processed meat product that has developed a cult following, was introduced by Hormel Foods on this day in history, July 5, 1937.

The mystery meat’s ingredients are not so mysterious after all, according to the official website for SPAM (a combo of the words “spiced ham”).

Consisting of “six simple ingredients” — pork with ham, salt, water, potato starch, sugar, and sodium nitrate — SPAM has “a relatively simple, conventional” production process, says its website. 

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“First, the pork and ham are pre-ground. Then, salt, sugar and the rest of the ingredients are added and mixed, to reach the desired temperature,” the site points out.

“From there, the mixture is moved over to the canning line, where it’s filled into the familiar metal cans, 12 ounces at a time.”

The filled cans are then brought to a “closing machine,” where they are vacuum sealed.

The cans are then cooked and cooled for a three-hour period, are given labels and are then put into cases, the SPAM website details. 

Beginning in 1941, SPAM was sent around the world to feed Allied troops during World War II, says the SPAM website.  

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Since the meat is pre-cooked and tinned, it is shelf-stable and ideal for shipping long distances. 

Over 100 million pounds of SPAM were sent to feed the troops, the site indicates.

In 1959, the one-billionth can of SPAM was sold. 

The popularity of SPAM has led to at least two annual festivals in the United States.

As of 2023, over 9 billion cans of SPAM have been sold throughout the world, the company says.

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The popularity of SPAM has led to at least two annual festivals in the United States that celebrate the product, as well as the SPAM Museum in Austin, Minnesota. 

Austin, Minnesota, is also home to the SPAM Jam, a festival about all things SPAM-related.

Stacks of SPAM sit on grocery store shelves. The product has sold more than nine billion tins since it was introduced on July 5, 1937. (Getty Images)

While Hormel Foods is headquartered in Minnesota, another state has taken a particular liking to SPAM: Hawaii. 

“More SPAM is consumed per person in Hawaii than in any other state in the United States,” according to the website for the Waikiki SPAM JAM, the other SPAM-focused food festival.

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“Almost seven million cans of SPAM are eaten every year in Hawaii,” said the festival’s webpage.

It is so popular in the state that McDonald’s introduced SPAM products in its Hawaiian restaurants in 2002, the Associated Press noted at the time. 

A cashier at a McDonald’s location in Wahiawa, Hawaii, stands behind an advertisement for the then-new SPAM, Eggs and Rice Breakfast Platter in June 2002. Hawaii’s residents consume more SPAM compared to residents of any other U.S. state. (Phil Mislinski/Getty Images)

SPAM is also a popular ingredient in various Asian cuisines, particularly Korean. 

South Koreans consume more SPAM than the residents of any other country besides the United States, the Hormel Foods website notes. 

Despite having only a sixth of the population of the United States, South Koreans consume half as much SPAM each year. 

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The popular Korean dish “budae jjigae” — which translates to “Army stew” or “Army base stew” — developed after the Korean War, when an economic downturn meant that meat was scarce and expensive. 

A U.S. Army base in the South Korean city of Uijeongbu had a surplus of various processed food, including SPAM — which “was totally new to Koreans,” Korean chef and YouTube creator Maangchi said on her website. 

Budae jjigae, or “Army Stew,” was made from ingredients that were found on U.S. Army bases in South Korea after the Korean War, including SPAM.  (iStock)

“Eventually these ingredients made their way into surrounding areas of the base and some creative Koreans made stew from them,” she said. 

“They boiled spam, ham, sausages and baked beans with kimchi, garlic and hot pepper paste and flakes, creating a Korean-style stew with American ingredients.”

Even as South Korea’s economy rebounded, the stew — and SPAM as a whole — remained extremely popular. 

SPAM has been available in as many as 15 varieties in recent years, including SPAM Classic, SPAM Lite, SPAM 25% Less Sodium, SPAM Maple Flavored, SPAM with Real HORMEL Bacon, SPAM Oven Roasted Turkey, SPAM Hickory Smoke Flavored, SPAM Hot & Spicy, SPAM Jalapeño, SPAM Chorizo, SPAM Teriyaki and SPAM with Tocino Flavoring, according to Hormel Foods.

Limited edition flavors SPAM Pumpkin Spice and SPAM Figgy Pudding were produced in 2019 and 2022, respectively, says the SPAM website. 

In 2022, Hormel claimed that some 13 cans of SPAM were consumed every second, according to Encyclopedia Britannica.

While many people now experience less severe symptoms thanks to the COVID vaccine and booster shots, this recent spike in cases worries many peoplewho are immunocompromised or especially vulnerable to illness.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health experts estimated the incubation period for COVID — that is, the amount of time between getting exposed to COVID and testing positive for the virus — was around five days. But researchers have told KQED that as more COVID variants pop up, it’s getting more complicated to estimate when exactly someone will develop COVID symptoms, as our bodies respond to each variant differently.

Now that a full week has passed since Pride celebrations, check in with yourself and friends if anyone has felt symptoms this week. According to the CDC, this is the full list of the possible symptoms of COVID-19:

• Fever or chills
• Cough
• Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
• Fatigue
• Muscle or body aches
• Headache
• New loss of taste or smell
• Sore throat
• Congestion or runny nose
• Nausea or vomiting
• Diarrhea

If you took an at-home COVID test and tested negative even though you feel symptoms, you may want to test yourself again tomorrow. Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UCSF told KQED earlier this year that when you experience symptoms, that means your body’s immune system is working to get rid of COVID. For a lot of people who have already been infected in the past, their immune system is getting better at forming an immune response to COVID-19, even when the amount of virus in our body is low.

When your body detects a burgeoning coronavirus infection now, Chin-Hong told KQED, “your whole immune system just gets agitated and active, and you begin to get sick sooner, but you actually don’t have as much virus in your blood yet.” But there needs to be a specific amount of coronavirus in your body for an at-home COVID test to show up positive (even if the virus is already in your system).

Talk about sexual health

If you met someone new during Pride weekend and were sexually active with them, public health officials recommend that you take some time to check in with yourself about any potential risks from that encounter. A few questions to ask yourself:

• Did you get screened for STIs beforehand? Do you know if they did?
• Did you talk with them about safe sex practices beforehand?
• Did you use a condom?
• Did you — or your partner — take HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (HIV PrEP)?

If you are unsure about some of these questions, that is okay. What matters now is checking in with your healthcare provider and letting them know that you had a new sexual partner and want to take some extra steps to know if you were potentially exposed to any STIs.

Public health experts point out that there are now multiple ways to prevent an STI — even after a potential exposure. Doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (or DoxyPEP), an antibiotic taken after sex, can help prevent infections like chlamydia and syphilis. “We’ve shown through research that that strategy is very effective at preventing bacterial STIs,” said Dr. Stephanie Cohen, director of HIV and STI prevention at the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH).

In 2022, cases of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) increased following SF Pride. And while officials have not yet detected a similar outbreak, it’s important to remember that getting a first shot of the monkeypox vaccine after you’ve been exposed to the virus can both help prevent the disease from developing and reduce symptoms if it does develop. Timing here is critical and you can get a free mpox vaccine in San Francisco — you don’t need health insurance to get this important protection.

Looking for an HIV test but don’t have health insurance? Several cities in the Bay Area participate in TakeMeHome, a program created by several public health groups, including the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. TakeMeHome sends eligible participants a free at-home HIV test that you can later mail-in to get your results. Check if you qualify.

Keep seeking out community

Pride is so much more than what happens in downtown San Francisco the last weekend of June.

“Pride is really all year-round for us,” said Miguel Raphael Bagsit, associate director of communications at the SF LGBT Center, which in partnership with other groups, organized a very thorough line-up of community events during June.

Training camp is fast approaching, and the Denver Broncos are in need of making a few strategic moves to enhance the roster. The potential addition of free agents could strengthen weak positions or even preempt training camp battles.

What unfinished business do the Broncos have? Here are three key moves that could greatly improve the Broncos’ offense before the training camp commences on July 26. 

Naming the starting quarterback before training camp would be crucial. A prolonged battle can deprive the eventual starter of valuable snaps, particularly for a rookie like Bo Nix. These snaps are essential for building chemistry with the receivers, gaining confidence, and mastering the offense — vital for a well-run offense. 

Instead of keeping up the facade of a battle between Nix, Jarrett Stidham, and Zach Wilson, the Broncos should dispense with it. And Wilson needs to catch up.

Through OTAs and minicamp, Stidham was the most consistent quarterback, as he should be. He would have the best understanding of the offense, having been with the team for over a year, but he has shown in his limited action that he is not a franchise quarterback. The same can be said of Wilson, despite not being in the best situation with the New York Jets, who drafted him at No. 2 overall in 2021 and didn’t give him the best support.

The Broncos drafted Nix at No. 12 overall because they believe he can be a franchise quarterback. With that belief, the Broncos must do everything they can to prepare him.

Nix is a 24-year-old rookie, so the Broncos don’t have time for him to sit. They need to get him the first-team reps during training camp and let him work to be the franchise quarterback they believe he can be.

There’ a saying that if you have two quarterbacks, you have none. 

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This might rattle some who want to turn to Alex Forsyth because of his one year with Nix at Oregon, but he still has to show he can be the starting center. The same goes for Luke Wattenberg. While the Broncos have veteran newcomer Sam Mustipher, his time as a starting center was among the worst in the NFL. Denver needs to add a good veteran with experience. 

There are some veteran centers the Broncos can look at, but finding one with good experience might be challenging. There is Mason Cole, whom the Pittsburgh Steelers released, but his experience as a starter isn’t great, though it was better than Mustipher. The one who might be more interesting is Nick Gates, who has been a solid starting center throughout his career. 

Another option is reuniting with Connor McGovern, who spent the first four years of his career with the Broncos. He spent the last four with the Jets, where he was a quality starter for the first three years. McGovern struggled in the 2023 season but was sidelined with an injury after seven games. 

Bottom line, the Broncos need to add another center to compete, and one who brings quality experience. They don’t have a proven center, but if Forsyth or Wattenberg develop and earn the starting job, then all will be well. However, not having a quality center could ruin a season. 

While the Broncos have potential in the tight end room, they don’t have any proven assets. Can Greg Dulcich stay healthy? Can Adam Trautman take a step forward? Will Lucas Krull develop?

It’s a room replete with questions, and the Broncos don’t have any answers.  On top of that, they don’t have any insurance if Dulcich can’t stay healthy or Krull develops. And what about the blocking at the position?

Few tight end options are available when looking at free agents. Trevon Wesco is an available blocking tight end and can give the Broncos a reliable blocking option. If the Broncos want to add someone for receiving ability, then Jimmy Graham — a familiar face for Sean Payton — could be an option. Graham will be 38 years old and may not offer much as a receiver, but he would provide some insurance for Dulcich and Krull. 

Blake Bell, who is 32 years old and a decent depth option, might be the best bet. Again, there isn’t a top guy available, but the Broncos need insurance for what they have, but players they can look to fall back on if other things don’t turn out as they hope. 

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