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On this day in history, July 5, 1937, SPAM is introduced by Hormel Foods
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.”
SPAM was introduced to the world in July 1937. Hormel claimed in 2022 that some 13 cans of SPAM were consumed every second. (Newscast/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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.
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For sale in San Francisco: A 45-foot-tall metal sculpture of a naked woman.
Her name is R-Evolution. Her hair is pulled back and her facial expression is serene. Her mechanized chest expands and contracts, as if she’s breathing. And she tips the scales at 13,000 pounds (not that it’s anyone’s business what a lady weighs).
She will stand in Embarcadero Plaza across from the historic Ferry Building until October. Then she goes on sale. The artist says “she can go anywhere in the world,” but whoever buys or leases her will need a crane and a 60- to 80-foot bucket lift to resurrect her.
Since she was first unveiled as a temporary installation in April 2025, the giant statue, created by artist Marco Cochrane and modeled after California dancer and singer Deja Solis, has spurred debate about whether privately funded works are really public art. It also questions whether R-Evolution is a celebration of femininity in a free-spirited city that has long embraced public nudity or a hypersexualized shock piece from a male artist.
But debate, per the public and private entities who brought her to the plaza, is kind of the point. Art, they say, is supposed to be controversial.
An attempt to revitalize public space
R-Evolution is part of Big Art Loop, a privately funded initiative that aims to bring up to 100 temporarily installed large-scale sculptures — a minimum of 10 feet high or wide preferred — to public spaces along a 34-mile walking and biking trail over the next few years.
R-Evolution in Embarcadero Plaza in April 2025.
(Christopher Reynolds / Los Angeles Times)
Big Art Loop is funded by the Sijbrandij Foundation, a nonprofit established by billionaire Sid Sijbrandij, co-founder of the software company GitLab. It is curated by the art production agency Building 180, in partnership with the city’s Recreation and Parks Department and other public agencies.
“We’re going to continue to lean in to our arts and culture because that is driving our comeback here in San Francisco,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a September video promoting the Big Art Loop.
A city news release last year said R-Evolution’s arrival “aligns with San Francisco’s broader efforts to revitalize downtown” by increasing foot traffic to the battered business district, where office vacancy rates soared to record-high rates of more than 30% amid the pandemic-era pivot to remote work.
Controversial lady and Burning Man
Like a few of the Big Art Loop pieces, R-Evolution originally debuted at Burning Man, towering above the sweaty and stoned desert masses in 2015.
Critics of R-Evolution say the statue and other massive pieces along the billionaire-backed Big Art Loop did not get as much community input and were not subject to the same intense scrutiny by the San Francisco Arts Commission as other public artworks.
“I think what a lot of people, myself included, are frustrated by is the fact that these private entities are able to remake the public landscape in their own image,” Max Blue, a San Francisco Examiner art critic, told Gazetteer San Francisco in October, adding: “I don’t like these sculptures. I think a lot of them are just left over from Burning Man.”
Visual artist DJ Meisner told the Gazetteer: “It’s just so clear when you see the art that it’s like, ‘Oh, I’m supposed to be unbelievably wealthy and high looking at this.’ I’m neither of those things, so I’m just annoyed to be looking at it.”
Female representation or inappropriate?
Before R-Evolution was installed, an art vendor with a booth in Embarcadero Plaza wrote in a letter to the Arts Commission, saying she thought the statue, whose bare butt faces the Ferry Building, “might be very inappropriate for children.”
Another vendor wrote: “A naked woman statue designed by a man feels out of step with the times.”
The creator of the piece, Cochrane, said in a statement: “Women’s presence in public art is rare. When they are depicted, it is often through outdated or passive narratives. R-Evolution challenges that. She stands strong, aware, and grounded — calling for a world where all people can walk freely and without fear.”
Love her or hate her, she gets eyeballs
Julie Richter, a spokeswoman for Big Art Loop, told me in an email Thursday that R-Evolution, which had been slated for removal in April, got “very positive” feedback that led to her Arts Commission-approved extended stay through October. That feedback included positive reviews from most tourists, art vendors and nearby local businesses, according to a pitch to extend the statue’s stay by Big Art Loop and Building 180.
Near R-Evolution’s current perch, Vaillancourt Fountain — a colossal, crumbling Brutalist concrete sculpture that was unveiled in Embarcadero Plaza in 1971 and became a skateboarding mecca — was equally reviled and revered. Despite fans’ efforts to save it, the city removed it this spring.
Today’s top stories
The Visalia sign seen from Highway 99.
(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)
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What we know about the boat accident near Alcatraz
- A memorial cruise turned tragic when a boat sank near Alcatraz Island, leaving one passenger dead, three missing and 17 rescued.
- The search for the missing was challenged not only by high winds and rough seas, but because the incident took place in a particularly deep channel of the bay dredged for cargo ships.
Scientists fear when the San Andreas fault finally snaps
- Scientists warn the region’s long earthquake drought is building dangerous strain on the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults, raising the odds of a devastating multi-county “Big One” in coming decades.
- With scenarios forecasting violent shaking from downtown L.A. to the Inland Empire, experts say the fault’s growing stress is a stark reminder to strengthen preparedness before nature resets the clock.
What else is going on
Commentary and opinions
This morning’s must-read
Other must-reads
For your downtime
The dining room at Baldi in Beverly Hills.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)
Going out
Staying in
A question for you: As temperatures rise in SoCal, how do you stay cool?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally … your photo of the day
The trunk of a flooded car is seen in an underground garage along Palm Avenue in West Hollywood after a water main break sent thousands of gallons of water rushing down Sunset Boulevard and the surrounding area on Thursday morning.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Today’s photo is from Times photographer Allen J. Schaben in West Hollywood, after a water main break sent thousands of gallons of water rushing down Sunset Boulevard and the surrounding area on Thursday morning.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Hailey Branson-Potts, staff writer
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.
Denver Broncos football is right around the corner.
As the 2026 World Cup nears its July 19 final, sports fans will soon begin turning their attention toward NFL training camps. The Broncos are set to open training camp on July 31 — two weeks from today — with the first of 14 practices open* to fans.
*Due to construction at the team’s facility, capacity at practice will be limited to approximately 1,000 fans, so (free) tickets are required to attend. Those tickets became available on July 1 and were quickly claimed. (Tickets are sometimes returned, though, so fans should check Ticketmaster for potential available tickets.)
Broncos training camp schedule
- Friday, July 31: 10 a.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 1: 10 a.m.
- Monday, Aug. 3: 10 a.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 4: 10 a.m.
- Wednesday, Aug. 5: 10 a.m.
- Thursday, Aug. 6: 10 a.m.
- Friday, Aug. 7: 10 a.m.
- Saturday, Aug. 8: 10 a.m.
- Monday, Aug. 10: 10 a.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 11: 10 a.m.
- Wednesday, Aug. 12: 10 a.m.
- Monday, Aug. 17: 10 a.m.
- Tuesday, Aug. 18: 10 a.m.
- Wednesday, Aug. 19: 10 a.m.
Fans should note that Denver’s practice schedule is subject to change due to weather. Be sure to check the team’s Twitter/X page for the latest updates on the practice schedule.
In addition to the open camp practices, the Broncos will play three preseason games in August, including two at home. After that, Denver will open the season against the Kansas City Chiefs on Monday Night Football on Sept. 14.
Social: Follow Broncos Wire on Facebook and Twitter/X! Did you know: These 25 celebrities are Broncos fans.
Letter to the Editor: Apartment Vacancy Rates Paint an Incomplete Picture
By David Malcolm | Voice of San Diego
In last Saturday’s “Politics Report,” Will Huntsberry tackled the thorny issue of apartment vacancy rates (apparently the highest in this century) and the impact on affordability. He also correctly wrote that the city of San Diego needs “strategies beyond build, build, build.”
What’s Really Happening
My company owns and operates apartment rental complexes in San Diego County (San Marcos, Encinitas, La Jolla, El Cajon and South Bay) and in Temecula (Riverside County). Here is what we are seeing.
Base rents are stable … but offers of two months’ free rent are common. That is a de facto 16.7 percent reduction on annualized rents. Reducing base rents is not possible in the face of rent control measures and, even more importantly, bank loan covenants. Thus, concessions like two months’ free rent are not hard to find.
Read more
New study shows promising step forward in improving Parkinson’s treatment
by Nicole Abrams | Times of San Diego
A small molecule was found to increase the benefits and reduce the side effects of the standard drug for Parkinson’s disease, according to a new study from UC San Diego startup called Sinopia Biosciences.
L-dopa or levodopa is the main treatment for Parkinson’s disease, but its benefits wane over time and can cause involuntary movements called dyskinesia. About 90% of patients with Parkinson’s disease develop dyskinesia in 9 or more years of using L-dopa, and 70% develop motor fluctuations in 9 or more years of using the drug, according to the study.
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