Spam

Who thought that only six ingredients in a can would become America's national dish? The square-shaped mixture of pork, water, salt, sugar, potato starch, and sodium nitrate called Spam sold more than eight billion cans since the product was made available in 1937.

Cooked under vacuum pressure, this great source of protein was invented by Jay Hormel, who canned the shoulder of a pig with added spices, regardless of his competition that used lips, snouts, and ears in their cans. As a way of separating his product, he decided to reduce the size of the can and design a visually attractive label.

The product's popularity and sales skyrocketed after World War II when it was sent abroad to satiate the hunger of American soldiers, its indefinite shelf life making it possible to be shipped all over the world without spoiling. Hormel's active advertisements, as well as praise from Eisenhower, Thatcher and Khrushchev also didn't hinder its success.

Spam even appeared in Monthy Python's Flying Circus, a famous British comedy show, further increasing the product's popularity in the United Kingdom. From regular Spam over Turkey Spam to Spam-Lite, consumers are coming up with new ways to incorporate Spam into dishes, and it seems that its popularity will never fade, especially in Hawaii, where it is so popular that it has even been nicknamed the Hawaiian steak, which was incorporated into a Hawaiian dish called Spam musubi, an ingenious sushi-style slice of Spam with seaweed and rice.