March 15, 2005

everything in its right place, or spam

While at a bustling NJ Barnes & Noble this weekend, browsing through the cookbook section like a good little foodie, I noticed amongst the cuban and indian and bobby flay (blaaaaugh!) fare, a cookbook devoted to spam. My friend who was with me chimed in suspiciously, "Don't Korean people really like spam?" recoiling from the book at the same time, retreating into a corner of Anthony Bourdain and french bistro recipes.

I thought back in my disorganized file cabinet of a brain, or maybe more like land of lost socks of a brain. All I remember was this one childhood friend who absolutely adored spam, even over actual foods like the incomparable deliciousness of bulgogi.

So of course, I answer, "Yes," noddingly solemnly, conferring upon the land of my roots, honorable title of Spamnation.

Afterwards, thinking long and hard about the congealed nature of spam, I started wondering about how the term got to be used to describe unwanted/junk mail. This sounded like a job for the Word Detective.

Maybe you are all "smrt" and knew this already, but I didn't. Maybe I'll go watch extreme makeover home edition and cry my eyes out for two hours to make myself feel like a normal human being.

(Photo from an amico in Italy where prosciutto and all its buddies make spam cry.)

Posted by janet at March 15, 2005 11:57 AM

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