Austin, MN: The SPAM Museum
All these questions and more are found in none other than...
...The SPAM Museum!
Located in the tiny town of Austin, MN, just a hop-skip-jump away from the factory where SPAM is made, is the official SPAM museum. After all, SPAMophiles the world-over all need a geographic center of the Universe to converge when making their pilgrimage to revel in their mania for spiced ham and pork shoulder. And if food brands like Dr. Pepper, M&Ms, and Jell-O can have their own museums, why not SPAM?
Located in downtown, off the corner of Main St. and Spam Blvd, lies the museum, next door to the corporate headquarters of Hormel Foods.
Admission is free.
Inside you'll find lots and lots of SPAM you can buy, in all of their 18 different varieties. In addition there's a movie theater that plays a SPAM documentary chronicling its history, its wartime influence, and its contributions to society. Yes, it's contributions.
Further into the museum, there's actually a large section devoted to its use as a military ration. Just about every form of SPAM advertising campaign is illustrated there, and of course of history of SPAM from when it was invented to how it progressed into all of its many flavors and forms.
There's even a section of the museum devoted to Monty Python and its famous SPAM skit.
Along the way, SPAMbassadors will guide you through the museum, answer your questions, and take photos for you.
The gift shop has everything you need in SPAM, including the old die-hards like t-shirts, hats, and coozies, but also SPAM recipe books, SPAM bumper stickers, and SPAM air fresheners for your car.
When visiting the SPAM museum, we recommend dining at Piggy Blues Bar-B-Que in downtown Austin, where you can get SPAM burgers and SPAM Po' Boy sandwiches.
SPAM Museum
1101 N Main Street
Austin, MN 55912
(507) 437-5100
http://www.spam.com/spam-101/the-spam-museum
Piggy Blue's Bar-B-Que
323 North Main Street
Austin, MN 55912
(507) 434-8485
http://piggybluesbbq.com
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| Sash outside of the SPAM museum, Austin, MN |
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| Highway inside the main reception of the SPAM museum |
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| Inside the SPAM museum |
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| Three old ladies watching a SPAM propaganda film |
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| Before SPAM, Hormel Foods sold canned Ox Joints |
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| SPAM is good, and nutritious too! |
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| Show how much you love your husband by cooking SPAM for dinner. |
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| Some of the early implements used in making SPAM |
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| SPAM is glorious even for the modern family. |
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| Even Brett Favre likes SPAM |
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| Funny SPAM hat for Harley riders |
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| Get a SPAM air freshener for your car |
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| SPAM! SPAM! SPAM! |
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| Sash hanging out with Signe, one of the SPAMbassadors. |
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| We ate at Piggy Blues BBQ in downtown Austin, but didn't have the SPAM burger. |
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| Sash riding west along I-90, Minnesota |
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| Sunset along the I-90, Minnesota |
Huh....the black pepper might actually be worth trying. God knows I got to bury it in condiments to eat spam.
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