August 2025
The Hormel Girls & Team Water
Hello Tastorians,
Last month's video on SPAM was running long so I had to cut some of the interesting information about The Hormel Girls. This was a group of female musicians hired by the Hormel Company to educate America on the benefits of SPAM.
As World War 2 came to a close, the Hormel company looked for ways to get SPAM, a product which had become associated with military rations, into the kitchens of Americans at home. So, in 1946, the company formed The Hormel Girls; an all-female, military-style band made up of ex-G.I.s. On August 29, 1947, the group performed for the first time, at the 29th American Legion National Drum and Bugle Corps Championship in New York. As the first all-woman group to compete, it ruffled some feathers, especially in the Connecticut neighborhood where they practiced.
It's a lot of noise... All-Woman Drum and Bugle Corps, Seeking Legion Title, Arounses Community's Ire... Residents of Shippan Point, here, are up in arms because of bugles and fifes. They do not care that for the first time in American Legion history an all-woman drum and bugle corps composed of veterans of World War II is making ready to challenge male supremacy... Local home-owners would far prefer peace and quiet.
- The New York Times (Sunday, August 24, 1947)
In the end, the group placed 13th in the competition, but the press surrounding them, good and bad, proved they were perfect for their intended purpose -- advertising. The group began playing in parades and holding concerts around the country, always selling SPAM and other Hormel products to those who came to listen. Eventually, they took to the airwaves and had a radio show called Music with the Hormel Girls climbing to number four in the Nielsen ratings by 1953. The show expanded to include singers and dancers often called "The Spamettes".
The show was popular, but cost an astonishing $1.3 million dollars a year and by the end of 1953, television advertising had proven a far more cost effective way of selling canned meat, so on December 13, 1953, The Hormel Girls played one last performance before going silent, a mere footnote in American food history. For a more in depth history of The Hormel Girls, check out the paper by Jill M. Sullivan and Danelle D. Keck.
Team Water
This month, thousands of creators around the internet are coming together to raise $40 million to supply 2 million people with clean water for decades. The fundraiser is in partnership with WaterAid, one of the most well established non-profits bringing water to people in need around the world. If you'd like to contribute, head to the Tasting History fundraising page here: https://tilt.fyi/oWa2GhGvpQ
Click here to hear a behind the scenes clip from recording cooking shorts voice over
Now, here are a few things that I think you'll enjoy.
Tater Pie THE HORMEL GIRLS - Hear the actual Hormel Girls singing "Tater Pie"
Smoking on WWII Submarines - In the video on submarine food, I mentioned smoking on a submarine and many were aghast, so here's a video all about it from the USS Cod Submarine Memorial.
Aelfric's Colloquy (spoken in Old English) - In the video on Medieval water, I mentioned Aelfric's Colloquy written in the 10th century. If you'd like to hear how it would have sounded then, in Old English, here it is.
Last Month’s Videos
Serve it forth,
Max