SPAMARAMA FROM AUSTIN TEXAS!

   What a year 1978 was!  Jimmy Carter was President to 222.6 million Americans whose life expectancy was 73.5 years. The U.S. Senate approved a treaty to turn over the Panama Canal to Panama by the year 2000. The Dallas Cowboys won Super Bowl XII. Both Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul I died. Jim Jones followers committed mass suicide in Jonestown. The first SPAMARAMA was held. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Menachim Begin and Anwar el-Sadat following their meetings with President Carter at Camp David. The first spam email was sent. Annie Hall won best picture. Hotel California was Record of the Year.

   You read it correctly, the first SPAMARAMA was held in 1978!  Two bar patrons—David Arnsberger and Dick Terry—and one bar owner— George Majewski—pooled resources, may have consumed some suds and established what has become an annual rite of Spring passage for Austin, Texas. Their thinking? BarBQ cook-offs, too easy. Chile Cook-offs, passé. Show us the brave souls who can present SPAM dishes that the public would consume and that would be a competition worthy of notoriety. And so, it came to pass.

   The event has matured and evolved since 1978. The SPAMALYMPICS Competitions have become a draw for the adoring public. A kid’s area is feeding and nurturing the notion that SPAMARAMA is becoming more of a “family event.”  SPAMARAMA  resembles other public fairs with it’s retail and food alley and the occasional silent auction benefiting a local non-profit agency, Disability Assistance of Central Texas.

Spam sculpture

   Locations have pin balled around south and central Austin from three Soap Creek Saloons to Scholz Garten, Austin Opera House, Green Mesquite, La Zona Rosa, Cedar Door, East 6th Street, Auditorium Shores, Austin Music Hall and Waterloo Park.

   Judges have pin balled their way through the SPAM Cook-0ff tent, caught between the creative delicacies of master chefs in the Professional Division and the only-to-be-avoided entries of the “artistic” entries in the Open Division. The judge’s directory includes a “who’s whom” of Austin open-mindedness: Jim Hightower, Mel & Joyce Pennington, John Kelso, Eddie Wilson, Guich Koock, Max Nofziger, Bryan Beck, Kerry Awn, Linda Wetherby, Gordon Fowler, Molly Ivins, Nick Barbaro, Liz Carpenter, Billy Forrester and Jackie Goodman. Cajun Chef Paul Prudhomme even dropped by one year! Many others have been part of the judging bench, too many to mention.

Poster from 2007

Events at the SPAMARAMA

Cook-off
   The featured event was the SPAM Cook-Off with two divisions: Open and Professional. Both Cook-Off divisions showcase SPAM  recipes from chefs, local restaurants and caterers, as well as self-proclaimed SPAM  gourmets. Celebrity judges awarded points and trophies in the categories of taste and showmanship. In addition to the top three prizes in each Cook-Off Division, most contestants yearned to take home the top prize, the SPAMERICA Cup trophy, a “traveling” trophy with the previous 28 winner’s names emblazoned thereon! At the other extreme, there are always a few entrants going purely for the “Worst of Show” trophy. And we continued a popular new “tradition” for the third year, the “People’s Choice” award!

SPAMALYMPICS   The SPAMALYMPICS  featured time-tested events for the 29th annual competition. One’s imagination is the limit when you compete in events such as the SPAM  Disc Shoot, the SPAM  Call (remotely similar to a hog call), the SPAM  Can Relay and the SPAMBURGER Eating Contest.

SPAM JAM Non-stop Austin-based music, the SPAM JAM, will be on stage for the duration of the event, 12 noon until 6 p.m. Some of the bands that are performing are the Uranium Savages, the SowPremes and the Mother Truckers!