Spam Curds Take State Fair By Storm
By Chris Steinbach, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
Sep. 1–FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — A couple of “Austin guys” introduced an idea this year at the Minnesota State Fair that is hard to believe hasn’t been done before: deep-fried Spam curds.
Since the fair began Aug. 23, Kevin Arnold, 42, and Tim Duren, 49, have been working 17-hour days to cut up chunks of Spam with cheese, then bread them, fry and serve them to a line of customers that never seems to end. They work in a 9-foot-by-18-foot trailer parked under the bridge directly in front of the grandstand.
The fair runs through Labor Day.
“I had the concept,” said Arnold, who is sales director in Austin with Chicago-based Newly Weds Foods. “Tim had the experience.”
Duren, who works in Austin for Waitt Outdoor Advertising, has pulled his trailer to county fairs and other celebrations for the past seven years. He has grilled up Spam sandwiches for two years.
“It’s something new,” he said of the curds.
The partners, who hired a dozen or so family members and friends to work at “The Great Minnesota Get-Together,” are also selling Spam sandwiches. But the curds are outselling sandwiches 10-to-1.
“The amazing thing is how many Spam lovers there are,” Arnold said. “Everyone has a story about Spam. Everyone has a Spam recipe. … It’s a product known throughout the world.”
Austin-based Hormel Foods Corp. has been making the mixture of ground ham, pork, salt, sugar and water for 70 years. Cans of Spam were fed to Allied forces fighting in Europe during World War II. And it has developed a cult following around the word.
Fans have lined up by the hundreds to visit with Arnold and Duren, take pictures in front of their food stand and sample $4 baskets of curds.
Terry Schuster of Woodbury and his 5-year-old son, Eli, stopped Thursday. A dozen cans of Spam lined the window where they placed their order for some curds. The music of Salsa de Sol, a seven-piece Latin group, could be heard from nearby Carousel Park.
“My son took a bite and said, ‘Yuck,’” said Schuster, who grew up in White Bear Lake. “I used to love Spam when I was a kid. I was hoping you could taste the Spam (more), but you couldn’t.”
While the Schusters maybe weren’t crazy about Spam curds, Arnold and Duren are already making plans for next year’s state fair.
“We’re selling thousands of units a day,” Arnold said. “Our friendship is going to make this business propel.”
A version of this story appears in the Austin Post-Bulletin.
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