This is the most unappealing pumpkin spice item I’ve seen this month:
Andréa countered with this:
Any other nominees? Please send a photo (or attach it to a comment below, if you can). Only actual products, please.
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Comics I Don't Understand 
Andréa wins.
RE: SPAM. I think the ‘problem’, if it can be called that, is the ORIGINAL product is, to many of us, already disgusting. Putting pumpkin spice in it makes it all the more so.
Unless we’re from Hawaii, that is; I understand it’s a delicacy (or a staple?) there. Could be just a rumor, tho, passed on by those who forget that Hawaii IS an American state.
I don’t even like REAL pumpkins.
What I particularly like is the ‘Limited Edition’ statement(s) . . . Maybe one or two boxes/cans will be produced?
The current favorite cereal of both of my kids is “Cini Minis”. Based on that, if I had seen those Frosted Flakes, I would probably have bought a box, just to see how they react. However, I need not worry, because the stuff will never be sold in this country.
P.S. Every year around Halloween or Thanksgiving, I usually make a pumpkin pie. Most Germans who have tried it generally react slightly negatively, not because they really dislike the taste, but mostly because they feel that it is out of season. Those sorts of spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc.) are associated with Christmas in Germany, not Autumn.
“However, I need not worry, because the stuff will never be sold in this country.”
Want I should send a box, if I find one? Of course, it could be powder by the time it gets to you . . .
Now I’m hungry for Spam. Fortunately (a) I always have a lot of it on hand and (b) I was wondering what to have for breakfast anyway. So: on muffins or on bagels? Decisions, decisions.
(And yes, I’ve been to the Spam Museum here in Minnesota.)
I also rather like pumpkin spice flavorings, though I’m not sure it will go well with Spam. But if I see it on my next grocery expedition I’ll probably pick up a can, just to give it a go.
Will you let us know what it’s like? I mean . . . awful, disgusting, icky, expletive deleted, or . . . yummy.
On the radio this morning, they had a “guess which is the fake pumpkin spice product” and a few were mind-boggling. Pumpkin spice contact lenses, for instance. A search for “weird pumpkin spice products turned up this:
https://www.wideopeneats.com/15-ridiculous-pumpkin-season-products/, but not the contact lenses.
Also, thanks to photoshop, photos are no longer proof. https://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/pumpkin-spice-products-that-dont-exist-and-should-never-exist/84294095/
1) Well, there goes the contest.
2) I’m beginning to wonder if the PS SPAM wasn’t photoshopped . . . I just cannot imagine it.
3) ‘Old Pumpkin Spice’ – LOL
4) There is NO pumpkin or pumpkin taste/flavoring in Pumpkin Spice – only nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and, maybe, ginger. I make my pumpkin pie with a brown sugar/pecan/butter topping ’cause, let’s face it, pumpkin is boring. Also lots of whipped cream when served.
5) Can you imagine FIVE dogs, all shampoo’d in Pumpkin Spice; much as I like the smell, even *I* think that’s too much. Wonder if the dogs would try to eat each other, or start licking their fur.
6) What, no Pumpkin Spice DOG FOOD????
No Andrea, Hawaii’s love of SPAM is real. Hawaii consumes more SPAM than any state in the US, 7 million cans a year, according to huffpost.com. It started in Word War II, when 15 million cans of SPAM per week were sent to US soldiers stationed in Hawaii. The Army liked it because it didn’t require refrigeration.
You can’t hear it for free, but the lyrics are there:
https://mikeymason.bandcamp.com/track/pumpkin-spicemas
Note that, “Nearly all of the Pumpkin Spice products mentioned in the song are real (except for those in the last verse..”
I hear it, for free.
I hear pumpkin spice CAT food, but not dog food. No Fair!
PS Skittles – that was one of the ‘not for real’ items . . . but he mentions it as existing. I’ll have to check the candy aisle.
Pumpkin Spice cookies – now, that’s logical. And I’ve made ’em, before PS was all the rage.
Andréa: I just searched for PS spam, and it’s real. Actually, it must be a hot topic now, because when I type “pum” into Google, the first autosuggestion is “pumpkin spice spam.”
Any reviews??
Andréa: It’s not out yet – just lots of trending news stories about how it will be available in stores in the next month or so.
You know….
Clowns are *not* scary, and SPAM is *not* disgusting.
Yes, clowns are unpleasant (unless you like them— I hate clowns) and SPAM is unpleasant (unless you like it— I like spam in the same sort of way most people like beef jerky) but they aren’t scary or disgusting… well, this is one of my pet peeves.
And although “pumpkin spice” (cinnamon, cloves, hint of nutmeg, etc.) are absolutely wonderful, the craze and calling it “pumpkin spice” is utterly idiotic and getting on my nerves (I *hate* the syrup and sweetness of it). So Pumpkin Spice Frosted Flakes and Pumpkin Spice SPAM deserve to be condemned to the lowest reaches of hell…
… except….
objectively, cinnamon and nutmeg frosted flakes would be tasty, no? And spiced ham usually is flavored with cloves anyway and cinnamon (if not overwhelming) is a nice accent (if you like that sort of stuff– a lot of people *don’t* like roasted hams or sweet glazed meats and that’s fine but…. oh, cranberry sauce!….along with claiming clowns are creepy and SPAM is disgusting, it is very popular to declare how disgusting cranberry sauce is …. I don’t give a @@@@ if you don’t like cranberry sauce; if you don’t like it, don’t eat it but for the lub of guard! Shut up about it!… let those who like it eat it in peace!— so it’s okay if you really don’t like this stuff but it’s not as though it is alien or off the fringe) so the SPAM isn’t that weird either…. objectively.
Well…. except “pumpkin spice” implies a syrupy sweetness that would be cloying….
I can’t WAIT to read news stories about lines waiting for it, people shoving each other . . . oh, wait, that’s Black Friday . . . never mind.
I can’t figure out if you’re yelling at me, or us . . . or what. It’s just an interesting/fun conversation, is all. Something to relieve for us the tension of living in these times. First-world problems, ya know.
The lo-cal news was discussing the Spam thing.
I have only had Spam (of the canned meat sort) a few times. As a kid, my mother almost never bought it. It was relatively expensive compared to the big chunks of unsliced bologna that you could get at the grocery store in those days. When she did buy canned meat, it was usually the competing brand, Armor Treet.
I’m with you, woozy. Spam is just chopped and formed ham and not disgusting. It just has an image problem because a lot of people aren’t very creative in how they prepare it. They also assume it’s just floor sweepings from the meat packing plant, which it is not. Mrs. SingaporeBill loves the stuff, having been raised poor in Singapore. Spam was a luxury addition to a meal when she was growing up.
“I can’t figure out if you’re yelling at me, or us . . . or what.”
I’m yelling at a hypothetical third party mass. It’s very trendy to say “Oooh, clowns are scary” or “Oooh, SPAM is disgusting” or “Gelatinous bright pink cranberry sauce, that’s such trash”. And… well, I find such reactions to be predictable and reactionary and to have all the intelligence and individuality of George Carlin’s Class Clown’s 3rd banana. Maybe I’m overreacting but I *hate* the mentality of the Class Clown’s 3rd Banana.
Anyway. SPAM is … SPAM. It’s neutral. It’s better than “baloney” and canned corn beef hash. It’s on par with canned pork ‘n beans (which most class clown’s 3rd bananas are very positive about) and canned chili. And a cut below canned “tuna fish”. So no, it’s not haute cusine and I can’t claim “But it’s really GOOD!!!!” because ….. well, yeah, it’s really kinda crap food….
But it’s *normal* crap food. Just like corned beef hash and pork and beans are crap food.
And actually it’s kind of weird. Bacon is (according to the class clown’s 3rd banana’s) the manna from the gods (and… reluctantly… I have to agree with them…. bacon is about the most awesome thing I know) but in terms of salty, fatty, nitrate enriched pork derived foods; there’s no reason that one should be revered and the other reviled. Or if there is, SPAM is actually the less offensive … mmmm…. now I’m in the mood for SPAM and eggs. I haven’t had that in …. well, possibly never.
My brother used to love Spam, but he was the only one in the family. It so happens that he was also the only one who tried it. Everybody had heard the jokes about how awful it was, so nobody wanted to try it. Stupid, I know.
Spam is supposed to be ‘spiced ham’ but since it’s made in the midwest, the ‘spices’ are salt and sugar. So adding pumpkin spice flavorings might make sense. Before I judge, I’d have to taste.
I thought the Spam product was some clever photoshopping. Then I looked it up only to see it is real. That which has been seen cannot be unseen.
woozy: I presume that people who are afraid of clowns are really afraid, not just considering them unpleasant and exaggerating. Steven King’s IT seems to be tapping a deep-rooted fear (as well as reinforcing it, much to the displeasure of someone who rather likes clowns, like myself).
I have had SPAM sushi in Hawaii – it was … fine, I guess.
One of the fake products in chemgal’s product-that-dont-exist website is pumpkin spice toothpaste. That may be phony, but there really is cinnamon toothpaste. For example,
https://www.amazon.com/Close-Up-Toothpaste-Gel-Cinnamon-Pack/dp/B01IADXXR0
jajizi, #9 on my first list (which claims they are real products) was a different brand of toothpaste that has a pumpkin pudding flavour. They also mention it comes in Indian curry.
Geez, woozy! Part of living in a society is that there will be some reactions or opinions that get commonly circulated. Nothing wrong with that. Not every opinion is going to be a original and trenchant analysis that exposes something about the fundamental nature of reality.
I hated Jar Jar Binks. Yes, everyone says they hated Jar Jar Binks, but doesn’t mean I can’t hate him too.
@jajizi — And, along with being a frequent consumer of Spam, I also use the Close-Up cinnamon-flavor toothpaste you find surprising. I guess it’s my day to be the group’s token weirdo. I’m neutral on the “clowns” scale, though.
My local chain stopped carrying Close-Up for a year or two, and I had to get it from trips to a suburban one-branch supermarket. The local chain recently started carrying it again, and I promptly bought a dozen or so tubes to stash in case of possible future reversals. (It’s not so much that I like the taste of cinnamon — which I do — as that I *dislike* the taste of mint, which virtually every other toothpaste on the market seems to feature.)
Pork, water, salt, potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrate.
What part of ‘pork’, I haven’t the foggiest. What is it that is said: Every part of the pig but the squeal . . .
“. . . now I’m in the mood for SPAM and eggs. I haven’t had that in”
Would that be GREEN spam & eggs? And now I have Monty Python’s tribute to SPAM in my head . . .
I, too, prefer cinnamon flavoring in toothpaste but hadn’t been able to find it. Thanks for the mention of Close-Up; I would assume amazon carries it.
This just in from Hubby . . . PS SPAM will be available on 23 September at Walmart and Spam’s online store, with cinnamon, clove, allspice and nutmeg (allspice was the one I forgot to mention).
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2019/08/15/pumpkin-spice-is-back-at-starbucks-dunkin—and-in-spam/#7da4198e64d0
I was taught never to love/hate anything that couldn’t love/hate you back.
Speaking of Old Pumpkin Spice . . . Remember the commercials – wouldn’t it be fun to do a parody, with Old Pumpkin Spice?
@WW: I grok woozy. It’s not that people might not like clowns, it’s this ridiculous idea that is everywhere on the Internet that clowns are the ultimate in scariness/creepiness. Aside from John Wayne Gacy and Billo, most clowns are pretty innocuous. I enjoy skilled clowns (not the third-rate kids birthday type). The Internet’s obsession with bacon (which is a delightful foodstuff) is the same thing. The Internet has taken to obsessive hate of pineapple on pizza (delightful when paired with a nice porky topping, such as ham or Spam), again, something that’s about bandwagon jumping. The actor that played Jar-Jar Binks said the reaction to the character was such that he thought about suicide. Jar-Jar was a stupid and racist character but that the hate was so vitriolic that it drove an actor who just wanted a gig to the edge shows the toxicity of online pile-ons.
@Andréa: It’s pork shoulder and ham.
I find that anyone behind a mask or face paint makes me uncomfortable; it’s the anonymity of it.
>” It so happens that he was also the only one who tried it. Everybody had heard the jokes about how awful it was, so nobody wanted to try it. Stupid, I know. ”
I guess what bugs me is the *ignorance* of this. The “jokes” are a relatively new things and before the jokes Spam is/was … just a food. Like corned beef hash (which is disgusting) or canned chilli (ditto). So, yes, Spam is disgusting but the jokes seem to make it *bizarrely* disgusting on par with casu marzu. I get that jokes are jokes but for anyone to believe a joke on face value and unquestioning is … ignorant. And ignorance pisses me off.
I guess I first became aware of this about twenty years ago when people were talking about gross foods and spam came up and I said yeah, it’s kind of gross; I can’t believe my mother, ever used to buy the stuff. The conversation stopped… “What, you’ve eaten the stuff?”…. Well, yeah, of course; haven’t you? I mean, you said it was gross so I naturally assumed you’ve had some experience with it and… “God, No! Of course I’ve never eaten it! It’s so disgusting! *No-one* has ever eaten it!”… Um…. okay…..
>” I presume that people who are afraid of clowns are really afraid, not just considering them unpleasant and exaggerating. ”
Well, sure. It’s a real phobia but probably a fairly rare one. Definitely rarer than fear of heights or spiders. And I don’t mind the *first* person to make a joke of the scary clown any more than the first person to make a joke about British dental care. What irritates is the gobs of unimaginative 3rd bananas making insipid jokes for no other reason than it is easy. It’s such a ….. mob way of thinking.
I like Spam (and canned corned beef hash, for that matter). I also like not weighing 300 pounds any more, so I don’t eat it, but I like it.
Up in Nashua, NH last year, a store that sold tires for automobiles put out a sign saying “TRY OUR NEW PUMPKIN SPICE TIRES.” Meanwhile about a half a mile down the street, the digital sign at another business displayed a cartoon: a pumpkin-headed creature at a coffee shop run by pumpkin-headed creatures says “I would like a human-spice latte, please.”
It’s probably been four decades since I last tried Spam. It was perfectly acceptable then, but there were a lot of things I happily consumed as a kid that I would not bother with now. It’s only because of the Monty Python sketch and the resulting attachment to indiscriminate e-mail that the product has become an object of ridicule.
P.S. There are other industrial food products that make Spam look like a gourmet item, such as “Velveeta” (bricks of pseudo cheese, processed to such an extent that grocery stores don’t bother to refrigerate it), or “scrapple” (which I actually ate as a kid but would find revolting now).
Re the Internet hating things: I haven’t tried wearing Crocs, but I figure they’ve got to be very comfortable if people are wearing them despite the online hate of their looks.
Bringing pumpkin spice and coulrophobia together: Isaiah Mustafa, the man in the Old Spice video posted above, is also in It: Chapter 2.
See, Woozy, that’s where you don’t factor in the difference between humans. You find canned chili to be disgusting. I like some varieties, especially Chilli Man. I have several cans in the pantry for those days when I’d just like to heat some up.
You’re of the “I don’t find this to be [whatever] so anyone who says that they do is lying, exaggerating, or misinformed” mindset.
jajizi: There was a whole line of interesting flavors of toothpaste about 12 years ago. I still have some lemon ice in the downstairs bathroom (used when I need to brush in a hurry before going somewhere early and don’t want to disturb my wife). It says it expired in 2008 but it’s still fine (yes, I’ve checked: consensus is that the sodium fluoride might not be effective any more, but I’m not using it for that). I really liked that flavor, and sad it’s gone.
Arthur, I have had two pairs of Crocs. Sort of. One was a discount store knock-off pair, the others are the brand-name ones. I actually found the knock offs more comfortable. The material they were made out of was a bit softer and spongier. They are both comfortable, though. I use them as slippers around home. I wouldn’t wear them out and about because I think walking in them for a long distance might not be nice.
I had Spam just a week ago or so at a family gathering. It was great.
I also like clowns, but the classic Ringling Bros. kind, such as Emmett Kelly. Old big-time circus clowning is an art. Modern-day popular conception of clown makeup and costume just hurts my eyes. Old-time clowns put great effort into their look and took great pride in their act. Being a circus clown was hard work.
And with the closure of the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, memory of actual clowns will fade, to be replaced with images of “third-banana” party clowns.
Finally, to bring this back to topic, was Pumpkin Spice one of the lesser-known Spice Girls?
Grawlix: https://m.imgur.com/t/funny/92ifio8
Even FRAZZ gets into the PS act . . .
“You’re of the “I don’t find this to be [whatever] so anyone who says that they do is lying, exaggerating, or misinformed” mindset.”
Where on *earth* do you get this?
That is the mindset of the mob wagon jumpers who make unoriginal, cheap and easy jokes about Spam and scary clowns. I don’t care if people like canned chili and I don’t expect anyone to care that I don’t.
I only brought chili up because it *isn’t* anyone’s business or concern whether I like it or not and I wanted to make the comparison to Spam. Spam is not deserving of universal ridicule because it is no different than canned chili which which is simply food some people eat.
Well, I was concerned that I had mischaracterized what you said,. so I reviewed it. What you said was:
Clowns are *not* scary, and SPAM is *not* disgusting.
Yes, clowns are unpleasant (unless you like them— I hate clowns) and SPAM is unpleasant (unless you like it— I like spam in the same sort of way most people like beef jerky) but they aren’t scary or disgusting… well, this is one of my pet peeves.
None of that was “I don’t find . . .” or “In my opinion . . .” statements, they were definitives. So I stand by my reply. If you meant something else, then you (in my opinion) expressed yourself poorly.
I’d back up “clowns are not scary”. They aren’t trying to be scary (except for stephen king’s, and the like.). People who are nonetheless afraid of them have a phobia, and there are enough of them that the phobia has a specific name. But phobias are, by definition, irrational fears.
When I was in second grade the class trip was to the Ringling Brothers, B&B circus. Having never taken me to one and knowing me, my parents took me to a small circus before I was to go with my class. Are you kidding – the clowns are terrifying!! So, when my class went to the circus, I was back in the class room of my first grade teacher for the day not at the circus. (Am I the only kid to ever refuse to go on the class trip?)
Robert and my second date was to – yes – Ringling Brothers,B&B, circus. I had won two tickets to same from my house plan (similar to sorority, but groups have British names and there is no pledging – and at my college neither had actual houses or dorms ) and asked Robert out, figuring by the age of 18 I must be okay with going to the circus – hah! Animals and clowns – not someplace Meryl should ever be.
We never had Spam growing up. We were not kosher but leaned that way in what foods were in the house and along with ham, we did not have Spam. I was married probably about 25 to 30 years before I had Spam. We keep some cans in the house in case of blackouts (we can cook a bit in the little RV but same would probably be a problem as we don’t want it to smell like food and attract “anything”). Even though we have the low sodium cans, it soooo SALTY.
And as the slogan that saved Mr. Blanding’s dream house said “If you’re not eating “Wham”, you’re not eating ham.
@Meryl, I don’t want to trigger any trauma, but if you can, please tell me what it is about clowns that you find so frightening?
Yes, clowns are unpleasant (unless you like them— I hate clowns) and SPAM is unpleasant (unless you like it— I like spam in the same sort of way most people like beef jerky) but they aren’t scary or disgusting… well, this is one of my pet peeves.
> None of that was “I don’t find . . .” or “In my opinion . . .” statements, they were definitives.
You don’t find “unless you like them” to indicate these are not definitives?
They made a lot of very loud noise as I recall. I was 4 or 5 I went with my family and it was overwhelming.
Animals – I have always been afraid of being hurt by one – but this includes my sister’s goldfish when we were little. (They could not convince me that the goldfish did not have teeth.) I know that there was a time when I was very little that I said I wanted a dog, a cat and a bird and I am not sure when that ended and the fear of animals came in – I have asked my mom numerous times over the years and apparently she does not remember me having any negative encounters with animals.
Weeks later, even CNN is ‘pumpkin-spiced’ . . .
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/08/us/pumpkin-spice-odd-products-trnd/index.html
It’s cooooommmmiiiiiinnnngggg cloooooooser . . .
