As we tumble headlong into Thanksgiving Thursday and the traditional day-long feast of turkey and all the trimmings, let us not forget the one food that helped put British comedy on the map a mere 42 years ago. Monty Python’s Flying Circus immortalized SPAM, the quintessential ‘mystery meat’ that now boasts its own museum in Austin, Minnesota. Mystery meat may be a bit unfair as Hormel, the makers of Spam are quick to note that “most” of the meat in Spam comes from the front shoulder of the hog….accent on “most”.

Josh Noel of the Chicago Tribune took a recent trip to Austin to better understand the canned-meat product which will celebrate 75 years in existence in 2012. Not only did Noel find the Spam Museum, just east of downtown in the Hormel Foods complex, but stopped in on Steve’s for a Spam pizza, Johnny’s Main Event for a Spam Reuben and Kenny’s Oak Grill and a Spam de’ Melt.

Since Noel points out that one can of Spam provides 57% of a days recommended intake of sodium, I’m going with turkey and stuffing on Thursday. I’m afraid the Tex-Mex SPAM Lasagna will have to wait for another day….even though it was a State Fair winning recipe. You?