# Deviled Ham? It's CAT FOOD! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 4, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723 "2004-06-04T22:58:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/1 "2004-06-04T22:58:10Z")
I was in the deli, on my way home, and saw a can of Deviled Ham. Never had any. But I thought, “Hmmm . . . I like ham. And I like the Devil. So how bad could it be?” Got it home. Opened it up. Looks like cat food. I tasted some. I have never eaten cat food, but it tasted strongly like what I suspect cat food tastes like. I dumped it in the cats’ dish, and they are now happily wolfing it down (deviled ham isn’t bad for cats, is it?). Can’t fool me twice! Stupid Devil. ---
**Author:** ![Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@Siddhartha\_Vicious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siddhartha_Vicious)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/2 "2004-06-04T23:02:58Z")
How does one “devil,” anyway? I imagine it must involve virgin pigs and black candles. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/3 "2004-06-04T23:13:26Z")
I remember that stuff. The deviling part involves mysterious and exotic spices like sugar, salt and…um…more salt. ---
**Author:** ![DeVena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dec6dc/32.png) [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/4 "2004-06-04T23:17:39Z")
I thought “deviling” meant mushing it up and mixing it mayonnaise. At least how my mom made deviled ham. Vile nasty Look-I-can-eat-this-without-chewing crap. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/5 "2004-06-04T23:22:05Z")
My mother made it with mayonnaise as well. And relish. Ick. I have no fond memories of it. ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/6 "2004-06-04T23:35:45Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > …I like ham. And I like the Devil. So how bad could it be? Eve, great sig lines fall effortlessly from your fingers like rain!! Will no one use this??? on a related note: I like Brussels. And I like sprouts. But blechhhhhh! Never tried deviled ham, though. Let me know if they ever make deviled brisket. That I might try. ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/7 "2004-06-04T23:37:23Z")
Deviling food stuff is one of the cournerstones of English cookery ( Yep, that bad 😉 ) it is the adding of spice (usully mustard) to something in order to make it taste more paletable. So I’m affraid **Eve** this is just another step into your eventual decline into Englishness. Such delicacies as develed eggs, and develled kidneys will I’m affraid soon find there way to the **Eve** householed, followed by pickled eggs, jellied eels and eventually spotted dick will set in. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/8 "2004-06-04T23:38:09Z")
I _believe_ the term “deviled” is used to connote something that’s spiced up. Underwood deviled ham is a relic from the 50s, and what Americans thought was spicy and exciting in 1955 could quite probably be described as cat food today. I’m sure one of Lileks’ cookbooks must feature some sort of deviled ham obscenity. ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/9 "2004-06-04T23:58:19Z")
How embarassing. I actually like deviled ham. Not in large quantities mind you but every once in a long while. My Mother used it to make sandwiches when I was a kid. Canned cat food tastes worse in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Creaky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e68b1a/32.png) [@Creaky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Creaky)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/10 "2004-06-05T00:01:54Z")
Oh, no! **Eve** , deviled ham and deviled chicken is way tasty. I love that stuff; been eatin’ it for years. Sometimes I carry a can of one or the other in my big ole purse for impromptu snackin’. Now that I do Atkins, though, I eat it straight from the can. Still yummy! (Mind you, this is coming from the girl who loves Spam Lite, too…) ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/11 "2004-06-05T00:10:03Z")
I used to eat Deviled ham sandwiches in the first grade or so. I think I remember liking them, but I haven’t had any since, so… Still I find myself thinking about them when I pass the little can in the grocery. I can imagine the cats liking it since it’s way more expensive that cat food - or is it? ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/12 "2004-06-05T00:20:05Z")
Ooooooooh, the little teeny tiny cutey cans of Deviled Ham!!! All wrapped up in the little white paper!!! And the little red guy dancing on the label!! So cute! Although I did get in trouble at the grocery store for unwrapping all the cute little cans on the shelf (I was two, I was bored while shopping, and mom turned her back for a moment…). Underwood Deviled Ham was a treat at home. Good enough for one or two sandwiches before we didn’t want any more, unlike SPAM which just kind of sat there after we had one or two slices. Damn, now I want an UDH and SPAM sandwich. Or should that be an “UDHSPAMwich”? ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/13 "2004-06-05T00:20:07Z")
My ex, Sniffs\_Markers, has been known to eat pâté… I’ve always looked at it thinking “…Looks like canned cat food… Smells like canned cat food…” I can’t eat it. Can’t eat Spam, can barely choke down canned corned beef – looks and smells like the food Fatcat would lick off the floor if that’s where it dropped. Makes me gag. Sets off the “not fit for human consumption… give it to the cats” alarm. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/14 "2004-06-05T00:29:53Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > Eve, great sig lines fall effortlessly from your fingers like rain!! Will no one use this??? You’re welcome to it. I still have a tummy ache, possibly from the three crab cakes I had to eat to get the taste out of my mouth. The cats are glaring suspiciously at me, too. I fished the white label out of the trash can, and it was indeed Underwood Deviled Ham Spread, featuring Satan himself dancing, waving a pitchfork, apparently wearing a kicky little bolero-length jacket, and laughing, “Ha ha! Made you eat cat food!” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/15 "2004-06-05T00:43:45Z")
Devilled ham sammiches…yummy! With mustard and relish. I like Spam, too. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/16 "2004-06-05T01:18:04Z")
My cat’s breath smells like deviled ham. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/17 "2004-06-05T01:28:43Z")
Underwood’s deviled ham spread on soda crackers… happy meal for when the hurricane has cut off all the power and running water 😃 It’s one of those things you appreciate as a kid. Really. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/18 "2004-06-05T01:39:04Z")
> [@cher3](#): > > I remember that stuff. The deviling part involves mysterious and exotic spices like sugar, salt and…um…more salt. You forgot fat and (I believe) Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP). I don’t mind the salt, as I will happily eat food that most people consider far too salty, but I DO mind the fat content. When I was a kid, I used to love deviled ham. I don’t know if Underwood changed the formula, or my tastes changed, but I no longer love it. I’m always fairly suspicious of any foodstuff that has TVP in it. **Eve,** devilled ham probably isn’t GOOD for cats, but it’s bound to be better than what they will eat if they can scrounge for themselves. Of course my cat is quite willing to eat crab cakes, too. She doesn’t like fried shrimp though, unless the fried coating is peeled away. She prefers broiled shrimp. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/19 "2004-06-05T01:59:07Z")
Going hiking for the day? Don’t feel like making sandwiches before you go (and having them all mashed and unappetizing come lunchtime)? A can of UDH and a small box of Triscuits, and you’re in business. Toss a bag of peanut M&Ms into the pack, and you’re good for the day! ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2004, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723/20 "2004-06-05T02:04:05Z")
Eve, could it be that you picked up a can whose expiration date ocurred during the Eisenhower administration? I can’t believe that something so good would evoke such strong feelings of disgust from you. Maybe you just got a bad can. Can of devilled ham, you pervs. I’m sure that Eve has a perfectly fine can. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/deviled-ham-its-cat-food/248723.md?page=2)