By: Peter Meredith

It’s a marriage made in hog heaven: SPAM maker Hormel Foods announced Thursday that it’s buying Skippy peanut butter from Unilever. The price, if regulators approve the deal (and why wouldn’t they?), is about $700 million.

Hormel is coy about SPAM on its website. “Although pork and turkey remain the major raw materials for Hormel products, the company has emphasized for several years the manufacture and distribution of branded, value-added consumer items rather than the commodity fresh meat business,” it says.

Hormel’s home town — Austin, Minn. — is less shy about the product that made Hormel what it is today. Three minutes’ drive from corporate headquarters at 1 Hormel Place is the SPAM Museum, aka The Guggenham, Porkopolis or MOMA, the Museum Of Meat-Themed Awesomeness. SPAM itself is an acronym for spiced ham.

Who can say the same about peanut butter?