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Spam, I am (we’re not talking e-mail) |
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Written by asap
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Thursday, 29 June 2006 |
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 HONOLULU — It’s cheap. It’s amazingly versatile. It’s considered an island staple. Hawaiians devour it daily.
Martha Stewart would probably never call this a good thing.
And why should she? Packed in 790 milligrams of salt per serving, Spam, the compact block of pink luncheon meat, is, in Hawaii, a comfort food that has served millions of locals since World War II.
 In grocery-store aisles around here you see a panoply of Spam products: Spam Classic, Spam Lite, Spam Less Sodium, Spam Hot & Spicy, Spam Hickory Smoke, Spam BBQ, Spam Garlic and Spam Oven-Roasted Turkey. That’s not all: According to Hormel Foods, makers of packaged, processed and canned meat products, Spam also comes with cheese.
“Sixty-five zip packs!” yells out Mary Takamori, an assistant manager at Zippy’s, a restaurant chain in Honolulu. “That’s a total of $400. Our zip packs and surf packs are the most popular items on the menu.”
(This is what she means: a sliver of fried Spam supplementing a mound of white rice, teriyaki beef, breaded fish, and fried chicken.)
 Slicing the block of meat in quarter-inch slices and frying until it’s golden brown is the most common way of eating Spam. McDonald’s serves their breakfast deluxe special this way with scrambled eggs, Portuguese sausage and rice.
Then there’s sushi style, known here as Spam musubi. A pan-fried slice of Spam tops a mound of rice wrapped in a strip of dried seaweed. This dense, palm sized to-go rice meal is an island favorite. For about $1.80, one would be good for a snack. Two would make a lunch. Three would make you really full.
Spam consumption spiked here during World War II, especially at U.S. military bases when, in the absence of fresh meat, anything canned served as a main course.
Hawaiian, the 76-year-old president of a Canoe club in Waikiki remembers when the canned product cost only 15 cents. That was 1945.
“People lived on this,” he says in a smooth, hushed tone. He adds that, with no refrigeration, Spam, Vienna sausage, corned beef and sardines were staples. He puts it succinctly: “It’s convenient, it’s practical, it’s good.”
Hawaiian, an affable Hawaiian with deep chestnut tan, says he doesn’t bother with other Spam flavors. Regular will do just fine, thank you.
“I can buy five cans and feed 25 guys,” he says. “I cut this into strips adds some cabbage, oyster sauce, chili pepper, steam it all together and there’s my meal.”
Hormel says it sells 122 million cans of Spam worldwide each year. In the Philippines, Spam is a delicacy. Citizens who visit the United States often return with the portly tiny barrels as presents.
But it’s Hawaii where it resonates most. On a per-capita basis, Hawaiians eat more Spam than any other Americans -- 6.7 million cans per year.
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Find it online here:
Spam musubi recipe: www.whatscookingamerica.net/History/Spam.htm
Bernadette Tuazon, asap’s chief photo editor, has eaten Spam all her life. | Only registered users can write comments.
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