spam in hawaii

[jimotis4heisman]

HONOLULU -- Nevada receiver Caleb Spencer is used to getting funny looks from his friends and football teammates in Reno when he cooks up a dish of Spam.
But his teammates, in Honolulu this week to play in the Hawaii Bowl, are learning that the canned processed meat is part of daily life for those on the islands.
"Everyone here just grew up with Spam," Spencer, a Hawaii native, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. "It is a delicacy here. It's like steak."
Quarterback Jeff Rowe, one of Spencer's closest friends, now understands.
"I know he eats Spam in Reno, but I thought he was just being cheap," Rowe said. "I didn't realize until now that people here eat it all the time."
Hawaiians consume nearly seven million cans of Spam every year, an average of six cans per person.
"They serve it everywhere here," Spencer said. "We all love it. They have it at McDonald's and sell it at 7-Elevens and the ABC stores. We grew up with Spam."
Two favorite dishes among locals are Spam musabi, which is a slice of Spam on top of rice and wrapped in seaweed, and Spam-fried rice.
Nevada assistant coach Kim McCloud, who played football and met his wife at the University of Hawaii, said he was shocked when he learned about the popularity of Spam here.
"It is just amazing," said McCloud, who grew up in Los Angeles. "The only time we ate Spam was when we were dead broke. I get over here for college, and it is everywhere."
Spencer said he'll continue to eat Spam, despite the razzing he gets from friends in Reno.
"I love it, man," he said. "People in Reno always look at me like, 'Why do you eat that stuff?' But that's what I grew up on. It's good stuff."

mili, 808, hb do you guys eat spam like crazy too?

 

[tedginn05]

I love Spam. Fry it up in a pan and its great. I can eat a whole can like that. As for eating it straight(out of the can) I can't eat a whole can, more like a third or maybe half of an can.

I also like it on a hamburger bun. Take two slices of it, put a piece of American cheese on it and put it in the oven for like a minute. Thats good too.

My dad likes it with eggs and cheese on top.

 

[LoKyBuckeye]

I don't like it... it clutters up my In Box

 

[BB73]

I don't like spam, but it beats the hell out of poi.

 

[The KSB]

All the Hawiians in the Army that I've met so far are crazy about Spam. I love the stuff myself. I watched a show on the food network on all the different ways to fix Spam dishes. Spam fried rice is awsome. I highly recommend it.

 

[808 Buck]

Spam musubis are a winner. For those unfamiliar, it's fried spam with a sugar/shoyu/mirin sauce, and rice wrapped in nori (dried seaweed). Now that might not be too appealing to some of you, but it tastes great if it's done right. And on a side football-related note, Caleb Spencer is a good kid. UH missed out on this one.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

I wouldn't say SPAM is a delicacy...in fact, far from it, as it is more of a mainstay side dish. It is literally a part of Hawaiiana. Hell, even the McDonalds here have it in their breakfast menus.

 

[Saw31]

 

[ScriptOhio]

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The SPAM story began with several thousand pounds of pork shoulder in Hormel's meat-packing plant, at the time no one knew what to do with all that useful meat. In 1927 one of Hormel's executives had a bright idea of chopping the pork shoulder up, adding some ham and spices then canning it in a clear gelatin casting, so it would keep almost indefinitely. Mahalo nui loi from the bottom of our hearts!

So what is SPAM, we ask? SPAM is ground pork shoulder and ground ham combined with salt, water, sugar, and sodium nitrite, stuffed into a can, sealed, cooked, dried, dated, labeled, shipped, bought and enjoyed by all the world. You can slice it, dice it, cube it, rip it, toss it, mince it, strip it, grate it, mash it, julienne it, carve it, whip it, smear it, blend it, squash it, fry it, bake it, grill it, soup it, crepe it, roast it, boil it, warm it, gumbo it, steam it, fondue it, croquette it, barbecue it, fritter it, glaze it, sear it, toast it, kabob it, braise it, pressure-cook it, stir-fry it, brochette it, quiche it, poach it, broil it, or eat it raw straight from the can, but best of all is Musubi (Sushi Style see picture below). The only SPAM I've never had is freeze-dried, no SPAM in space? Its advantage over ham is that it needs no refrigeration before its opened. It will keep in it's can until the end of time, if not eaten lickety-split. It makes for an ideal provision for emergency meals such as those eaten by inhabitants of bomb shelters who find themselves stuck underground for decades after a nuclear holocaust. I keep a can of SPAM in our car's glove box for emergencies, also comes in handy for payment to window washers at stop lights. “No cash man, but I've got a can of SPAM” Oooh righhht dude, you speak-a my language!!
When Spam was introduced by the Geo. A. Hormel Company in 1937, as “the Miracle Meat” ham was being touted as health food. ''It plays a large part in the transformation of food into physical strength by gently exciting a sufficient flow of the digestive juices,” explained the Armour Meat Company (Hormel's rival) in a booklet extolling “The Ham What Am.”

So how did it get the wonderful name “SPAM”? SPAM as it is known now was first called Hormel's Spiced Ham, other meat packing plants quickly tried to imitate Hormel's new product. Responding quickly to the threat, Hormel offered a $100 prize to any one who could come up with a name that would make their product stand out. The name SPAM was originated by a brother of an executive of Hormel, his suggestion of SPAM the HAM that is SPICED thus SP from spice and AM from ham make SPAM.

After sixty years Hormel has grown with the ages. Hormel, which got a leg up on the competition by inventing the first canned ham in the twenties. SPAM has been said to taste as good as or better than ham, cheaper, and it's much more efficient and convenient than a twenty-pound Smithfield.
Modern SPAM comes smoke-flavored the first variations in 1970, low-salt SPAM In the early 1990s, traditional SPAM, or with pasteurized processed American cheese chunk implants, American's love implants why not in our food. The cans and flavors of SPAM my change with time but SPAM original will always be the favored world wide.

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In the beginning Hormel had sold only twenty thousand tons of Spam when World War 2 started; it was during the war that SPAM, like S.O.S. (dried chipped beef on toast, known to soldiers as “Shit on a Shingle”), became notorious. SPAM was a lendlease staple, sent in such abundance to Allied troops that Nikita Khrushchev later credited it with the survival of the otherwise starving Russian army, a can of SPAM is like heaven after eating a shoe sole. In England, where beef was severely rationed, SPAM was the only meat like matter many families ate for weeks on end. Hawaii, staging ground for the war in the Pacific, fell so in love with SPAM that to this day, Hawaiians eat an average of six cans per person per year, far more than in any other place on earth. I know a few Hawaiians who eat two cans a week. Because it was unaffected by meat rationing, SPAM was eaten on the American home front in record quantity, too. After the war, SPAM enjoyed a popularity that can explained only by the Helsinki syndrome, that paradoxical condition in which captive people come to feel affection for their captors. Forced to live with SPAM during the war, many soldiers and civilians didn't want to give it up. Aspiring gourmet housewives, eager for any kind of convenience in their nice little red and chrome kitchens fell in love with SPAM. A can of SPAM also made for a bit of exotic culinary adventure for the young women to embrace, their men had seen the world so now they could from their kitchens. The most basic ingredient for a vast numbers of Polynesian and Cantonese-flavored dishes is SPAM in which the luncheon meat gets clunked, then combined with maraschino cherries, bell peppers, onions, snap peas, broccoli, carrots, eggplant, soy sauce, cans of bamboo shoots, and corn starch or the fastest and simplest approach is one piece of pineapple, this can changes SPAM to an exotic dish faster than you can say “Humuhumunukunukuapua'a” the official state fish of Hawaii.

<CENTER><TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=2 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><CENTER>SPAM Sandwich gone Hawaiian</CENTER>Ingredients:
1 (12-ounce) can SPAM luncheon meat, cut into 8 slices
1 fresh cut or canned pineapple rings (8-ounce), drained
1 fresh cut onion, fat sliced.
1 piece lettuce
1 fresh cut piece tomato
4 slices American cheese
4 hamburger buns, split and toasted
Instructions for Preparation :
Brown SPAM slices on grill or in skillet. Place 2 SPAM slices on each bottom half of toasted hamburger bun. Top with pineapple ring, onion, lettuce, tomato and cheese slice. Cover sandwich with top half of bun. Serves 1 to 4. (dressing your choice)

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By 1959, a billion cans had been sold. To celebrate its product's fiftieth anniversary in 1987, Hormel released these interesting facts: If all the cans of SPAM ever eaten were put end-to-end, they would circle the globe at least ten times (this fact is over ten years old now). “In the USA alone, 4.6 cans are consumed every second” (assuming SPAM is eaten round the clock, 365 days a year).

An early magazine advertisement: The man of the house wakes up. wondering, “What's that sizzling sound I hear?” “Get up! It's SPAM and eggs, my dear!” answers his cheerful wife. She shares a secret with her girlfriend: “Here's a lunch that's good and quick. . . Hot cheese SPAMWICH does the trick!” At dinnertime she wonders, “What can I cook without much fuss?” “SPAM bake would tickle all of us!” her family answers.
Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia (where the fried balogna sandwich is the state dish) eats a sandwich of SPAM and mayonnaise on white bread three times a week. Nowhere on earth is SPAM more exalted than in Korea, where it is sold in stylish presentation gift boxes (nine cans to the box), and where there is a booming black market in SPAM. In 1989 the Wall Street Journal reported that Koreans love to fry it with kimchi, their traditional pickled cabbage; they roll it with vinegared rice and seaweed to create elegant Spam sushi rolls known as kimpap (almost like Hawaiian's Musubi); and when they cannot get their hands on a prized can of the real thing, they eat the locally concocted imitation of SPAM, which goes by the brand name of Lo-Spam. Next to spit-roasted dog meat, SPAM is just about Korea's favorite delicacy.
I my self have eaten more than a dozen 12 oz. cans of SPAM but have never tried spit-roasted dog, well I'm am only a Kauai, Hawaiian born haole male, so I guess I'm not that adventurous. I will say SPAM is like a canned luau, the true smell and taste of Aloha.
http://www.modernsurf.com/spam/

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[MililaniBuckeye]

Actually, spam musubi is usually made to look more like, mostly in the rectangular shape shown in the link (pic won't post directly):

 

[Taosman]

Love those pics!

 

[Thump]

I wouldn't say SPAM is a delicacy...in fact, far from it, as it is more of a mainstay side dish. It is literally a part of Hawaiiana. Hell, even the McDonalds here have it in their breakfast menus.

Mili,

I probably already know the answer to this question but any thought of ever moving back to the homeland?

I know the cost of living on the islands is outrageous.

How long long have you lived there anyways?

 

[tedginn05]

Mili,

I probably already know the answer to this question but any thought of ever moving back to the homeland?

I know the cost of living on the islands is outrageous.

How long long have you lived there anyways?

Unfortunately(Maybe not) they US has forced him to stay in Hawaii. They gave him a choice when they were kicking him out of the 48 continental states. He had the choice of Alaska or Hawaii. He took Hawaii. So he may say he doesn't want to come back, but in reality...he can't.



Na just playing, I'm wondering why he doesn't live here either.

 

[Thump]

Unfortunately(Maybe not) they US has forced him to stay in Hawaii. They gave him a choice when they were kicking him out of the 48 continental states. He had the choice of Alaska or Hawaii. He took Hawaii. So he may say he doesn't want to come back, but in reality...he can't.

 

[MililaniBuckeye]

Mili,

I probably already know the answer to this question but any thought of ever moving back to the homeland?

I know the cost of living on the islands is outrageous.

How long long have you lived there anyways?

Being retired military, I get to use the commissary (on-base super market), which is about 50% cheaper than the Hawaii super markets (food cost here is ridiculous). The only major consumable that I have to pay off-base prices for is gas, and that's only because the brand of gas they sell on base at about 20 cents a gallon less than off base is not that good (I'd rather spend the extra couple bucks a tankful for good gas). Even though gas is still about 50 cents a gallon more here than in Ohio, that extra cost is more than offset by my not having any winter heating costs. The place where I live (yes, it's Mililani) is up in the hills west of Honolulu and is noticably cooler than downtown, etc., and I don't really need A/C in the summer. If I were to sit down and figure out the cost of my utilities, I don't think they'd be any more than they'd be in Ohio, and I know they'd be cheaper than they'd be in Florida (my mom lives in Ocala, and her bills for A/C most of the year and heating in winter are more). The only expense left that can't be offset is my mortgage...I can't think of too many place in Ohio (and few in Florida) where I'd have to pay $500,000 for a 1,200 sq ft, 3 BR, 2 bath house with next to no yard. In fact, my mom was telling me a few weeks back how the house they had just bought for $110,000 a year ago was worth $170,000 and was saying that new houses about the size of hers (1,500 sq ft, 3 BR, 2.5 bath, 1/2 acre yard) was around $250,000...she thought that was expensive until I told her that you'd have a hard time buying a small apartment for that here.