Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam!

I really like Spam. Growing up, I ate Spam and rice, Spam and eggs and Spam sandwiches. I like it cooked (fried) or plain right out of the can. I'm a Spam lover from the old school - I remember when the tin came with a key that you used to open the can with.

While this meat product is often ridiculed, Spam is very popular in Hawaii. Hawaiians consume nearly 6 million cans a year, or almost six cans per person. Spam became popular in Hawaii during World War II. Fresh meat was scarce at the time, so civilians loaded up on the brand-name C ration well known to the armed forces. Needing no refrigeration, this very distant relative to pork soon became one of the items islanders stocked up on during threats of hurricanes. It truly is Hawaiian soul food. McDonald's is well known for adopting cultural influences in their menus, serving wine in France and beer in Germany - Hawaiian McDonald's restaurants offer as a breakfast meal Spam, rice and eggs (which I have had). In Hawaii you can also find Spam sushi (I haven't tried this...yet). This must be where my love of Spam was born, as my family and I lived in Honolulu when I was in grade school.






On the last day of my visit I went to the Wailana Coffee House, right across from the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki, for breakfast - the top picture is what I ordered - eggs, hash browns and, of course, Spam. Lovely!