Spam, anyone? No, not the kind we get through our emails — I’m talking about the kind out of the can.
For a long time, I wouldn’t admit that I really liked Spam — especially after several hundred or maybe thousands started holding an annual Spam-O-Rama. These folks are NOT spam lovers! I haven’t been to this April event, but reports of spam contests, spam art, and spam songs/dance seem to be pretty gross.
Today, I’m “coming out of the pantry.” I love Spam. Now, there ARE limits — it has to be cooked, as in sliced thin and fried in a skillet until golden brown. Throw those slices onto bread with maybe a hint of mustard, add some potato chips to the plate, and you’ve got a great meal or snack. It’s even good cold — but after it has been cooked! And thus, that was my supper tonight — left-over, cold SPAM between two slices of wheat (impressed, huh?) bread. For color, I did throw a few pieces of lettuce and tomato in a bowl — hoping those healthy foods will counter any “bad” stuff in the Spam.
Now, before you go and judge me or reply how awful this dietary news is — answer this question: What is the most favorite food of the people who live in Hawaii?
You probably guessed seafood, pineapple, macadamia nuts . . . .
Wrong.
So, now you’re probably thinking, it’s something weird like Cajun food, or escargot, or Ellie Mae Clampett’s possum soup . . . .
No, still wrong.
OK, maybe you have it now — SPAM! More Spam goes out of the grocery stores there than any other state (source: my husband’s trivia reading). If you doubt him, type “Spam Hawaii” in at Google — two things popped up that may also give you a chuckle:
Hawaii’s 2nd Spam Cookbook
Author: Ann Kondo Corum
Product Code: 1352
ISBN: 1-57306-135-2
Publisher: Bess Press
Pages: 160
Binding Information: Paperback
Size: 8.5″ X 5.5″
Availability: In stock.
Price: $9.95
AND . . .
The 78 McDonald’s outlets in Hawaii have begun test-marketing a breakfast meal that consists of egg, rice and Spam.
Spam has been a laughing matter on the mainland since babyboomers were babies, but the Hormel product made from pork parts is staggeringly popular in Hawaii, which has the highest Spam consumption per capita of any state.
Spam musubi (“moo-soo-BEE”), consisting of a strip of cooked Spam sitting on a block of rice and held in place by a sushi-style seaweed girdle, is a popular breakfast food and lunchtime or picnic snack.
So, from now on when you come to our house, you may see a can or two of this Hormel product near the front of our pantry shelves. Now, that I’ve been made aware of the large number of Spam lovers (and when I think of all those who buy it for the many Spam-O-Rama’s around the country), I’m wondering how Hormel’s stock (HRL) is doing . . . .