Spam 101: Military & Kamaaina Connection

We love our friends Matt and Christine Arnold for many reasons....not the least of which is that they spent their honeymoon in Hawaii and loved it. Plus, Matt wears aloha shirts to work in sunny Sigonella. And has given Rob the joy to wear his too!

They learned about our sweet and salty little secret one afternoon when we were invited to Lisa Balboni's wedding anniversary party and I brought spam sushi. I think it raised a few eyebrows...uh...doesn't everyone eat spam?...


So The Arnold's invited us to dinner the other nite and I found this can of Spam on my plate. Now most U.S. Mainlanders would raise an eyebrow and feign joy at a can of trailer park food ... But I embraced my little 70th anniversary can with all the glee of Charlie in the Wonka Factory!


...You see..Ever since the U.S. Military introduced Hawaii to Spam during world war II...Hawaii has celebrated spam as a delicacy and even has an annual Spam Festival. Islanders consumes more spam than any other population in the world - more than 4 million cans every year, or an average twelve cans of Spam per person per year. In fact, Hawaii is so well associated with Spam that Hormel even introduced a limited edition "Hawaii" can in 2003. Here it is! I have a collection.

And if you stood out on any Hawaiian beach and screamed "I need SPAM!"....every local family would hop out of their beach chair and bring over a paper plate to feed you with some incarnation of SPAM. No joke.

Spam is served in all Hawaii McDonald's in saimin and with breakfast. It is also in every corner convenience store including all 7-Elevens as spam musubi (moo-soo-bee), a slice of fried spam with rice and bit of terriyaki sauce in between and sometimes wrapped in seaweed. Yum!