How Spam Helped Shape Hawaii (2024)

America’s 50th state is knownthroughout the world for its beautiful beaches,volcanic vistas,exotic wildlife and tropical fruit. But there’s one food product that is belovedoverall others in Hawaii–Spam. What you may not know is that the much maligned meat in a can may have saved the islands during World War II.

Spamwas originally created by Minnesota’s Hormel Foods in 1937as a way to help busy American housewives serve a quick and easy pork dish. The Spam brandname has long been a subject of speculation. Some say it’s from the words “spiced ham.” Others say its an acronym for “shoulders of pork and ham.”Even Hormel isn’t saying exactly.“The real answer is known by only a small circle of former Hormel Foods executives. And probably Nostradamus,” says the official Spamwebsite.

Spamhas been the butt of jokes for decades, even lending its name to the unforgettableMonty Python sketchof a waitress in drag in a diner offering only dishes made with the stuff (eggs and Spam, Spam and eggs and Spam, etc.,) yet Hawaiians embrace it un-ironically.

Hawaiians like Spamso much, they consume an estimated 5million poundsofit a year. Per capita, they consume morethan anyone else in the U.S. That works out to aboutsix cans a year for every man, woman and child, which is just a little eyebrow-raising,given the sodium and fatcontent of that can.(A 12-oz. can is supposed to contain six servings, and each serving includes 25 percent of the U.S. recommended dailyfat intake and 33 percent of a day’s sodium. Does anyone eat only one serving?)

So it’s not exactly health food. But you have to admit,Spam istasty. Hawaiians use it’s slightly spiced, salty flavor in everything from breakfast scrambles with eggs to a sushi-like concoction made withrice and a seaweed wrap known as musubi (moo-sue-bee, my Hawaiian colleague informs me, with no syllable accented stronger than another).

Musubi is a favoriteMusubi is a favorite of former Hawaiian resident President Barack Obama, who reportedly seeks it out whenever he’s onvacation there. Musubiis sold everywhere on the island, from gas stations to fine dining establishments. it has also, apparently, become a verb.Hormel recently introduced ateriyaki-flavored SPAMproduct to “encourage consumers to Musubi.” There’s even an adorable musubi baby costumemusubi baby costumeand a yearly festival in Waikiki known as Spam Jam Hawaii, which falls on May 2 this year.

The family-friendly Spam Jamattracted about 25,000 people last year. It features local musicians, crafts and special Spam dishes by local and national chain restaurants. “With all our different cultures here, there are a lot of dishes that can be made with it,” says Karen Winpenny, spokeswoman for Spam Jam Hawaii. The elegant restaurant/storeChai’s Waikikiis expected to take things up to highbrow levelby offering Spam and fresh ahi katsu with wasabi curry, but don’t worry, there will be plenty of Spam fried riceandSpam grilled cheese on offer. And dessert, too:Ono Pops is making peanut butter cream pops with bits of candied Spam inside. Donations of Spam cans will be accepted bythe Hawaii Food Bank because “it is the most requested item,” says Winpenny.

Whilethe island’s love affair with Spam isallsunshine and rainbows now, it wasn’t always this way. During WWII, American GIs were loaded down with the stuff and more than willingto share. But the storygoes deeper.According to food historian Rachel Laudan, who spent years living in Hawaii and wrote a book called The Food of Paradise: Exploring Hawaii’s Culinary Heritage,Spam’s spread has more to do with the American governmentrestrictingHawaii’s deep-sea fishing operations, owned mainly by the Japanese, in the years leading up toWWII. Because there were so many folks of Japanese descent on Hawaii’s islands, it wasn’t possible to put them all in camps, she says, as was done on the mainland in one of America’s saddest history chapters.

Donald M. Shugg of the University of Hawaii explains it this wayin his 2001 paper on the fishing industryin the Hawaiian Journal of History:

“Growing tensions between the United States and Japan during the1930s led the United States military to view Hawai’i’s fishing fleet asa serious threat to national security. For example, when the Japanese government arranged for many of Hawai’i’s Japanese fishermen to attend fishing schools in Japan, there were concerns that the fishermen were being interrogated by Japanese Navy officials on hydrographic conditions in Hawai’i. In 1940, suspicions about the loyalty of Japanese immigrants resulted in implementation of a federal statute that prohibited fishing vessels of five tons or more from obtaininglicenses unless the vessel owner was a U.S. citizen. The next year,the Territory passed a law prohibiting aliens from fishing with hukilau, gill, or purse seine nets within one mile of shore in order to preserve123 fishery resources for native Hawaiians and other U.S. citizens. Thislegislation abruptly ended the careers of many fishermen in Hawai’i.”

Without SPAM, other canned meats and sardines, Laudan tells Eater:“The[Hawaiian]economy would have collapsed.”

Spamalso helped feed the starving populations in variousAsian Pacific nations devastated by that war, and it has remained immensely popular. To this day, Spam is a well-knownaddition to many modernKorean and Filipino dishes.

For its part, Hormel fully embraces the kitsch, hawking mugs and mouse padsand sharing recipes for Spam chile rellenos and a Hello Kitty Spam musubi creation on its website. This week, it also launched a SPAMerica tour on a big yellow bus to tout its virtues to Americancities all over the country.

Iguess if you can’t beat ’em, you join ’em.