Two years ago my 8 year old son saw a can of it on the shelves of a store. He asked about it, and I could only remember dim memories of eating while camping as a kid (no spoilage and it’s waterproof!). I mentioned how it smelled like cat food and was made of meat remnants. Needless to say, after that pitch we had to grab a can.

I was nervous about eating it, but I fried up a few pieces. Being a good father, I tried it before my son did. I wound up eating every slice I cooked before the eggs were even ready. I had to cook more, and my son had the same reaction.

My foodie friends look at me with horror and disgust when I tell them about it, but damn it….the stuff is pretty damn tasty. I buy a can every month or so.

Spam and Dinty Moore Beef Stew are both camping staples for me.

Save Ferris has a great song about Spam.

When hubby and I started dating, I opened his fridge to see a plate of drying Spam. “Uh, they make this stuff, called saran wrap, or this other stuff, called tupperware…” His response was: “I like it like that, it’s Spam Jerky!”. It’s become a family joke, every year he gets a can for Christmas, and my sister brought back Spam-flavoured macadamia nuts from Hawaii for him.

Then. Then I was converted.

In Hawaii just a few weeks ago, I was determined to try the most awful sounding Hawaiian food available: Spam Musubi (I’d already tried my hand at poi–no thank you!).
The first one I bought from a convenience store on Oahu was terrible. Just terrible enough to give me a blood thirsty lust for something better. I just knew it couldn’t be THAT bad. On Kauai, I happened upon a grocery store that sold Spam Musubi in the deli section. I realized this was my perfect chance. I bought it. I took one bite and I was in Spam heaven.
It is good! It is very good.
When I got back home, I made Spam Musubi for my lunch for an entire week. Now I can’t even pass by a Hawaiian restaurant without popping in for a bite of Spam Musubi.
There is no going back. If you hate Spam now, just keep right on hating it. Because you’ll be eating your words–you juicy delicious words–if you ever have a single bite.

After typhoons when electricity may be out for months and no refrigeration available, the cans of Spam went a long way to feed the family.