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Spam musubi is a snack and lunch food composed of a slice of grilled
Spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ...
sandwiched either in between or on top of a block of
rice Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
, wrapped together with
nori Nori is a dried edible seaweed used in Japanese cuisine, made from species of the red algae genus '' Pyropia'', including ''P. yezonesis'' and '' P. tenera''. It has a strong and distinctive flavor, and is often used to wrap rolls of sushi or ...
in the tradition of Japanese ''
onigiri , also known as , , or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or cylindrical shapes and often wrapped in ''nori''. Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled ume (''umeboshi''), salted salmon, katsuob ...
''. Inexpensive and portable, Spam musubi are commonly found near cash registers in
convenience store A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ti ...
s or mom-and-pop shops all over Hawaii, Guam and Hawaiian Barbecue restaurants in the mainland United States. Musubi can be easily made with the right materials, and typically only uses spam, rice, some salt, nori and shoyu (soy sauce). In Hawaii, musubi made from homemade spam is served on catering trays at formal events by celebrity chefs such as
Alan Wong Alan Wong is a chef and restaurateur known as one of 12 co-founders (along with Sam Choy, Roy Ambel Yamaguchi, Peter Merriman, Bev Gannon and more) of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. They came together to form an organization to create a new American r ...
at his exclusive restaurants.


History

Spam musubi is a derivative of Musubi which originally came to Hawaii from Japan. It was a popular item among the lunchboxes of Hawaiian plantation workers. The origin of Spam musubi is disputed. Survivors of the Japanese American internment camps on the mainland of the United States claim to have invented the precursor to Spam musubi, when they placed seasoned slices of Spam on white rice in a baking pan. However, most origin stories focus on Spam's ubiquity in
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
during and in the aftermath of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. With few other options, the canned meat was incorporated into local cuisines wherever American troops were stationed. For example,
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
's
budae-jjigae ''Budae-jjigae'' (; ) or spicy sausage stew is a type of Korean '' jjigae'' (stew), made with ham, sausage, Spam, baked beans, kimchi, instant noodles, and gochujang. * The dish was created shortly after the armistice that ended the Korean War ...
, a stew of surplus U.S. military foods, included Spam. In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
, where Spam was ubiquitous during the hardship of the post-War years, Spam acquired a stigma exemplified by the 1970 Monty Python sketch. Spam may not have been abandoned in the Pacific like it was in the U.K. simply because of the comparative economic deprivation experienced in the Pacific region. The ''
Honolulu Star-Bulletin The ''Honolulu Star-Bulletin'' was a daily newspaper based in Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. At the time publication ceased on June 6, 2010, it was the second largest daily newspaper in the state of Hawaii (after the ''Honolu ...
'' stated in 2002 that "There is no definitive history for this aberration." Still, the newspaper relayed that a 2001 cookbook stated that the potential creator is Mitsuko Kaneshiro, who began selling them out of City Pharmacy on Pensacola Street in
Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the isla ...
and by the early 1980s was selling 500 handmade Spam musubi a day out of her own shop, Michan's Musubi. The other person said to be the creator of Spam musubi is Barbara Funamura of
Kauai Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the 21st largest islan ...
. Funamura sold Spam musubi out of the Joni-Hana restaurant in the
Kukui Grove Center Kukui Grove is an open-air shopping center located in Lihue, Hawaii, United States. It is Kauai's largest mall and only regional mall. This shopping mall features over 55 shops and restaurants, with Macy's, Ross Stores, Times Supermarkets, Longs ...
. ''
The Garden Island ''The Garden Island'' is a daily newspaper based in Lihue, Hawaii, covering the islands of Kauai and Niihau. ''The Garden Island'' began publication in 1902. It was formerly owned by Scripps League Newspapers, which was acquired by Pulitzer in 1 ...
'' in 1983 described it as, "Spam and rice, two local favorites, are combined in an enormous musubi (rice ball) wrapped in nori (sheets of dried seaweed)," with Funamura quoted, "That's the Spam musubi." Eventually Funamura's musubi was made using a box mold, taking on its familiar form. In 1999, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue introduced the Hawaii regional snack as a menu item in its first mainland U.S. restaurant in Puente Hills, California. As the Hawaii-based chain grew across several American states, so did the awareness and popularity of the snack, eventually becoming a mainstay on the menu, and making L&L the first restaurant chain to make the snack available nationally. On August 8, 2021, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue established "National SPAM® Musubi Day" to celebrate the iconic snack from Hawaii. The holiday was officially recognized by Hawaii Governor David Y. Ige. with a public proclamation.


Preparation

Typical preparation begins with grilling or frying slices of
Spam Spam may refer to: * Spam (food), a canned pork meat product * Spamming, unsolicited or undesired electronic messages ** Email spam, unsolicited, undesired, or illegal email messages ** Messaging spam, spam targeting users of instant messaging ...
, sometimes with a light
teriyaki ''Teriyaki'' (kanji: 照り 焼き) is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Fish – yellowtail, marlin, skipjack tuna, salmon, trout, and mac ...
flavor. It uses a sauce in which soy sauce and granulated sugar are typically the basic ingredients. Using a mold the same size as a slice of Spam, a layer of cooked rice is pressed down over a strip of nori, with a slice of Spam on top of that, and then, optionally, another layer of rice. The mold is removed and the nori is wrapped over the top and around the musubi. It is served sometimes with
soy sauce Soy sauce (also called simply soy in American English and soya sauce in British English) is a liquid condiment of Chinese origin, traditionally made from a fermented paste of soybeans, roasted grain, brine, and ''Aspergillus oryzae'' or '' As ...
or Japanese mayonnaise. Guam's ''
Pacific Daily News The ''Pacific Daily News'', formerly ''Guam Daily News'', is a morning edition newspaper based in Hagåtña, in the United States territory of Guam. It is owned by Kaleo Moylan and is published seven days a week. History ''Guam Daily News'' beg ...
'' describes the local version: "a slice of Spam is bathed in
teriyaki ''Teriyaki'' (kanji: 照り 焼き) is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Fish – yellowtail, marlin, skipjack tuna, salmon, trout, and mac ...
sauce before topping a mound of rice with a dash of
furikake is a dry Japanese condimentJapanese Furikake (Rice Seasoning)
. Japanese Kitchen. Accessed 2 ...
and wrapped in a strip of nori." Another Guam recipe calls for
Sriracha Sriracha ( or ; th, ศรีราชา, ) is a type of hot sauce or chili sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt. Use In Thailand, sriracha is frequently used as a dipping sauce, particula ...
mayonnaise.


See also

* * , another Hawaiian dish that can involve rice and Spam * , the original musubi


References


External links

* * * * ** {{cite news , title=Spam Is Making A Comeback At Hip NYC Restaurants , url=https://gothamist.com/food/spam-is-making-a-comeback-at-hip-nyc-restaurants , access-date=14 March 2021 , work=Gothamist , date=1 April 2014 , language=en (cited in previous link) Hawaiian cuisine Guamanian cuisine Palauan cuisine Spam dishes Japanese-American cuisine Hawaii culture