Unless you grew up in Hawaiʻi, Korea, Okinawa, or Guam, you probably don’t view Spam as a delicious culinary delight. But, for those of us who did, you know exactly how delish Spam can be.

In Hawaiʻi, 7 million cans of Spam are consumed a year, which is about 5 cans per resident per year. Guam has an even more staggering statistic, with the average resident eating roughly 16 cans annually.

For me, Spam, has always been a big part of my life. Whenever I would go on a field trip, my mom would pack some musubis for us. When we went to Hawaiian Waters (now Wet N Wild) as a family, we would go to the car for lunch, and we would enjoy musubis. I remember ordering Spam, egg, and rice plate at McDonald's drive-through for breakfast, ordering a huge plate of kimchi and spam fried rice at Big City Diner, and of course, the late-night 711 musubi runs.

I can only speak for the Hawaiʻi experience, but Spam is such a big part of everyday life. We even have a yearly Spam festival called Spam Jam, where they close down Kalakau Avenue in Waikiki and some of the biggest restaurants and chefs create delicious dishes using Spam as their star ingredient.

Spam was created in Austin, Minnesota, so why is Spam so popular in Hawaiʻi? Why is it also so popular in Korea, Okinawa, and Guam?

Well, the simple answer is the US military… but did you really think I was only going to give you the simple answer? 😉