OT: Anyone remember "Spam"? If I remember correctly, it came into being during WWII (when meat was expensive, and rationed). It came in an oblong can, about the size of a slim pear, and one had to hand-peel off the top of the can (and got in trouble if the peeling device broke during the process--trying to get into the can).
I still enjoy it on toast, with slices of avocado added (with a little salt on top). (We had two avocado trees in our back yard--VERY Californian.) Now (lucky me), I get given avocados from my daughter, who has a HUGE tree in her back yard. In season, her children put lots in a wagon, and take it to their corner to sell for a dollar each.
Business is very good, as their home-grown avocados are twice the size, or more, of the little things sold in the market, for more money.
They go to the corner, and are sold out within a half-hour or so. Their return customers even tell them they have been waiting for the sale. The kids earn $30.00 or so in a hurry.
At my house, my kids sold our home-grown lemons the same way.
We also have an orange tree, and I have the missionaries come over (on their work-day), to pick them for us. They get all they want for them and their associates, and we donate the rest to a food-store for the poor (which donates free food for whomever walks through the door and asks.) I've even seen the same missionaries who picked our fruit, working in this same free food facility.
I feel the same way about internet Spam as I do canned Spam.
I don't want anything to do with either one. They're both annoying and disgusting. The old Spam had one tiny thing better about it. You can avoid it if you don't like it.
SPAM? Um, like, EWWW! I don't eat it, weiners, bologna, hamburger, salami, or lunch meats. I need a chunk of real meat, and even at that, I eat it like a delicate 'operation' so as to not get any vein or artery. Yuck. If I want a hamburger or anything made with 'hamburger', there are meatless hamberger patties made by Schneiders that satisfy my yen. Their chicken patties are great too.
And Fat Burger in Lethbridge has a killer Veggie Burger.
I'm a bit the same way. The closest i'll come to eating lunch meat is Boar's Head Deli meats. Lean and clean. Especially like the Honey Maple Glazed Turkey and Ham.
Yes, Spam is a big thing in Hawaii, even Spam sushi. One of my sons lived there for a few years and said it became popular because it a cheap source of protein and was easily shipped in because it is canned. Also it was soldier rations during WWII.
I have a good Hawaiian friend of Japanese ancestry who lives and works in Tokyo. When a colleague of mine went to Tokyo recently for a business trip and was going to meet up with him, I wrapped up four cans of Spam to send along as a present (it's hard to get and expensive in Tokyo). Afterwards, he sent me an email:
Spam fried rice. Yummmmm. It's almost a staple at my breakfast table when I have leftover rice from the night before. Dice half a can up, brown it, scramble a couple eggs, cut up some green onions and mushrooms, add leftover rice and some soy sauce. Taadaa
My mother was in the Army during WWII, and apparently ate a lot more Spam than she cared for. She referred to it as "cold cuts hot," and would never buy it.
Once in a while, my grandmother, who was widowed and lived with us, would buy some, and squirrel it away for an evening when my parents would go "out" for supper. Grandma, who could probably have made used shoe leather taste great, would baste diced-up Spam with brown sugar, orange juice, and a pinch of dry mustard, and serve it over rice. I thought it was heavenly.
My older brothers loved spam, but I wouldn't touch the stuff. I mean, the color was weird. Then there were those globs of a gelatinous substance throughout. I thought the jell was from the hooves--it probably was. My Dad loved old Army surplus things--we had a garage full of them--down sleeping bags, tents, chairs, and old "K" rations, in tins. We would take them up in the tree, and my brothers would open them, and eat the spam. We always got cut on the metal tins. I got to eat the malted milk balls. I wonder of those long-ago soldiers heated the spam withe the meatballs....
Spam and soldiers from WWII...I am in the age group where most of our dads and some moms were in the service in WWII. Our Jr. High home ec class had a recipe one week that included Spam, and some of the girls made it at home for their parents. Those whose parents had been in the service refused to eat it, they had had enough during the war.
Just way too salty for me. Besides, it's just pig slurry and aspic, formed into a shape. Germans have a word for this kind of American meat product--"Formfleisch," literally "formed meat." Well... Meat food product, anyway.
I was in South Korea for work for 5 weeks at the beginning of the year, and Spam is extremely popular in Korea too. We were there for the Chinese New Year, and apparently Spam is a highly sought after gift item. At Costco there was an entire row of different kinds of Spam gift packages.
A couple of coworkers one day decided they wanted an authentic Korean meal. They went to a restaurant without an English menu and pointed at something at random on the menu. Turns out they got a Spam and hot dog stir fry.
We were told that the U.S. brought a lot of Spam into the country during the Korean War. When the war was over the U.S. left hundreds of pallets of Spam behind.
Spam was introduced to me through Primary classes one spring or summer when the girls hosted a luncheon for our mothers.
It was prepared in some recipe as the main dish. I thought it was pretty good at the time. Though have never used it as a staple or something in my diet since.
Thought of it as Mormon as Postum was though. It was fairly popular with the head cooks where I grew up. My mom didn't use it as I recall. She had other favorite recipes instead. Like her homemade mac & cheese; ghoulash, pot roast Sundays, etc. :)
I hate any kind of pork . Spam looks and smells very nasty. I keep thinking of that movie "50 first dates". I didn't know that it was really popular in Hawaii, wow.
I was shocked when I went to Hawaii and there was spam on the menu at a very nice restaurant.
I was also shocked/disgusted when I went to Michigan and there were frog legs on the menu. I can't even.....
Then I went to New Orleans. They have all of the disgusting food one can imagine on their menus. Spam, frog legs, tripe, pigs feet,pig skin, pig brains, squirrel, crawdad, and much more, all boiled in copious amounts of grease, preferably lard.I'm amazed they don't all die before the age of 30.
I just don't get that when there's great seafood and they can grow great produce. I'd have to be starving to death before i'd eat guts, rodents, or amphibians. My ex grandparents inlaws were southerners. They craved Coon and Possum. I never, ever ate anything at their house. I just didn't trust them. One time when I was visiting, their neighbor brought them some fresh skinned Coon. No way in hell was I having dinner at their house. I'd rather eat dirt.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/02/2017 08:45PM by janis.
I'm just glad that I don't like meat too much to begin with. I only like steak and hamburger, once in a while.I liked baked snd fried chicken and fish, not lobster, crab or any of that type. Especially creatures with eyes on top of their heads. Font like turkey either My husband loves Haggis: liver, lungs, heart, brains, intestines, all braised or minced together in a Sheeps stomach!