In the Kitchen: Making of The Spam Musubi

Don’t spam me! But today I’m cooking with Spam. I know, the horror of it all. But because I’m from Hawaii, I guess Spam is in my blood.

More Spam is consumed in Hawaii than in any other state. (Almost 7 million cans of Spam a year.) Growing up, I remember my mom putting spam into our saimin (local version of ramen noodles) or making fried rice. It’s only when I moved to the mainland that I realized Spam is the joke of luncheon meats. (And please, don’t sing that Spam song from Monty Python. I don’t get their humor.)

I stopped eating Spam after I moved away from Hawaii and realized what went into it. But every now and then, I’d get the craving for it. Last weekend there was a Spam Jam in Honolulu where they held a block party in Waikiki to celebrate all things Spam. (Like the garlic festival in Gilroy. Can you imagine Spam ice cream? Don’t worry, I don’t think they’ve resorted to that yet.) Hearing about the festival—which is new and never occurred when I lived there—made me think about Spam.

My favorite and easiest thing to do with Spam is to make a musubi. This is the rice ball made in Japan as an easy snack because the working class can just carry it in their bags and have it for a quick lunch. In Hawaii, they created the Spam musubi, which is almost like Spam sushi if you want to class it up a bit. I crave it for the times when I want an easy snack that can keep. Make a few, keep them in your refrigerator, and pull one out when you’re watching the Giants waffle in the 9th inning.

So here’s a cooking demo on how to put together a Spam musubi. (The ingredients are pretty simple: Spam, sushi rice, rice vinegar for the rice, and a strip of nori, the dried seaweed paper.) Now it’s your turn to get Spam!