I have had Spam a few times in my life but I can only tolerate it cooked. I know that you can eat it straight out of the can and many people do but the smell and taste I find a bit unpleasant.
I love Onigiri and would be willing to try it with cooked Spam.
http://www.noshtalgia.blogspot.com/

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They're called Spam Musubi and I love them. Also, try actually trying one before you offer an opinion.

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I call them omusubi, also. They're super tasty comfort food and delicious with either Spam or hotdog...I became addicted to them while in college and after. Great roadtrip food!

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Spam musubi is purely a Hawaiian treat-- despite musubi (which is another word for onigiri in Japanese) having Japanese origins, Spam musubi is not derived from the Japanese.

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Hit that Spam with a little Teriyaki or BBQ Sauce while you're heating it for flavor. Google the musubi to see how it's made, and you'll see it's all about the love you give your Spam.

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Spam musubi is aMazing...and that's coming from someone who's grossed out by the idea of hot dogs, let alone spam. My family is from Hawaii and while we definitely don't eat is all the time, it makes an appearance on occasion.

There's a Hawaiian bbq place here in Atlanta that i took a bunch of coworkers to. They were all tentative about the of spam, but everyone who tried it, loved it!

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Spam musubi is aMazing...and that's coming from someone who's grossed out by the idea of hot dogs, let alone spam. My family is from Hawaii and while we definitely don't eat is all the time, it makes an appearance on occasion.

There's a Hawaiian bbq place here in Atlanta that i took a bunch of coworkers to. They were all tentative about the of spam, but everyone who tried it, loved it!

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Spam musubi is aMazing...and that's coming from someone who's grossed out by the idea of hot dogs, let alone spam. My family is from Hawaii and while we definitely don't eat is all the time, it makes an appearance on occasion.

There's a Hawaiian bbq place here in Atlanta that i took a bunch of coworkers to. They were all tentative about the of spam, but everyone who tried it, loved it!

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Spam is a big NO on my shopping list. I had to eat so much of it growing up that now I gringe just seeing the container. Bravo to all those who find it palatable!

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I was in San Francisco's Japantown last weekend during the Cherry Blossom Festival and the spam musubi booth was completely sold out by the time I got there. So you know people like it!

Kitt
http://www.kittalog.com

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I live in the Bay Area and have definitely seen the situation Kitt described. In my Asian (non-Hawaiian) family, spam is definitely an occasional thing. Musubi is rarer but me and my friends often bring a bunch of them on road trips. At least with my family and friends, spam is something I've grown up with and learned to be a treat.

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Our family would have meals with Spam on occasion: Spam stir-fry, Spamwiches, browned Spam slices with eggs, rice, and kimchi for breakfast (yes, we're Korean), so I actually have a nostalgiac fondess for the fatty, salty pink stuff and always found it to be a tasty little treat.

My mother would also pack picnics and lunches with kimbap (similar to Japanese futomaki rolls, where everything is already cooked/prepped and rolled up in rice seasoned with salt, sesame oil and seawead laver. She'd make some with the traditional filling (bulgogi, egg omelette strips, cucumber, carrot, pickled daikon, seasoned spinach); ones with kimchi & cheese filling; ham & cheese & veggie filling; tuna & veggies; and then I'd always beg her to make some filled with Spam, carrot, cucumber, and spinach--just for me. And she would. =) yum! But, this was a recipe and craving I'd developed after going to a friend's house, where they had lovely little slices of Spam & cheese kimbap available (good, but too salty).

Spam kimbap is very similar to Spam onigiri or musubi, as all of these were designed to be portable snacks or simple meals of rice, laver, and filling.

And Spam is VERY popular in Korean culture. It's probably because American troops and the Red Cross had brought Spam as rations during the Korean war when there was absolutely nothing to eat, especially not any kind of meat. Spam was already cooked, and I'm not sure I'd want to know how long these babies can stay on your pantry shelf--but looooooong. So it was the perfect replacement for meat in Korean dishes, and I think that's why it's become such a staple still today amongst Koreans, besides the fact that Koreans have a predilection to become instantly addicted to just about anything that is both salty and fatty. I would imagine that something like this happened as well with the Japanese during war-ravaged times and it found a place in some of their traditional dishes. Also, Hawaii's overwhemingly Asian population consists of a large percentage of Koreans and Japanese people, so the perpetual love for Spam that exist there makes a lot of sense.

Anyway, TRY IT! I'm sure you'll love it. =)

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Spam musubi is especially appetizing with some chopped grilled green onions thrown in, in my opinion.

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Yay! Hawaii people represent!!! :-) I totally grew up with Spam and spam musubi! It's great. Definitely fry it first. Oooh, and dip it in a shoyu sugar mix and slice it up and roll it into a musubi with furikake sprinkled on it. YUM!!!

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I like mine straight up! Well, with some furikake. My friend from Tennessee loves it! She also likes sushi so she was most skeptical about the spam. My other friend who is African American from the Midwest doesn't eat sushi because she doesn't like raw fish. She was very skeptical of the spam musubi too but because my friend from Tennessee was making so many yummy noises, she was convinced to try it. Her verdict: "This is not bad." LOL. She ate the whole thing anyway.

As far as origin, etc. spam musubi is like old school fusion. And like the Korean dishes CreamBunny mentions, it is a result of historical events. The last paragraph of the history section on the bottom left here is somewhat helpful: http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/Spam.htm
Lot of folks from the Pacific eat spam because the US military brought it there! And it's cheap! It's all politics and economics.

This site claims the Japanese in Hawai'i invented it which I think is pretty plausible, but the site also focuses on Japanese immigrants so maybe others would have a different perspective: http://www.discovernikkei.org/wiki/index.php/Spam_musubi

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I haven't had Spam in years- but this looks so yummy! I love how the rice looks like it's either a little scorched from the pan, or the Spam juices have colored it with love.. I'm sure there is no where in Boston where I can get that. I guess I have to come over to the west coast for this!

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Hello nice to meet you.
KO-N-NI-CHI-WA (^_^)v
I am Japanese.
I saw your wonderful site.
Please link to this site !
【Website】http://food-of-japan.blogspot.com/

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Speaking of furikake, you guys should do a post on on this Japanese seasoning mix. I recently learned about it on Steamy Kitchen:

http://steamykitchen.com/blog/2008/01/08/japanese-style-french-fries/

So I picked some up yesterday at the local H-Mart:

http://kittbo.blogspot.com/2008/04/h-stands-for-holy-cow.html

There are tons of varieties, and not all of them taste fishy. You can use it on lots of dishes, not just rice balls and fries.

Kitt
http://www.kittalog.com

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Spam musubi is classic hawaiian roadtrip food. I love it.

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