photo by Marie Matsuno Nash
Recipe and Story by Lael Morgan
A Washington Post story, October 20, 2017, boggled my mind. The headline read, “Spam heists in Hawaii prompt retailers to put the wildly popular ‘mystery meat’ in locked cases. The snatchers are most likely part of a black market that’s taking off in the state.”
Happily, I was still hoarding a can left over from a 6-pack I’d purchased earlier. I held a “Spam” party to celebrate, and it exceeded my expectations because of a delightful (and healthy) recipe I’d recently stumbled upon in a Native American publication.
Because the listed ingredients would serve 10 people and I didn’t want to cut any of them for fear of getting the proportions wrong, I invited friends with eclectic tastes to join me in trying this delicacy. When two of them declared they hated Spam. I added the mac and cheese recipe from the Kitchen Stories Cookbook (page 98) to the menu.
Only one of the group had never tried the prefab pork product, so we called her our “Spam virgin.” The rest, like myself, had grown up thinking of the tinned meat as one of America’s most exciting and least expensive basic foods.
First introduced by the Hormel Foods Corporation in 1937, Spam was the only canned meat product on the market that did not require refrigeration. During World War II, it was included in the c-rations of American GIs who, when they got sick of eating it in the field, gave cans away to the locals wherever they fought.
During this period, Native families who lived near the dozens of military bases in Hawaii, Alaska and other far-off lands began to view Spam as a diet staple. Many still do, and they are not alone. Civilians around the world became smitten with Spam for a number of reasons;
- Initially it usually came as a gift from some friend in the military.
- Another plus was that it was cheaper than ham, beef or chicken if you had to buy it.
- It would keep darned near forever.
- Plus many of us love the flavor and even those who don’t, know it will keep you alive in a pinch.
I am a real fan of fried Spam. After working on a Bureau of Land Management firefighting crew where uncooked c-rationed Spam was too often our only staple, I backed off. But I recovered from that overkill about a year later and usually, every couple of months, I’m looking for a Spam fix.
Of course, fried Spam has a few health drawbacks, like 13 percent cholesterol, 33% sodium, 25% fat and 30 % saturated fat. Which is why the Spam Soup recipe appealed to me. It offers more than enough healthy vegetables to outweigh those negatives, while preserving the flavor on which I am hooked.
And the reviews from dinner guests? Well, even those who warned they didn’t like the product, agreed the soup had enough other ingredients to make it interesting and tolerable. One even said she liked it!
As for our Spam virgin, she was impressed enough to order the dish again as a veteran. And I was quite astonished that I enjoyed it so much.
| Ingredients
2 medium potatoes, chopped into inch-sized pieces
1 1/2 cups carrot, chopped into inch sized pieces 1 onion, chopped into small pieces 1 lb. bacon, cut in inch-sized pieces 1 can SPAM© chopped into inch-sized pieces 1 can corned beef, cut into inch-sized pieces 1 can corn 1 can mixed vegetables 1 can tomatoes Hot water to cover | Directions 1. Cook bacon and drain. 2. Put potatoes, carrots and onion in a kettle or crockpot, adding just enough hot water to cover. Cook until almost tender. 3. Add SPAM, corned beef, corn, mixed vegetables and tomatoes, adding enough hot water to cover. Cook until ready to serve (about 30 minutes). 4. Stir in bacon, serve it in a little side dish to sprinkle on the top or leave it out, as preferred. |
