About the only way I won't eat Spam is "raw" - fresh from the can. I like it gently fried then wrapped in rice and sheets of seaweed (Spam Musubi), as Spam chips with most of the fat rendered out (great for on hikes), and with eggs and rice for breakfast. Austin, Texas is the home of the Memorial Day Spamorama, whose events I hope someone who has been there will share with us.

The above graphic came from this very informational site (thank, you, Wer): http://www.rsi.com/spam/spam-iam.html Home webpage http://www.spam.com To see what some Austinites do with their Spam when not eating it: http://www.wackyuses.com/spam.html

Q: Where do folks buy the most SPAM? A: Hawaii, Alaska, Arkansas, Texas, and Alabama. Hawaiians lead the nation in SPAM consumption, putting away 4/3 million cans a year. Among the 50 foreign countries where SPAM is sold, the United Kingdom and South Korea are the largest markets. Q: Why is SPAM so popular in Hawaii? A: The military brought SPAM to the islands, its novelty imparted cachet, and World War II food rationing firmly entrenched the SPAM habit, says Suzan Harada, who heads a program in Hawaiian culture at Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu. "This was a period when having Western things was really important. Even if you had access to fresh pork and chicken, being able to afford canned food showed status." Now it's tradition. source: http://www.rsi.com/spam/spam-iam.html

Oh dear, Marcia, am I going to have fun with this! Thanks you too, Wer!

not a problem... and glad to see you in food, Gi!

and if you are going to eat Spam "raw" the only way is to grate it and add mayo and pickle relish and make sandwiches with your "ham salad"...

OK, thank you for the suggestion. Even though you do not eat it, I thought you might know of a palatible way to eat it "raw." Hmmmm...wonder what else I could do with Mayo...

there's a drugstore that sells ham salad sandwiches, and that is their actuall recipe...

I though you went to a drugstore to get things to make you feel better! Oh well... Thank you for the information.

Jeez, this is so foul! That's what I call treating a poor pork like a damned pig.

*lol* you captured the very essence of things Spam. Not only does it offend the palate, it is not nice to smell while it is cooking, either. In fact, other than survival food, I cannot imagine why anyone would buy it? (We have about 5 cases of it for the bogus Y2K problem, but that was NOT my decision!)

Spam was considered an aphrodisiac for awhile in Italy...

You're kidding! Is there anything on earth Men (has to be men, right?) will not try to increase their...um...performance?! At least Spam has some nutritional value...Rhino horn...probably a lot less!

Honestly, I'd rather be celibate than eat SPAM .

I eat SPAM and I AM celibate. Eating SPAM is my choice; my celibacy is the choice of the world's female population. Marcia, just out of curiosity, isn't the annual SPAM-O-RAMA in Austin, Minnesota, instead of Austin, Texas. (The Hormel company is headquartered in Austin, Minnesota, so it would make sense). Not trying to pick fight, just wondering... =)

they have one in Austin TX, perhaps we were just copy cats

As usual, I stand..or is that sit, corrected...surprised about Tx Spam-O-Rama...you're in beef country...just ask Oprah!

Nothing quite does it for me like fried saimin (Japanese ramen noodles) garnished with SPAM, kamaboko (Japanese fish cake) and green onions. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for my health, had to give up SPAM--and saimin--for my current weight loss program.

Here is the University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors' "SPAM Victory Fried Rice": 2 cups cooked rice 1/2 cup SPAM, diced into small cubes 2 large eggs 1/4 cup green onions, chopped 2 sprigs cilantro, chopped 1/2 cup kamaboko fishcake, diced into small cubes 1/4 cup Maui onion, chopped 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp sesame oil 3 tbsp Chinese oyster sauce Combine SPAM, green onion, cilantro, Maui onion, fiscake, then add aggs. Partially saute in sesame oil, Then add rice, soy sauce, and oyster sauce. Mix well. Serves 4-5. MAYBE THIS RECIPE IS WHY HAWAII HAS THE NATION'S LONGEST LOSING STREAK; 18 games and counting!

SPAM and victory in one recipe? I wonder ....

You will note the not-so-subtle irony in the last sentence "Maybe this recipe is why Hawaii has the nation's longest losing streak: 18 games and counting!" By football, I mean "American" football, not the venerable game that you--and the rest of the world call football.

I did, dearest! This was just my musing about the title of the recipe AS a recipe. Oh, now I know. I shouldn't complimented the joke first . . . oh, the vanity of you!!! �sigh� Very Well: LOL!

I did, dearest! This was just my musing about the title of the recipe AS a recipe. Oh, now I know. I should have complimented the joke first . . . oh, the vanity of you!!! �sigh� Very Well: LOL!

Oooh, John...thanks for that. I am gonna try it. Sounds wonderful!!!

Sorry about the vanity, or perceived vanity. Actually, I'm still too fat to be vain... But our beloved Rainbow Warriors stinketh like goatherds so it is funny (maybe smells funny too) that they would even mention Victory--SPAM or no. Here in Hawaii, SPAM, as Marcia mentioned, is considered a delicacy--some use the euphemism "Hawaiian steak." I did love your SPAMELA Anderson comment, Ree, even if you dashed my beloved Tia Carrere (who I knew as a child) in the same post. You have the right to that opin on...also to think me vain. "Should I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach? I have heard the mermaids singing each to each, I fear they shall not sing for me." (or something like that...thanks T.S. Eliot)

You KNEW Tia Carrere as a child? SEE?? You didn't say that. That makes it something quite quite different. (Hope you realize I'm just fooling around here.) If I were a mermaid, and if I had not a cave-person's voice, I would sing for you. As it is, at least you have Mariah Carrey to do that for you!

When Tia Carrere was 11 (and still Althea Janairo), I coached her in Bobby Sox softball in Honolulu. I was a child of 23 at the time. Too old for her then, too poor for her now. She married a rich young (40ish) real estate developer in California. She might not have made my babe list if I hadn't loved her like an older brother for 20 some years. I haven't seen her in ages, but she was a delightful child, and has done pretty darn well for herself as an adult. As for Mariah, love her voice--am not cra y about her material (except that in her halter tops).

Halter tops??? And I thought they were just swimsuits that she couldn't figure out, so alot of them ended up back to front. MAN, I'm na�ve!

How old is Tia now, then?

She's 34

So, you're 46. A most attractive age in men.

Thank you. It would be nice if the women I knew thought so. Actually, it's my weight that's unattractive. My age is just fine with me. Doesn't matter. All the attractive women I know have someone.

So why don't you go for one with brains instead?

(think I'll stay out of this one) John often does not recoginze adoration or will not let himself. I agree with the comment Ree made about brains...but John is first and foremost a man. A very intelligent and perceptive one, but a man, still!...(sneaking away unobserved) On Topic, ate two Spam Musubi yesterday and today. I have just about hit my limit of them, but these were Very good!!!

Ree, you made the mistaken observation that brains are not attractive to me. If someone like Judge Judy were available and interested, I'd go for her in a heartbeat. She's only 10 years older than I am and her wisdom is VERY attractive, although I don't think anyone would call her a classic beauty in the physical sense. As for the mental density of my gender, okay...perhaps guilty as charged, Judge Marcia. The truth is, I meet few if any available women. In this wonderful but small town isolated by i land geography, there's not much out there.

So you're talking about attractive not only in the physical sense. I can never tell with guys.

I understand.

Hmm. So, there are no signs one can watch for.... Ah well.

I have many female friends...all with others (S or I). Their husbands and boyfriends, for the most part, are comfortable with me around them...perhaps because they consider me no threat--or maybe they think I'm gay (I've really gotta stop wearing those stiletto heels and fishnet stockings with my shorts)!

You would be no friend of mine then. I'd hate being with a guy who looks better in shorts than I do! I think (normal) husbands and boyfriends are comfortable with some guys, but not with others, because a dress-pest can be spotted a mile off.

Methinks I was only kidding...and I'm certain you look better in shorts than I do. I don't even wear shorts...not even when walking.

By the way, "dress pest" is almost as funny as the nun/carrot truck thing. And you are right, Ree: SPAM and Victory DO NOT BELONG IN THE SAME RECIPE. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 62 HAWAII 7

You tried the recipe then! ha-ha! I don't wear shorts either, because I always manage to get paint on the BACK of my legs. I don't wash there, so it doesn't come off.

I haven't tried the recipe. I don't see anything wrong with it, if you can eat the pink stuff with the half-life of eternity. It was simply a commentary on the game's score. I get mud on the back of my legs (flipped up by the backs of my rubber slippers). The only painting I do is walls themselves, not something decorative to put on the walls. I leave that to creative experts such as you. Paint on the back of your legs, pain in the ar$e as it may be, is a small price to pay for the talent you posses .

Oh, it's not really THAT kind of talent. I'm pretty mediocre compared to most artists - and I don't say that because I'm being modest. There's really some great stuff around at the moment. But I can't say I mind the paint either; I quite like getting dirty, makes me feel like I've DONE something with a day. And you walk around in the mud with your slippers on? How eccentric....

In Hilo it's considered normal. Hilo gets 130+ inches of rain per year and nobody wears galoshes.

Also, unlike Namibia, there are no cobras or other adders to make a meal of your feet.

Over here New School shoes means new rubber slippers, left at the door, of course!

*LOL* How true!

John, we were listening to some AM station proclaiming tonight at someone's diner was Spam Buffet night, all you can eat!!! Love to go take pictures, but we could not get the location...(were rewiring an old house and I was catching up on old archaology magazines I had not gotten to during the Volleyball tournament.)

Spam Buffet? Hope they have an EMT crew standing by.

ha-ha! That's hilarious. In Namibia it's actually the same sort of thing with shoes. You're right, we do have the adders and cobras crawling around all over the place (Mum once found a pair mating in her wardrobe!!), but nobody ever wears shoes! I still only have 3 pairs of shoes. Hate wearing the damned things. What is an EMT crew?

Paramedics...(Emergency Medical Technicians)

I'll never forget the Kalahari bushman grabbing the cobra and whacking him on the ground to kill him in the beginning of The Gods Must Be Crazy. One night in Thailand (1974), I had missed the final bus from town back to base (Sattahip) and was walking along my merry way when a cobra lifted its ugly head and challenged my right to cross his/her path on the road. I tried walking around it, but it kept mirroring my lateral moves. This was long before Gods, so I'd never seen the bushman's tri k. Anyhow, I'm too slow, too cowardly, and was too drunk to try anything like that. It was about 2:30 am, and it was cooler on the road than in the dense underbrush on either side, so the cobra was staying put. I kept a respectful distance (15-20 feet), not knowing whether or not common Thai cobras can spit venom into your eyes (they can't, but I didn't know that). I wasn't going into the underbrush either, because there are snakes far more venomous than cobras in Thailand (such as Russell's adder, a eautiful green snake servicemen there call a "three stepper" because you have about three steps left in your life if one bites you). It was after curfew, so there were no vehicles on the road. When the sun came out, the road started to warm up, the cobra slid back into the bushes, and I walked the remaining mile to the base, physically shot for the day, but alive and unpoisoned. I hate snakes...occasionally have nightmares about them. I was bitten in the abdomen by a water moccasin while swimming in a Illinois creek as a child (nine years old). My mom was hysterically yelling at me, and I had to slap her back into reality to get her to take me to the doctor. Water moccasins are water loving pit vipers, are about as deadly as the common cobra or a rattlesnake, much less deadly than a mamba or a Russell's adder. But without medical attention, the bite could kill a nine year old boy in about 45 minutes. I was sick for a week. As a young man, my now deceased father saw a man die from a coral snake bi e at Fort Benning, Georgia. He immediately cut the man's ankle and tried to suck out the venom to no avail. The young soldier was dead in five minutes. The coral snake, a colorful, beautifully banded adder, is the deadliest snake on the North American continent.

What a story! Couldn't this be another topic for the furry conference. The animal you hate/fear most? I don't fear rats or spiders (normal european ones!), like many people do. But see me when a pigeon crosses my way! I will never in my life visit Venice, this would scare the s### out of me!

COOL, John! I love snakes. I was bitten by a baby pufadder when I was also about nine. Also in hospital for a week or so, but, because it didn't kill me, I lost my fear of snakes. Now when I go back to Namibia, I always go looking for them - got loads and loads of shed skin in my treasure chest. Didya know there is a type of tree snake, small, but VERY poisonous, which has binocular vision, and it's extremely agressive. It is the weirdest thing when you are close to it, and it sort of 'zooms' into y ur face. You have a bird phobia, Isabel? Funny, but it's a fairly common thing, isn't it? I wonder what it is about birds that frighten people. My irrational fear is of wolves (no offense, Wolfie!!) - though I have never ever encountered one, not even in a zoo.

It's not birds - only pigeons. My grandpa bred them and as a child I didn't fear them at all. Maybe it's kind of a psychological transmission...

The right word in english would have been transfer (psychology) or transference (psychoanalysis). I would be lost without my books...

Yes, I saw the daft prick named "Steve, the Crocodile Hunter" (Animal Planet TV)chase one down and grab it...along with both a green and black mamba. He also wrestles gators and crocodiles and no doubt makes an annual pilgrimmage to Pamplona, Spain to run with the bulls. I don't consider my hatred/fear of snakes a phobia. Phobias are irrational. My fear is well reasoned. You may love snakes, Ree, but that would change quickly if a poisonous one, God forbid, should sink its deadly fangs into one of yo r gorgeous little Teletubbies. And I will join you in praying that doesn't ever happen.

Oh, I know!!! Isn't Steve the Crocodile Hunter that Australian guy?!?! I think he is just SO cool; it must be thrilling to do something like that. You're right - don't want a snake to bite my little Teletubbies; I take them with me when I go to look for snakes, but they know to stay behind me. I'm far more careful with them than I was myself when I was a child. My feet used to be so hard on the farm, I'd walk in the bushes without shoes on, no problem. When one grows up like that, you know exactly what to look for; but now, with my kids, I do get scared sometimes. But still I don't want them to miss out on anything, so we do take a risk here a d there - as long as they know to stay behind me all the time; they just love being in the bush. I guess the way they're growing up it's real novelty. The best thing on our last trip was when we stumbled upon a pair of leopards sleeping in a tree - their mouths literally hung open! That was really cool.

Yes he is an Aussie. He's made a good living out of people watching to see if this is the week that Steve goes to the big croc pond in the sky. Big cats, while potentially dangerous, are magnificent creatures. Steve would coax the poor leopards out of the tree to wrestle. I admit that I enjoy watching him, but I do think he's a needless risk taker, more than a few sandwiches shy of a picnic. Do you actually hunt snakes? For food, venom, or whatever? Lived a short while in Oklahoma. They have rattl r roundups there. (I think they're nuts). The snakes, mostly Western rattlers, are extremely common because humans have encroached on their habitat. There are timber rattlers where I grew up in Illinois, but I never saw one (except at the snake house in the world famous Brookfield Zoo), despite the fact that I played in the woods all the time. The timber rattlers are much shyer than Westerns, sidewinders, or diamondbacks, but can be disturbed while hiding in leaf piles. My dad perhaps saved my mom's ife from a copperhead (southern U.S. water viper) before they were married (she was my dad's brother's girlfriend at the time). Mom was swimming in the Tennessee River near their home in northern Alabama, and Dad, who had his 12 gauge shotgun with him, saw a copperhead in a tree branch hanging over the river, eyeing mom and waiting to drop on her. Dad dropped the snake instead with a load of .00 buckshot. Ironically, he was her teacher and when he took up with her and made her pregnant, he got fired fr m his job (Dad was 25, mom was 15). They got married and had to move out of state for him to find another teaching job. I am the firstborn, the reason for the trouble. Uncle Frank ended up marrying my dad's former girlfriend, Geralding (who was also underage, but who had dropped out of school). Geraldine's father would not sign a consent form for her to marry Frank, so dad forged her father's signature. By the time I got to know my dad, he was a respectable scholar and pillar of the community, but he was obviously a rascal when he was young. Snakes, love 'em or hate 'em, have always played a part in my life. I was born in 1953...in the Chinese zodiac, "The Year of the Snake."

Didn't mean to ignore you, Isabel. Pigeons are loathed here in Hawaii as public health nuisances. Not really feared, though. I don't like them hovering directly overhead for obvious reasons *Butthead laugh*. In San Diego, servicemen used to treat seagulls in a particularly cruel manner. Like throwing pieces of fish or grapes at them with fishhooks hidden inside. Although seagulls were nuisances, that kind of behavior is puerile and reprehensible. I also don't believe in going out and exterminating nakes, just because they're snakes. I'd prefer myself to avoid them, and Hawaii--for the time being--is a reasonably good place to do that. Although the brown tree snake that has done so much damage on Guam to elecrical lines and bird habitats might become established here (as unwanted plane and boat stowaways). People also smuggle in boa constrictors and let them loose when they get large and unmanageable.

That's so romantic about your mom and dad!!! But she must be pretty frightened of snakes too though, huh? I don't hunt snakes - I respect them too much. I just go looking for them, hoping to see an unusual one, or to see them feed or mate. During the year I can show my kids the pictures in books, but the part that is valueble to me, and that they REALLY enjoy, is when I take them into the bush and SHOW them all the animals I tell them about, and how they live. That's how I learned, so that's how I ca teach them best. And usually wild animals leave 'souveniers' behind. For one thing, the kids can see how their tracks look on the sand. And then we have the snake skins, the lizard skins and this time I made the girls each a bracelet and a necklace from fresh porcupine needles and an empty tortoise shell that we found. Don't ask me where the tortoise shell went, though!

No, I meant, don't ask me where the TORTOISE went!

Please tell me they did not use him in Spam! (never did see a nekkid tortoise!)

Many snake hunters use their venom for anti-venom. They don't eat the snakes. In Oklahoma, though, if a rattlesnake is caught...it is "milked," skinned, and then deep fried in batter or ground for chili. The locals say it tastes like chicken. I've tried it. It is all fast-twitch muscle, almost metallic tasting. You bite it; it bites back. It may taste like chicken, but only if the chicken is covered with tattoos, rides a Harley, and is shot to death in a jailbreak.

By the way, Ree, you must be a marvelous teacher.

Steve the Crocodile Hunter tracked the green mamba he physically harrassed by following its track in the sand. My mom has an actual phobia of snakes. My fear is only of the poisonous variety. My mom, if gardening, will take a hoe and chop up garter snakes or black racers, both of which are good at keeping small rodents away from the crops and neither of which are poisonous. Dad, before they divorced (in 1969) tried to break her of her irrational killing of harmless snakes and so has her current husban , to no avail.

Your poor mum - it's not her fault. There's nothing to be said against the actions that are a result of phobias. People really can't control that. The snake-god will just HAVE to forgive her. The people who lived two farms away from us used to have cold snake salad at every barbecue we had there. It was really good, especially when she'd put in alot of pickle and fresh apple. I didn't really find it metallic, but I'm sure that varies with different people. I can't eat kiwi fruit for instance - to me it tastes like pure acid. I wish Steve wouldn't harass mambas though. Although they are so poisonous, they are the most nervous type of snake on earth, and totally undeserving of it. If he wants to harass he should harass a pufadder - they're aggressive, quick to bite, and UUUUUU-gleeee!

Let me get this straight...you're in England now? I understand the only poisonous snake in Britain is a small variety of puff adder...and it's the only snake of any type in Scotland. Just can't get away from those beasts?

No, no, NO! I'm in Zurich now, where I live. I just go to England alot, because I married an half-Scot, half-Englishman, and fell in love with his countries when I was touring Europe as a 19 year-old.. The puffadder I'm talking about is in Namibia (south west coast of Africa), and we go looking for them when I visit my mum and brother, who still live there. There the big, fat, REALLY poisonous puffadder is the most common snake around. I've heard about the Scottish puffadder, and I've combed the moor of Northumberland, Scotland and even the Lake District for them, but nothing so far. Very dissappointing.

All clear now? �grin�

John has figured out that the secret ingredient in SPAM is Snake. Should we call it SSSSSSPAM?! I made John's recipe for Hawaii Rainbows Victory Spam Fried Rice this morning and had everything but the oyster sauceon hand. I mitigated the flavor with a little Hawaiian sweet-n-sour sauce (just a tiny amount to cut the intense saltiness of the spam and shoyu). It was very good. Mixed in a few coarse-chopped broccoli and carrots for color and added texture. Very nice. The family expert approved of is and pronounced it better than what he orders out.

Borrowed from Evelyn in Drool: AP Wire: SPAM MUSEUM; "Hormel Foods Company maker of the famous canned meat product released an announcement on Monday about the SPAM museum, visitors' center, diner and offices to be built next year in downtown Austin, Minnesota. The museum will also feature a gift shop where tourists will be able to buy SPAM merchandise , and sit down for a nice SPAM meal."

Hormel has announced the introduction of Turkey SPAM in test markets. Hmmm...

I'm afraid of SPAM. It's allegedly made of pork, but I have my doubts. Maybe it's made from parts of a pig I don't want to think about. Now we have Turkey SPAM. What's in that? Their feet, beaks, and those things which hang over their beaks? Isn't there a Low Fat SPAM or SPAM Lite? Low Fat SPAM is that an oxymoron like jumbo shrimp or television personality?

Let's face it, even in a solid gold tiffany box it would still be SPAM!!! But, I am the creator of this topic and the most prolific eater of same on the Spring...I think.

Call them, I bet they would sponsor your conference;-) 1-800-LUV SPAM

Oooh! Conference Host Person...is that a possibility? Thanks for the graphics, Evelyn. Drool is nothing else if not the most inventive repository of things Spam for all occasions...*hugs*

At the softball games today I polled the local folks about what they thought about turkey Spam. To a person, each one wrinkled up his nose in disgust at the very thought. It is going to take a real selling job to change the intrenched eating habits of the populace of Hilo.

I would call that Spam number but I do not know what to tell them about what would be acceptable for an ad and how to put it here. (though I could probably guess and mess up a beautiful new look....and I would never do that.

Thanks you, Evelyn for snail-mailing me this article on the heights to which humble Spam has risen. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune "It won a war; it built a town. It even inspired a "Monty Python" skit. And now Spam could be eaded for the Library of Congress?" The story continues on but says nothing about what has to happen to get it int ot LoC. More info as soon as it is available.

Now that Turkey Spam has been foist upon the unsuspecting public (in test markets), do you think that Vegetarian Spam, made from beans, can be far behind. Ouch, that can be construed as a really bad pun. Sorry. Just think of the marketing potential. A whole segment of the population formerly barred from consuming Spam is now open for becoming consumers.

I am just thinking of what Monty Python could do with that information. Hire them to sell your product and it would be memorable forever!!!

That could be a Clio Award winning ad campaign.

There you go! Think on it...Spam made out of beans! Frightening!!! *lol*

And it would be called ... what? Spean?

Bam!? (and a few things I cannot mention...)

Serious Spammers turn this low-rent food into something fancy Honolulu Star-Bulletin WE are the Spam champions of Planet Earth. That's not urban legend, it's statistical fact. In Hawaii we consume 5 million pounds of Spam every year. Five. Million. Pounds. That's six cans -- 4-1/2 pounds -- for every man, woman and child in the state. This goes a long way toward explaining what happened Saturday night, when 100 people got together in a very nice place to elevate Spam from musubi status to fine food. Spamarama, the event was dubbed by its creator, Dawn Isa. The physical therapist who put down a couple hundred dollars of her own cash to host this private event, more because she loves a good party than out of affection for Spam. "I don't allow Spam in my house," Isa says. "... Actually, we have one emergency can -- just in case." But it's a great gimmick. As a party theme, it guarantees plenty of positive RSVPs. Spam is the food we love to hate -- a funky food, perhaps the funkiest in the meat-eating universe. As a culinary concept, that greasy pink cube is absurdly wonderful. That's a comment from Keith, "the Llama King," who maintains an Internet Website called "Hall of Spam" (http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/4656/spam.html). We include Keith's commentaries throughout this article as proof that Spam is not just food -- it's pop culture. Contestants in the Spamarama recipe contest put the substance into dim sum, salads, puff pastries, wraps, even (omigod) cheesecake. Chocolate-dipped Spam was designed to look exactly like those Big Island cookies (except browner). The food was surprisingly not bad, and there was no denying the seriousness and competitiveness of the cooks. The winner overall was a Spam Apple Quiche, concocted by Dave Mozdren. It mixed Spam with Granny Smith apples and flavorings of cinnamon and mustard. An admitted quiche-maker of some experience, Mozdren adapted recipes he'd found using sausage in combination with fruit. The fruit, he says, seems to cut the saltiness. Indeed, the judging panel (which, in the spirit of full disclosure, included the reporter whose name sits atop this article) found the fruit-Spam combination to be complementary and flavorful. Mozdren, a convert to Spam, admits that in his previous life, in Chicago, he couldn't stand the stuff. But now: "I love Spam. For breakfast I think it's a wonderful thing with rice." Such devotion makes Don and Marsha Eovino look like Spam opportunists. The brother and sister, winners of top awards in secondary categories, are not true believers. Marsha says she bought her first can ever a week ago, in preparation for the recipe contest. But the seriousness they brought to the competition cannot be denied. Marsh ordered bread specially dyed in three colors to make her Spam Pinwheels -- the fillings were Spam and crab, Spam and spinach, Spam and mac nuts. She had to buy four loaves of each color to pull off the dish and came away with the award for Most Creative. Don was last year's overall winner. This time he nabbed the Best Presentation award for his Rack of Spam, which somehow incorporated a Spam log into a rack of lamb. He wore a full chef's outfit as he carved at the table from a display shrouded in a dry ice cloud. "I won last year and I really worked at it to retain my crown." The crown was lost, but he swears he'll be back last year. For at least a decade, consumption of Spam has held steady at that 5 million mark, says Hoagy Gamble, owner of L.H. Gamble, Hawaii sales agent for Hormel, maker of Spam. "We go back and forth with Guam on who has the per-capita No. 1 spot," Gamble says . "Last year they had it, and then we got it back." But, why? Gamble -- and his father before him -- has been asked that many times in the 52 years his family has held the Spam distributorship in Hawaii. "We think a lot of it has to do with luck. Rice is the carbohydrate of choice here and the flavor profile of Spam goes extremely well with rice. It's a perfect match." Add to that a general openness to the taste of pig -- pork consumption is also higher in Hawaii than on the mainland, Gamble says. (Reminder: Hawaii consumption is six cans a year, per person. Rule out the vegetarians, vegans, children too young to chew, plus all those who claim to despise Spam -- and there must be a lot of people out there eating more than their quota.) Spam's popularity survives despite a trend toward healthier eating, although Gamble says the No. 1 seller locally is the low-sodium version, with 25 percent less salt. Spam Lite, with 25 percent less fat and salt, makes up just 15 percent of the market. Personally, Gamble likes Spam with eggs and is an afficionado of Spam musubi. He likes his fancied up with egg, perhaps fishcake and green onion. "I don't eat a lot," he says. "I eat my quota." Let's back up to where Gamble talks about the "flavor profile of Spam." Them's fancy words for a gelatinous meatlike substance. It's only right, then, that we should now talk about wine. Master sommelier Chuck Furuya, one of the Star-Bulletin's wine consultants, without hesitation suggests Vin Gris Cigare, a rose commonly served in bistros and cafes along the Mediterranean. It's dry and fruit-driven (remember that previous point about fruit and Spam?) and is the right counterpart to the saltiness of Spam. Furuya also suggests a Riesling as a good match, especially for spicier dishes. Bottles of Cigare and Bonny Doon Pacific Rim Riesling were offered at the Spamarama, and both were emptied along with the plates of Spam entries. Last year, Isa threw the Spamarama at her own house. By this year, interest had grown so much the event had to be moved to larger quarters at the Honolulu Club, with Isa again gladly serving as hostess. She pulls it off using skills honed while running city prosecutor Peter Carlisle's election campaign. Carlisle returns the favor by serving as Spamarama emcee. Last year he was a judge, but says it took days for him to recover. Isa plans to bring Spamarama back in 2001 on a larger scale, perhaps as a fund-raiser for a charity.

Reach beyond Spam musubi and try these Spamarama specialties, the No. 1 and No. 2 winners in the category of tastiest entry. The first is a fat-packed main dish, the second, a surprisingly slim salad. SPAM-APPLE QUICHE Dave Mozdren 1 unbaked 9-inch deep-dish pie crust Filling: 1 12-ounce can Spam, in 1/4-inch-thick slices 1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese 2 large Granny Smith Apples, skinned and thinly sliced 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon Egg mixture: 4 large eggs 1 cup half-and-half 1 tablespoon dry mustard powder 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1/8 teaspoon garlic salt Brown Spam; cut into cubes. Mix the cheese together and spread half in the bottom of the pie crust. Top with 1 cup of Spam cubes (save the rest for garnish). Arrange apples evenly over Spam. Top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. To make egg mixture: Combine eggs and half-and-half in a blender. Add mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce and garlic salt. Pour over filled piecrust. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before slicing. Serves 6. Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 750 calories, 53 g total fat, 23 g saturated fat, 230 mg cholesterol, greater than 1,400 mg sodium.* ONCE UPON A SPAM Eric Richards and Huilin Dong 1-1/2 cup dried black-eyed peas 1/2 cup dry anasazi beans (or substitute with more black-eyed peas 2/3 can of Spam, fried until lightly brown and drained Seasoning: 1 small Maui onion, diced 1 fresh mild red chile pepper, seeded and finely diced Juice of 3 large lemons 2 tablespoons Thai fish sauce or 1/2 teaspoon sea salt Greens: 1 bunch of mint, diced 2/3 bunch Italian parsley, diced 1 large tomato, diced Soak beans overnight. Cook, rinse, drain and chill. Combine seasoning ingredients and let sit 30 minutes. Combine beans, Spam, seasoning and greens; toss well. Makes about 10 cups Approximate nutritional information per cup: 240 calories, 7.5 g total fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 600 mg sodium.* ************************************************** COMING TRENDS IN SPAM H.L. Gamble, local distributor for Hormel in Hawaii, says these new products can be expected over the next few months: Turkey Spam: A 98 percent lean product, now being test-marketed. Tabasco Spam: Already a sales success on Guam, the one challenger to Hawaii's title as Spam capital of the world.

You gotta go to that link above http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Campus/4656/spamtrivia.html That is the utimate SPAM page and you will love the wallpaper...and everything else about the place. John pronounced it "way cool" and, so it is!

From the September 1 Daily Telegraph's Peterborough column: Big on Spam THE inaugural Spam awards are upon us, much to this column's excitement. Today, at the Groucho Club, those "who have done most in support of the quality luncheon meat in the past year" will be rewarded with a gong. Few, though, will be able to match the achievements of the islanders of Molokai. John Parsons, one inhabitant of the Hawaiian territory, tells me: "The 6,700 predominantly native Hawaiian residents here consume over 20,000 tins of Spam a week. "It is not unusual to see a Molokaian with 50 or 60 tins of Spam in his or her supermarket trolley. Many families eat Spam at breakfast, lunch and dinner. The local newspaper prints Spam recipes and the two hotels on the island have Spam on their menus." A spokesman for Spam is suitably awestruck: "That's a huge amount. Although it's too short notice for this year, we should certainly invite Molokaians next year. Perhaps we could even go over there to meet them. Either way, we're delighted."

My Gawd Dear! Now the whole world knows of our proclivity for the tinned Oink! *lol* I did not know!!! ...which reminds me, tournament time meand fresh ward Spam Musubi! Oh heavenly days - gotta get me some of that!!!

Getting to be a regular feature of the Peterborough column of the Daily Telegraph: WE mentioned the other day that the 6,700 islanders of Molokai are prodigies of Spam consumption, getting through 20,000 tins a week. Paul Theroux offers an explanation for the popularity of the tinned comestible in far-flung parts of the world. "I had found circumstantial evidence for cannibalism," he writes in The Happy Isles of Oceania. "The liking in Vanuatu was for Spam. It was a theory of mine that former cannibals of Oceania now feasted on Spam because Spam came the nearest to approximating the porky taste of human flesh. It was a fact that the people-eaters of the Pacific had all evolved, or perhaps degenerated, into Spam eaters. In the absence of Spam they settled for corned beef." Mmmm, now what explains your liking for it, Marsh? ;-)

Paul Theroux brings up the connection of Spam and cannibalism. I find this quite disconcerting. What exactly is in Spam? Many have wondered. Furthermore, how would Theroux know that human flesh tastes "porky". He's probably read that somewhere, as have I. There was also someone on the Discovery Channel discussing that when he was in east Africa he ate baboon, which tasted similar to pork. So this posits the question: Is Spam canned monkey meat?

I actually have met Paul Theroux - he has taught here and at Manoa (the Honolulu campus of U of H!) I am shocked and agahast, but he shall not put me off my Spam Musubi. Spam, as the can proudly states, contains "Pork with ham, mechanically separated chicken (whatever that is!), water, salt, sugar" and various preservatives. Not a single monkey or person listed! I thought everything tasted "like chicken"...from snake to frogs! Pass the Spam chips. will you, please??!! If we are all ascended from the same antecedent whcih crept out of the sea, we all taste the same and are therefore all self-consumers?!

I don't think baboon tastes like pork - much more gamey .... and yes, I did eat it - in Cameroon! Be assured, it's nothing like Spam - which we also had there and I tried to be inventive with...

I never had baboon, but I have eaten alligator. Believe it or not, alligator tastes like chicken, except it's really tough and chewy. The effect is something like gnawing on a poultry flavored tire. As for the popularity of Spam among the Pacific Islanders, I have my own theory on that. Pigs are the most widely dispersed livestock animal in the world. The Pacific Islanders, even the non-cannibal ones, have a lond tradition of eating and enjoying pork. From what little I know about the culture of Oceania, it would seem that at great feasts the featured dish was pork. The popularity of Spam with the Pacific Islanders may be because it is pork, a meat that they have long eaten and enjoyed. After all, they might get tired eating fish all the time.

Hey, Cheryl, how about making some sort of food and culture topic in Cultures conference, those are good thoughts - have a look at the other stuff I'm posting in there too please...

Another Telegraph item, and it appears the last... The Isle of Spam THIS really, positively should be the last word on Spam. After our recent discussion of the tinned food's virtues in weaning cannibals off human flesh, a reader points out that there really is a place called Spam Island - a tiny blip in the region of Kiribati. "It lies in the entrance to the harbour of Kanton Island in the South Pacific," writes Peter Jenkins. "The thoughtful administrators of Kanton Island have located the bird reserve at the other end of the island, presumably to prevent midnight snacking by our feathered friends." Spam Island is to be found at Latitude 2.47S, and Longitude 171.43W, should any Peterborough readers fancy visiting. I'd like to offer a crate of Spam to the first person to send us a postcard from this idyllic-sounding spot.