Spam is scorching: Global favorite since World War II is at center of sushi craze

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Supermarket cheap-meat Spam is surging in international recognition behind an uncanny pattern.

The catalyst is a world obsession with Spam musubi. 

Think sushi made with Spam. 

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It’s a slice of Spam packed in rice and wrapped in nori, the skinny, dried pungent seaweed that is a signature of sushi rolls. 

Spam musubi is native to Hawaii, the place the Minnesota-made combination of pork and ham has been a culinary and cultural phenomenon since World War II.

Spam musubi

Created in Hawaii, Spam musubi has gained a world status.  (Glenn Asakawa/The Denver Post through Getty Images)

“Spam musubi is versatile. It’s kid friendly. People here love it,” Nuno Alves, govt sous chef at Marriott Waikiki Resort & Spa in Honolulu, informed Fox News Digital.

His 4-year-old daughter Charlotte is a Spam musubi connoisseur, Alves stated. 

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“We bring Spam musubi to the beach, take it on a long car ride or bring it on the plane. It’s like packing a peanut butter and jelly sandwich back on the mainland.”

Spam musubi is usually offered as an informal impulse-buy snack at comfort retailer check-out counters in Hawaii

Charlotte Alves Spam musubi

Charlotte Alves is seen having fun with Spam musubi ready for dinner by her father, chef Nuno Alves of Honolulu, Hawaii. Right, Spam musubi from Sisters Asian Snack Bar in Ashburn, Virginia.  (Nuno Alves; Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post through Getty Images)

But it is grown right into a scorching high-end pattern.

It’s “the hip chef’s nostalgic secret ingredient,” raved food-industry number-muncher Dataessential, which proclaimed Spam one of the highest 10 meals “components to know” in 2024.

“The hip chef’s nostalgic secret ingredient.” 

Alves serves elevated variations of Spam musubi to friends at his swanky beachfront resort lodge.

Pork Tamago Onigiri, a Japanese restaurant chain dedicated to Spam musubi, boasts its solely abroad location at the Waikiki Food Hall in Honolulu. 

spam musubi

A Spam musubi dish is seen at Hula Girl in Shirlington, Virginia.  (Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post through Getty Images)

Its specialty is an onigiri sandwich with rice, grilled Spam and fried egg.

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“You can discover this ‘soul food’ at each comfort retailer and Bento store in Okinawa,” claims the eatery’s web site. 

Hormel, the corporate that invented Spam in 1937 and nonetheless makes it at the moment in Austin, Minnesota, will introduce its first Spam musubi tv advert marketing campaign in April to attempt to capitalize on the pattern.

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The Waikiki Spam Jam, in the meantime, returns for its twentieth anniversary on April 27. 

Famous Kalakaua Avenue, the primary highway alongside Waikiki Beach, is closed all day for the occasion.

spam musubi

A Spam musubi dish at 4 Sisters Asian Snack Bar in Ashburn, Virginia, Dec. 2022.  (Deb Lindsey for The Washington Post through Getty Images)

Spam musubi has helped Hormel get pleasure from eight straight years of record-setting gross sales development, in line with Spam advertising director Jason Baskin.

“What’s really cool is that what’s driving Spam’s growth are these younger, more multicultural consumers around the globe,” Baskin informed Fox News Digital. 

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“Every generation, whether in the United States or around the globe, puts their own tweak on Spam. So maybe 50 years ago, it was Spam as a breakfast side. Today it’s Spam and fried rice or Spam kimchi.”

For extra Lifestyle articles, go to www.foxnews.com/life-style.

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