Few delicacies in the world openly communicate the mesh of their bizarre cultural origin as the one of a kind Spam Musubi. This frankenstein of Asian-Pacific cooking and colonial influence is hailed by casual diners and dedicated foodies alike as an ideal snack food for any savory craving palette for its nexus of pleasant flavors with the unpretentious simplicity of its very design. Traditionally composed with steamed white rice, a single cutlet of fried Spam soaked in soy sauce and parceled in nori (seaweed wrapping), this beloved bundle of deliciousness infuses the best parts of Hawaiian and Japanese cuisine in an efficient vessel, but with so much goodness also comes with the its not so good historical eminence.
Post-War Origins
Originating in Hawaii roughly around the mid 20th century, the beginnings of the dish were first observed in the lunchboxes of Hawaiian plantation workers shortly after the end of the second World War, where the proliferation of Spam (produced and used as a food ration during the war) found its way into the local cuisine, with basic Japanese onigiri being used as the base. In the following decades, the dish would emerge as something of a cult staple as it began to populate various restaurants & shops before winding up on the menu of chain restaurant L&L Barbecue in 1999 at its inaugural mainland location in Puenta Hills, California. Its exactly at this point where spam musubi would see its popularity spike, going from local Hawaiian cuisine's best kept secret to iconoclastic snack food amidst exposure to broader audiences domestic and international through the chain's continued expansion to several states across the U.S. By 2021, the dish's popularity & legacy was officially deemed as iconic by L&L with a self established "National Spam Musubi Day" on August 8 to celebrate its lasting prominence amongst initiated culinary aficionados and curious snackers alike.
Different Musubis
Since its creation, variations of Spam Musubi have cropped up from passionate cooks all over the world aiming to put their own personal spins on what's ostensibly an open canvas of a recipe. In Okinawa, Japan, a popular variation on musubi calls for the addition of fried egg (or "tamago" in Japanese) layered in between the spam & rice and in Guam, a common serving alongside the musubi is sriracha mayonnaise as an added sauce. Back on the islands, a local chain known as Musubi Cafe Iyasume owned by Toshiyuki Otake has gained notoriety for his ambitious and quirky takes on the dish, with such wild variants like Spicy Cod Roe Musubi, Cheese Musubi and "Avocado Bacon Egg."
A Cross Cultural Favorite
Spam Musubi's lasting irreverence in spite of its initial hodgepodge creation can be boiled down to its core culinary makeup. Taking the concept of the Onigiri, a neutral palette of flavor between its sandwich of steamed white rice and the slight briny taste of nori, is a natural open base to introduce a whole spectrum of contrasting flavors, and what better vessel for that good old fashioned pleasure of salty fried pork as a cutlet of Spam. For being the strange concoction of ingredients from two cultures with tenuous histories, the Spam Musubi is a shining reminder that despite some immediate differences, we may actually have much more in common than meets the eye. All we gotta do is try (it).