Larger Implications Of Obama's Taste For Spam Uncovered

President-elect Barack Obama apparently tucked into some Spam sushi at lunch yesterday, so naturally, everyone spent a little time talking about it. I had to endure an uber-snooty David Shuster rant on the topic yesterday that threatened to induce the sort of reverse-peristalsis that many would associate with the mystery meat, widely eaten throughout the Hawaiian islands. But is there anything important to be said of Obama's embrace of Spam? Lisa Derrick, proprietress of the newly-opened blog La Figa, may have hit on something: the official quashing of one of the more persistent campaign smears.

Those rumors of President-Obama being a Muslim have been laid to rest by his very visible consumption of a porky pan-Asian fusion delicacy--well that's what fancy food folks will be calling Spam musubi now that Obama noshed on one while playing golf yesterday, making the Hawaiian snack chic. Expect them at Inauguration parties.

I'm especially hopeful that Spam delicacies will be widely available during the Inaugural weekend. It's probably no coincidence that the announcement of Rick Warren's participation in the festivities can be connected to the revised calculations of the anticipated crowds, down from four million to two million. It will be hilarious when Spam fails to inspire similar distaste.

Comments

[anewdayinDC]

08:21 PM on 01/05/2009

This is not a noveau delicacy. I used to eat this for breakfast when I was a kid.

Fried spam with eggs sunny side up and rice.

good stuff.

[beaupritchard]

04:01 PM on 12/26/2008

Had one of those seaweed wrapped bits of hammy like substance and rice. Brought it home in a brown paper bag from an upscale restaurant downtown. Busboy snuck it to me out a side door ... borrowed a friends car. Took it up to the attic and ... been sneaking out at odd ours to get more ... shhhh ... what was that noise.

[drayak]

03:30 PM on 12/26/2008

I now know more about Obama's diet than I do about his real (not talked about) politics.

[greeniefromOH]

03:57 PM on 12/29/2008

If that's true, you have only yourself to blame.... the relevant informatio­n you seek is everywhere­.

[benedict15]

11:29 AM on 12/26/2008

I cannot eat but little meat,
My stomach is not good
Bit I can drink the nut-brown ale
With him who wears the hood

Back and sides go bare, go bare ...

There are many of us who would love to be able ti digest meat (even Spam), there are more
in the world who woud love to be able to afford some meat.

The Scots put it best in a Grace:...

Some ha' meat and canna eat
Some can eat and ha' no meat
But have meat* and we can eat,
Therefore the Lord be praised.

*even if it is haggis (a sheeps stomach with live and lights sewn up in it, and boiled).
Burns call "Chief of the Pudding Race." Spam is better.

[benedict15]

11:13 AM on 12/26/2008

It was a metal key. The business end of it was split and you inserted the bent out end of the strip in the split, and then turned the key counterclo­ckwise (as I remember) winding the coil of the strip on the key. When you had completed the circuit, a forceful snap would separate the top from the can. You then inverted the can over a mess kit or pan, and shook it, until the contents schlooped out. Sometimes ou had to use a knife (bayonet) or mess kit fork to pry it out. Spam did not occur in C-Rations (WWII and Korean War combat rations). A day's ration was a tough box with two cans of meat or beans, a can of stale biscuits, an unopeneble 1/2" think can of jam or jelly, a piece of orange gummy candy or a disk of dry cocoa, a small can of poundcake, fruitcake, or plum pooding, a small can of fruit or apple sauce. Each of the cans was opened with a tiny hinged can opener, often 1 to a box. We wore an opener on our dogtag chain. It required fingertips of steel. There was a pack of stale Lucky Strike or Camels and a book of matches. The canned meat were pork and beans (best) spaghetti and meat balls; ham and lima beans. tuna and noodles, sausage patties packed in "motor oil", hamburger patties backed in motor oil. .

[larry278]

09:15 PM on 12/24/2008

Regardless of whatever, spam is a crime against nature.

[CARF]

07:57 AM on 12/25/2008

Sorry Buddy, but I love Spam (especiall­y fried) and I've been eating it all 65 yrs of my life.... It is actually a form of canned ham jerk....

If you are smart you might want to stock up on it, as the day isn't very far away that it might be the only meat you can get, that is 'IF' you can get it....

Even as kids as a military brat living overseas, we kids lived for K-Rations and the meat ones were mostly Spam...

[Strywever]

03:11 PM on 12/24/2008

The fact that he eats pork won't squelch the Muslim-rum­or mongers. They aren't interested in facts, period.

[AZ AF VET]

12:47 PM on 12/24/2008

Actually, Spam is made from ground Spamalope. Spamalopes are native to the Northeast Chemical Forests in New Jersy. They are hard to find because they hide in midst of the Plastic Christmas trees. forest. Also found in this area Nauga. Their hides have been used for furniture for years.

[SiberianRat]

01:47 PM on 12/24/2008

:-)

[Big0725]

02:08 PM on 12/24/2008

Some THAT'S what that smell is!

I almost lose my mind when I drive into NYC from New Jersey.

[rf-hawaii]

12:45 PM on 12/24/2008

Why would his consumptio­n of pork lay to rest rumors of Obama's Muslim affiliatio­ns?

Folks that believe those rumors are fairly noncritica­l thinkers to start with. Why would they know or care that Muslims don't eat pork?

[ABCD]

01:39 PM on 12/24/2008

Good point.

[jl4141]

12:17 PM on 12/24/2008

Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, eggs, sausage, and spam!

[scouserinlondon]

01:14 PM on 12/24/2008

Spam's orff!!!

[bubbuh]

01:47 PM on 12/24/2008

Send off a horned Viking to bring down more?

[indypete]

02:05 PM on 12/24/2008

Can't get away from the stuff in Hawaii!

[yappnmutt]

12:12 PM on 12/24/2008

once again it is not spam sushi. it is spam musubi. a minor detail to be sure but no one would mistake a hot dog for a sausage.

[alicetilden]

12:05 PM on 12/24/2008

I was surprised when I saw the movie,"Fif­ty First Dates" to find how popular Spam was in Hawaii. I assume it is a leftover taste from the WWII days. I ate a lot of Spam as a child, but my father wouldn't eat it because he was sick of it from the war. Actually, it's salty taste was pretty good when I was young. For Obama, this is what is called a "comfort food". It reminds you of your childhood. If this helps Hormel, good for them...esp­ecially, at a time when many companies are folding. I hope they remember to contribute to the 2008 campaign.

[bigdaddyvike]

12:17 PM on 12/24/2008

While in Maui I went to McDonald's for breakfast where they had the "local's special" plate: 2 eggs scrambled, a mound of white rice, 2 planks of fried Spam and two pieces of "Portugues­e sausage". It was disgusting­. And the Safeway in Lahaina had a merchandis­ing mountain of Spam for $1 a can. They love their Spam!!

[lungfish]

12:53 PM on 12/24/2008

I think Spam is popular here for a couple of reasons...­. Pacific islanders eat pigs, mostly, and fish, turtles and dolphins. So its familiar. Secondly, in the tropics everything perishes quickly so canned meat, cheap canned meat, is a valuable commodity.
For reasons listed below I won't eat the stuff.
Its about 170 calories PER SLICE and its almost all saturated fat calories..­..
In case you don't know, morbid obesity is common here... as is ignorance and a lack of education, etc... Most islander families are on welfare and the EBT allows them to stock up on ice cream and crap...so we have a lot of very large people with all the attendant health problems. In fact, if the Spam and Ice Cream flow were cut off for a year we would see immediate health benefits on the island..

[scottowego]

11:34 AM on 12/24/2008

What's going on here???? We've got a president who eats spam AND smokes/??/­???

[bigdaddyvike]

12:27 PM on 12/24/2008

nitrates are good

[benedict15]

08:22 AM on 12/26/2008

Nitrates are good, i.e. -NO3's. The nitrate ion plays an important role in maintainin­g heart muscle tone and as any old heart attack survivor knows, nitroglyce­rin is the standard treatment to relieve angina -- the narrowing of the cardiac arteries that precede, accompany, and follow coronary infarct. Alas, nitrites -NO2's are another story and are usually considered contraindi­cated for anyone with compromise­d coronary arteries. Smoked meats are usually rich in nitrites.

[Big0725]

02:10 PM on 12/24/2008

And he STILL looks that good with his shirt off!

Talk about strong genes.

[benedict15]

08:15 AM on 12/26/2008

he works out vigorously an hour a day. Talk about about a waste if government time!

[scottowego]

11:27 AM on 12/24/2008

Before biting into that luscious spam-burge­r/sushi or whatever this holiday season, think about the poor animals in Americas Factory Farms who are beaten, butchered or boiled alive in hot liquid to remove their skins. Still in most states pigs are raised in barred cages (and that's a kind term) so they can't even turn around. I'll never be able to eat a Hormel product nor any kind of commercial­ly raised beef or pork. Check out PETA.com sometime. Sorry to be a spoiler but I love animals and pigs are smarter than dogs.

[lungfish]

11:58 AM on 12/24/2008

I heard that, Scottowego­, pig farming is a brutal and ugly practice and I will not eat pork. I was raised on a farm and we ate our own livestock. They were killed humanely enough. We shot them from the front porch as they went about their daily lives - a scope with a large caliber round, and they never knew what hit them.
Even so, one day I was watching a batch of weaners that we had bought to fatten up for market and one of them picked up the water hose that had fallen from the trough and put it back where it belonged. I sat there for a long time, pondering, wondering if I had just seen what I had. Then I swore off meat.
Since then, I will eat a fish on occasion if I spear it myself, a rare occasion. I almost never go into the sea with my speargun..­...
Spam and pork, pig hunting, etc are a big part of Island life and I see Spam sold by the pallet load here on the Big Island.... Spam Musubi is common everywhere but you won't catch me eating it.

[WilliamProc]

12:21 PM on 12/24/2008

Sorry, you feel that way. I can't justify how most animals are killed for consumptio­n, I won't let that stop me from eating Spam, ham, bacon, or any other porcine product.

[ibivi]

11:22 AM on 12/24/2008

What's the big deal? Many working people eat spam because it is affordable and fills you up. Plus, you can't kill that stuff. It lasts forever!

[benedict15]

09:08 AM on 12/26/2008

Hormel claims that Spam is made from lean (defatted) cuts of pork. Frying thin slices of Spam, (at a medium temperture­) removes up to two-thirds of the remaining fat. It is still fatter than lean ham. Let it drain. Some of us like it dried out to pork leather. It is never tough.
All commercial pigs are killed, often by a shot to the brain. A .22 doesn't destroy much of the brain, but obviously messes up "headchees­e" another delicacy that rarely appeals to the ignorant. The general opinion of human beings who have hunted and herded pigs, perhaps for more than a million years, is that pork is delicious, whether roasted fresh (see Lamb, C. An Essay on Roast Pig) or smoked and salted, in which case it will keep in cold or moderate climates for many months. Almost all parts of the pig are useful and used.