Spam musubi facts for kids
Spam musubi made from Spam and rice
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| Course | Snack |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | United States |
| Region or state | Hawaii |
| Serving temperature | Hot or cold |
| Main ingredients | Spam, rice, nori, soy sauce |
Spam musubi is a super popular snack and lunch food from Hawaii. Imagine a tasty slice of grilled Spam placed on top of a block of rice. Then, it's all wrapped together with a strip of nori (dried seaweed), just like a Japanese onigiri (rice ball). It's a delicious and easy-to-eat treat!
You can find Spam musubi almost everywhere in Hawaii, especially in convenience stores and small shops. It's also a favorite at Hawaiian barbecue restaurants across the United States. This snack is simple, usually made with Spam, rice, a little salt, nori, and soy sauce. Sometimes, other yummy toppings are added too. People in Hawaii enjoy Spam musubi as a quick snack or even as part of a meal in fancy restaurants.
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The Story Behind Spam Musubi
Spam musubi is a special kind of musubi that became very popular in Hawaii. Long ago, it was a favorite lunchbox item for workers on the sugar plantations there.
How Spam Musubi Began
The exact beginning of Spam musubi is a bit of a mystery! Some people say a similar dish was created during challenging times when food options were limited. However, most stories point to Spam becoming very common in Hawaii during and after World War II. Since there weren't many other meat choices, people in Hawaii got creative and started using Spam in their local dishes.
For example, in South Korea, a stew called budae-jjigae was made using foods from U.S. military supplies, including Spam. But in Hawaii, Spam became a beloved part of the culture, unlike in some other places where it wasn't as popular after the war.
Who Invented Spam Musubi?
It's hard to say for sure who first made Spam musubi. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspaper mentioned in 2002 that there isn't one clear inventor. However, a cookbook from 2001 suggested that a woman named Mitsuko Kaneshiro might be the creator. She started selling them from a pharmacy in Honolulu and later from her own shop, Michan's Musubi, selling hundreds every day by the early 1980s.
Another person often credited is Barbara Funamura from Kauai. She sold Spam musubi at the Joni-Hana restaurant. In 1983, a local newspaper described her creation as "Spam and rice, two local favorites, are combined in an enormous musubi (rice ball) wrapped in nori (sheets of dried seaweed)." Eventually, Barbara Funamura started using a special box mold to give the musubi its familiar rectangular shape.
Spam Musubi Goes National
In 1999, a restaurant chain called L&L Hawaiian Barbecue introduced Spam musubi to its first restaurant on the mainland U.S. in California. As L&L Hawaiian Barbecue grew and opened more restaurants across different states, more and more people learned about and loved this Hawaiian snack. It quickly became a main item on their menu, making L&L the first restaurant chain to offer Spam musubi all over the country.
To celebrate this iconic snack, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue created "National Spam Musubi Day" on August 8, 2021. The Governor of Hawaii, David Y. Ige, even officially recognized this special day with a public announcement!
Sometimes, Spam musubi is made with egg, and this version is called Potama. This name comes from combining "pork" and "tamago," which is the Japanese word for egg. Potama is a popular food in Okinawan cuisine. In this version, the nori (seaweed) is usually larger and wraps around the whole sandwich.
How to Make Spam Musubi
Making Spam musubi is quite simple! First, you grill or fry slices of Spam. People often use the original Spam flavor or the teriyaki flavor. A common sauce for the Spam is made with soy sauce and sugar.
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To assemble it, you usually use a special mold that's the same size as a slice of Spam. You press a layer of cooked rice onto a strip of nori (seaweed). Then, you place a slice of Spam on top of the rice. Sometimes, another layer of rice is added. After removing the mold, you wrap the nori around the Spam and rice to hold it all together.
In Guam, a local version of Spam musubi is made by dipping a slice of Spam in teriyaki sauce. It's then placed on a mound of rice with a sprinkle of furikake (a Japanese seasoning) and wrapped in nori. Some recipes from Guam even suggest adding Sriracha mayonnaise for a little spicy kick!
See also
In Spanish: Spam musubi para niños
- Cuisine of Hawaii
- Gimbap
- Göteborg musubi
- Loco moco, another Hawaiian dish that can involve rice and Spam
- Onigiri, the original musubi
