March 21, 2010

Spam - Not Just For Breakfast Anymore

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I'm always amazed by what you can learn reading top-notch sailing blogs.

Frogma has just posted about what she had for lunch on her most recent sailing outing - something I'd never heard of before - Spam Musubi, a dish that is apparently very popular in Hawaii.



Wow, I had no idea Spam was this great cross-cultural vehicle. Is Spam actually a kind of universal language, sort of a culinary Esperanto? Since no one's really sure what it's made of, it seems to be accepted by many cultures. Maybe it's the key to a future of peace and world understanding.

Curious, I started checking out the internets. Sure enough, both Spam and Spam Musubi have their own Wikipedia entries, incontrovertible proof that Spam has a respected international stature.

Then, I had a startling realization. I'd always wondered why I chose the shade of blue that I did for the background color of this blog. Somehow, that particular blue just spoke to me. But now I see that there were strong subliminal forces at work in my choice. It is the same color used in the background of the Spam label.



And there are practical sailing applications for Spam products, too, I discovered. My favorite sailing hat has long been a knit watchcap, after I lost too many baseball caps overboard in the strong winds of San Francisco Bay. Well, look at this spiffy offering from the Hormel Corporation. I'm ordering one of these snappy numbers right away:



And I notice there's another Spam product that should have a million uses aboard any sailboat:



Spam Spread has that same great Spam taste, but the clever engineers at Hormel changed its texture for when you need something more flexible. On a sailboat, you can still have it for lunch, but it also makes a great all-around marine caulking compound at a fraction of the cost of 3M 5200. Half of the problem with the 3M product is that cleanup is such a mess. Not so with Spam Spread - just lick your fingers clean. Spam Spread adheres readily to wood, fiberglass, and most non-ferrous metals. It remains soft and pliable indefinitely over a wide temperature range - the perfect choice for bedding deck fittings.

What a wonderful, universal product Spam is. Long-lasting, easily transportable, shaped to stack easily, and, when sliced thin, placed on a block of rice, and wrapped in seaweed, kinda tasty, too.

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24 comments:

  1. Oh, dear, are we in for another round of ...

    Monty Python?

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  2. This is O Dock, Carol Anne.

    I'm beginning to learn that anything is possible here.

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  3. And here I thought I already owned The Silliest Hat in the World. Amazing!

    By the way, you probably DO have a Hawaiian plate-lunch place somewhere in your vicinity - you could pick up a platter for your next office party!

    There's an extensive list of L&L Barbecue locations in Northern California.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Check out the
    7th Annual Waikiki SPAM JAM® Festival
    Saturday, April 24, 2010
    4:00-10:00 pm
    Kalakaua Avenue, Waikiki

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  5. Spam Jam? Thank you, ma'am.

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  6. Bonnie, thanks for the heads up. I must check out some of the delicacies at L&L.

    I'm still trying to get my head around the multi-layered irony of having just been spammed by someone named Spammer from the company that is the root of all Spam.

    And I had forgotten, until a while back when I posted on that other kind of spam, that the name for THAT kind of spam actually grew out of the Monty Python sketch about this kind of Spam.

    Sometimes it seems there's just too much spam.

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  7. And to add to the almost Bizarro World strangeness of this topic, I'm actually hurt that Spammer didn't come post a spam comment on my blog!

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  8. I got spam spam from Spammer too! Yay!

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  9. I don't know, Bonnie. Spammers are so clever today. Spam is never from where the spam seems to be spamming, even if it's Spam spam from spammer. The Spam spam that we've been spammed that appears to be Spam spam from Spam is likely spam that has been spammed by some other spammer posing as a Spam spammer.

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  10. Can we sing the song now?

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  11. I got Spam spam from the Spam spammer too!!! Or was it Spam spam from some spammer spamming about Spam spam posing as the Spam spammer spamming?

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  12. Sounds like a sham Spam spammer to me.

    But, if Bonnie began this whole thing, I would think she'd be getting most of the Spam spam, from both the Spam spammer and the sham Spam spammer.

    If I were a spammer, I'd spam her in the morning, I'd spam her in the evening, all over this world.

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  13. It's a spam world after all
    It's a spam world after all
    It's a spam world after all
    It's a spam, spam world.

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  14. spam spam spam spam spam spam spam...

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  15. Better than tuna in a can.

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  16. (to the tune of "Let It Be")
    Spammily
    Spammilee-hee
    spamilly
    spamilly
    singing songs of spamdom
    Spamilly!

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  17. There is a Hawaiian restaurant here in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan called 'Oli 'oli (means enjoyment in Hawaiian) - that serves spam musubi.

    In Korea, department stores sell gift sets with various types of spam - classic, turkey, bacon, etc.

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  18. I never thought of giving Spam as a gift.

    This will make holiday shopping so much easier this year!

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  19. I even gave my sister a Spam recipe calendar one year ;^)

    SPAM-KU - an archive of Haiku dedicated to SPAM.

    Tillerman is right. It is a SPAM world after all.

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  20. Panda, that is unbelievable! Thousands of Haiku devoted to Spam. Did you notice they're organized by category and that one is jazz?

    It looks like others see Spam as a cross-cultural vehicle, too. Oh god, what have I unearthed here?

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  21. Spam is really a secret cult that sacrifices pigs to the god Hormel.

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  22. What I don't understand now is how I managed to leave the spam out of Carol Anne's Where I'm From assignment. Baffling omission.

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  23. if you go to Manila, you have to go to Spam Jamp

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