Spam is sizzling: Global favorite since World War II is at center of sushi craze
Supermarket cheap-meat Spam is surging in global popularity behind an uncanny trend.
The catalyst is an international 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 thin, dried pungent seaweed that's a signature of sushi rolls.
Spam musubi is native to Hawaii, where the Minnesota-made mixture of pork and ham has been a culinary and cultural phenomenon since World War II.
"Spam musubi is versatile. It's kid friendly. People here love it," Nuno Alves, executive sous chef at Marriott Waikiki Resort & Spa in Honolulu, told Fox News Digital.
His 4-year-old daughter Charlotte is a Spam musubi connoisseur, Alves said.
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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 often sold as a casual impulse-buy snack at convenience store check-out counters in Hawaii.
But it's grown into a sizzling high-end trend.
It's "the hip chef's nostalgic secret ingredient," raved food-industry number-muncher Dataessential, which proclaimed Spam one of the top 10 food "ingredients to know" in 2024.
Alves serves elevated versions of Spam musubi to guests at his swanky beachfront resort hotel.
Pork Tamago Onigiri, a Japanese restaurant chain devoted to Spam musubi, boasts its only overseas location at the Waikiki Food Hall in Honolulu.
Its specialty is an onigiri sandwich with rice, grilled Spam and fried egg.
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"You can find this ‘soul food’ at every convenience store and Bento shop in Okinawa," claims the eatery's website.
Hormel, the company that invented Spam in 1937 and still makes it today in Austin, Minnesota, will introduce its first Spam musubi television ad campaign in April to try to capitalize on the trend.
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The Waikiki Spam Jam, meanwhile, returns for its 20th anniversary on April 27.
Famous Kalakaua Avenue, the main road along Waikiki Beach, is closed all day for the event.
Spam musubi has helped Hormel enjoy eight straight years of record-setting sales growth, according to Spam marketing 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 told Fox News Digital.
"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."
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