We Went To SPAM JAM – Here’s What I Tried

I recently received an email from SPAM inviting me to attend a “SPAM JAM” in Honolulu, Hawaii. I did a triple take when I received this email – it almost seemed too good to be true! I’d never been on a media trip, and I’ve also never been to Hawaii, so this was a win in more ways than one!

Videos by Sporked

Hang On… SPAM? Like… Canned SPAM? In Hawaii?

You read that correctly! One thing that I was very surprised to learn, but became immediately attuned to was just HOW much folks in Hawaii love SPAM. Just from talking to people on the streets and in shops, I quickly learned that SPAM is as much of a household brand in Hawaii as Coke or Pepsi is to us in the continental 48. 7-Eleven, McDonald’s, and most corner stores all carry some form of SPAM, whether it’s SPAM Musubi (Spam and Rice packed and wrapped together with seaweed), a SPAM Breakfast platter (more on this soon), or SPAM merchandise. No matter where I went in Honolulu, I saw it everywhere. Heck, SPAM even just teamed up with OluKai to release two styles of SPAM-themed sandals, which I was lucky enough to have both pairs waiting for me when I arrived in my hotel room! 

The night before the big event, we had a four course meal with SPAM incorporated throughout – including a crab cake with SPAM hollandaise, a spinach salad with crispy SPAM, candied walnuts, and a maple miso vinaigrette, and for dessert, SPAM monkey bread with candied SPAM, creating a perfect sweet and salty experience. The wonderful folks at SPAM insisted this was a “Swalty” experience. (They think this is the new trending term. I’m not convinced.)

But let’s step back for a second – what IS the SPAM JAM?

What is SPAM JAM?

SPAM JAM is one of the most popular festivals held annually in the last week of April in Honolulu. Kalakaua Avenue, the main street in Waikiki is closed off for traffic and stages and booths are set up all throughout the street, where event goers can buy SPAM themed merchandise, grab a bite (or several bites) to eat of SPAM-incorporated dishes and listen to live music on one of several stages. This event has been going every year since 2002 and a few years ago, SPAM JAM became a non-profit. The festival has given $250,000 and 35,000 pounds of food to the Hawaii Food Bank. This year, 40,000 people were estimated to attend, but I would not be surprised if there were closer to 50,000 or 60,000 people this year. It is truly a love letter from Hawaiians to SPAM. It’s worth noting that while SPAM is now a sponsor of the event, the brand did not actually create the event. The people of Hawaii just love SPAM that much!

What We Tried At SPAM JAM This Year

We were truly able to try a real smorgasbord of different ways that SPAM could be incorporated into dishes. We started off with sweets (as you should with all meals), trying SPAM Ice Cream that was quite delicious and a SPAM & cheddar cookie! Honestly, while it didn’t have the texture you’d expect from a cookie, the dessert worked very well as a “Swalty” type experience. I can’t say I’d recommend trying it at home, but I’ll argue ’til the day I die that any food is worth trying once!

We kept the train rolling with pizza and street tacos that both work very well when you take the expected ingredients (pepperoni, beef, etc.) and replace them with SPAM. We then moved on to ramen (which was messy to try to eat in the middle of a street festival), followed by a plate of the best looking nachos I have ever seen featuring guac, peppers, beans, cream, and of course, SPAM. This was a contender for one my favorite dishes we had on the street. We then had Kings Hawaiian Pretzel bites (yum) with a salsa that incorporated SPAM. This was a little hard to dip with the chunks of SPAM in it, but certainly still made for a tasty flavor. Last up for the SPAM dishes, we tried chili. Being from Cincinnati, I am a little bit picky on my chili, and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t particularly a fan of this. The dish featured BOTH beef and SPAM and I think the better direction may have been to just go all SPAM to avoid the texture clash that I experienced. After this, we grabbed pineapple smoothies, served in whole pineapples, and headed to the beach.