I don’t know about you, but coming from a Filipino household, I grew up with cans of Spam lining the food cupboard. It’s certainly not the healthiest of dishes, but you can bet that it got me out of bed excited for breakfast.
So what is Spam? Introduced in 1937, Spam is canned precooked meat. Although the origin of the name is still a mystery, many assume Spam means “spiced ham.” During WWII, Spam became a big part of the U.S. soldier’s diet because it was far too difficult to bring fresh meat to the soldiers. As a result, during the WWII occupation, Spam was introduced into Guam, Hawaii, Okinawa, the Philippines and other islands in the Pacific. Since Spam was affordable, accessible and had a long shelf life, it quickly became part of the native diets.
To this day, Spam is a popular food item in many parts of Asia. Even Hawaii incorporates Spam in a number of dishes such as the popular Spam musubi. But aside from Hawaii, the majority of the U.S. seems to have a negative impression of Spam. People seem to either think it’s “cheap” meat or they simply don’t know what Spam is altogether. That may explain all the confused looks in the following videos.
Recently Buzzfeed and REACT both decided to release Spam taste test videos. The difference between the two? Buzzfeed had adults try out Spam while REACT had kids try it out. Who likes it more? Who gets grossed out? Find out below:
I know what you’re thinking. Why didn’t they cook the meat first? Sure, Spam is precooked meat, but it’s safe to say most of us throw it on a pan before eating it. In fact, many angry comments claim that the results of the videos would be drastically different had they cooked the meat first.
We’ll never know if that’s the case, but we do know that the reactions were generally the same in both videos. It seems you will either love Spam or hate it. If you’re one of the people who gets grossed out by the canned meat, maybe these Asian dishes will change your mind:
