These days when you hear the word SPAM, you might think of that email folder that catches unsolicited and irrelevant messages, but for Filipinos, SPAM brings to mind the American luncheon “mystery” meat.  This square-shaped blend of pork with ham, water, salt, sugar, sodium nitrate and potato starch has become more than just a can of meat. It has become a comforting pantry staple and a taste of home.

SPAM is sold in 50 countries worldwide. Hormel Foods Corporation, its producers, estimate that 12.8 cans are consumed every second, with the Philippines being one of the top consumers of the canned meat in Southeast Asia.

It has also carved out a unique place in its culinary traditions. For chef John Rivera, co-owner of Filipino institutions, Askal and Kariton Sorbetes in Melbourne, the budget friendly meat brings a sense of nostalgia after growing up in a Filipino household and remains something he regularly eats at home.

“People question why, seeing as I’m a chef, but it’s actually bloody delicious and it’s part of our culture now,” he tells upstart.

Filipinos love SPAM because of their love of pork, he says, but also because it’s affordable and non-perishable.

“That’s an important factor in a country where a lot of the people are struggling to put food on the table,” he says.

For many Filipinos the luncheon meat is enjoyed in SPAM-si-log, fried slices of SPAM with garlic fried rice topped with a fried egg. It’s a twist on the traditional breakfast dish topsilog, which instead uses tocino, a sweet-cured pork.

Acknowledging the deep-rooted Filipino love for the canned ham, Hormel even introduced SPAM “Tocino”, a variant with a flavour profile that resonated with local tastes.

“Every time we go home to the Philippines, we always bring back a few cans of tocino flavour,” Rivera says.

“The fact that they made a Filipino flavour variant of SPAM cements it as part of Filipino culture.”

So how did the American canned meat become so popular in the Philippines? Developed in 1937 by Jay Hormel of Hormel Foods, SPAM is a product of US food industrialisation and emerged at the end of the Great Depression. Its affordability, versatility, and long shelf life made it a pantry staple, especially since it didn’t require refrigeration.

America’s involvement in World War II played a pivotal role in introducing SPAM to the Philippines, as the canned meat’s durability made it ideal for military rations. During the war more than 50,000 tonnes of SPAM was shipped to US and Allied troops across the Pacific, it was found wherever American forces ate.

According to Bernard Keo, a historian of modern Southeast Asia, the immediate aftermath of war saw widespread food shortages in the Philippines and the canned ham was the first source of meat many people had access to.

“You need nutrition. SPAM is a good way to get this because it’s canned and it’s easy to ship,” he tells upstart.

While the canned meat was introduced through military supplies and relief efforts, Keo says that what began as a wartime necessity evolved into a beloved comfort food.

“SPAM came to be embedded into the cultural milieu inside the cuisine,” he said.

For many Americans after the war, SPAM served as a reminder of the unappetising hardship endured during the war.

“It became something that Americans didn’t particularly like,” Keo said.

The quirky name and low cost of SPAM made it a popular subject for humour among Western audiences, inspiring sketches by Monty Python, parodies by Weird Al Yankovic and even lending its name to unwanted emails, spam.

While SPAM also became popular in other places American occupied, such as Hawaii, Korea and Japan, its appeal in the Philippines is uniquely tied to strong emotional connections.

“Nostalgia plays a very big role in this, really positive associations with SPAM helps to keep it going,” he says.

SPAM is so well-loved that it is almost always included in the balikbayan box, a unique cultural practice among the Filipino diaspora, where overseas Filipinos send packages to their families back home.

“There’s a particular cachet with SPAM that’s sent from overseas in balikbayan boxes,” Keo says.

Unlike in Hawaii, Korea and Japan, where other luncheon meat brands share the market, SPAM holds a different value attached in the Philippines because of its prestige as an American brand. Thirty-year-old Rivera says that the older generations tend to have a particularly strong affection for American culture.

“I feel like that’s changing now but SPAM has continued to be part of our culture because it just works with the Filipino palate,” he says.

For Filipinos, the canned meat is embraced as both a staple and cultural symbol. From the dinner table to the diaspora, SPAM has served as a reminder of the deep connection between food and its own identity.

Of course, it can also be seen as a symbol of colonial power. For example, Keo highlights how SPAM’s presence in the Philippines is rooted in American control and the subsequent period of US-aligned stabilisation, before transitioning to an independent government.

“It would be remiss if we didn’t mention the fact that SPAM followed the circuits of empire, especially American colonial and imperial power,” he says.

“But to just say that SPAM is a colonisers meal, is to kind of belie the fact that there is agency in countries and communities that have turned this into something that is their own.”

Story: Jan Sembrano is a Diploma of Arts student. He wrote this feature as part of the first-year journalism subject, The Emerging Journalist.

Photo:

Photo: Spam wall by freezelight available HERE and used under a Creative Commons licence. The photo has not been modified.