Day 227: It’s Wordsday in Kauai, and the words are SPAM ... not the junk mail variety, but the canned meat-like variety, and SHAVE ICE ... not shaved ice. Never shaved ice.
Spam sightings on Kauai are just as prevalent as chicken sightings. It is on every menu. Even the McDonalds menu offers SPAM selections. Our favorite breakfast place, The Kountry Kitchen, lovingly brings your bill in a SPAM can.
Why is it so popular on the Hawaiian islands? According to local lore, SPAM became popular during World War II when feeding the GIs required shelf-stable meat requiring no preparation. It caught on, and has been a popular selection ever since.
Perhaps the ease of popping open a can of SPAM compared to roasting a feral boar in a giant pit won out. It would seem so, because for all the wild chickens there are on Kauai, it is said there are even more boars—an estimated 250,000 of them, although we haven’t seen a one yet.
Maybe the boars are like those cows who shamelessly advertise for Chik-fil-A, only these boars are selling SPAM to save themselves instead of chicken sandwiches.
SPAM does not make an appearance here, at Wailua Shave Ice in Kapa’a Town, but their creations are so amazing, they’d probably do SPAM proud. No high-fructose syrups here - only fresh fruit purée deliciousness. If you come to Kauai, give them a try, but please don’t add a “d” to the name, because it is NOT shaved ice. It is shave ice. Mahalo. #momscompanytowels #getawayweek #SPAMHawaiianStyle #boarsboarseverywhere #wailuashaveice
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