I need it. It’s like an addiction. I’ve been home for like 5 weeks now and haven’t have a slice of Spam. More specifically than that, I haven’t had my favorite snack on island, the 7/11 Spam Musubi.
The Spam Musubi can be broken down into 3 parts, the rice, the nori, and, of course, the Spam. The 7/11 version is no where near the best spam musubi (what really is the “best” of a dish centered on, well, SPAM anyways…), but it isn’t bad, and at ~$2.25 is affordable enough for an afternoon snack. Every single local kid knows how fast they can get to a 7/11. These convenience stores are ridiculously, uh, convenient. 7/11 Spam Musubis are the great equalizer between everyone on island, I haven’t met someone who doesn’t like them. Affordable, tasty, they really are truly lovely things.
The rice
The rice in the 7/11 musubi is somehow perfect. It retains just enough moisture while not being wet, sopping up the oils and fats from the spam laying on top of it. It always holds its shape, and as a result of being mass produced, is the same every time. It isn’t too pretentious or luxe, which some rices can be. It is simple, effective, and good. I could write a love letter to this rice.
The nori
Ok the 7/11 nori is bad, I won’t lie. It’s too wet, has barely any flavor, and is far too weak to hold the musubi together. Everyone has flaws!
The Spam
I am surprised how 7/11 consistently makes their Spam so good. Never too dry nor too wet, consistently kinda gross but in a lovely way, their spam is the constant. Every time I bite into a 7/11 musubi I know exactly how the Spam is going to taste and feel. Salty, a little sweet, indecipherable ~pork~ flavor. God I love Spam.
There is a 7/11 at the end of the block that my high school sits on. From around 6th grade through graduation, at least once a week my friends and I would trek along the stretch of sidewalk that lay between the two institutions for an afternoon snack. I always got a musubi.
I’m sure someone can write a 5,000 word article on how Spam Musubis, as relics of a combination of Hawaii’s plantation and wartime pasts, are representative of some broader cultural landscape in the islands. For me though, they’re just good.
(also the new Fiona Apple is really something and I can’t stop listening to Baby Keem)