My life, teaching English in China: What do you do on a Saturday night when your friends abandon you?
Eat SPAM. That’s right. Go the Korean grocery store, buy a can of imported Korean SPAM Luncheon Meat, then return home, make some toast, and grab the mustard.
What? You don’t like SPAM? There seems to be bias in North America regarding canned meat products. For me, SPAM falls into the NCF category: Not Chinese Food. I live in China, and the majority of my diet is Chinese food, but sometimes you need a taste of something different. Comfort food, perhaps.
That’s not to say there isn’t SPAM in Chinese food. There’s SPAM in fried rice, SPAM hot dogs, and SPAM fried noodles. I’m being broad in my interpretation of SPAM. In Chinese food it’s not real SPAM, but a Chinese SPAM-like tinned meat. Sometimes said meat isn’t in a can and doesn’t require refrigeration. I find that both amazing and frightening.
Did the Hormel Food Corporation think in 1937, the year they released SPAM, it would one day graces the tables of China, being incorporated in staple Chinese dishes? Probably not. Could they have envisioned the joy of a Canadian expatriate in China, eating a can of Shoulder of Pork and Ham manufactured in Korea? Probably not. If I had a time machine I’d travel back to shake the hands of those wonderful, SPAM-creating men.
To accompany the SPAM sandwich(es) I ate while watch Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry in Magnum Force, I drank a can cans of Kingway Super Light Beer. How could you not drink something called Super Light? Is it so light as to be good for you? Is it the Chinese beer equivalent of ambrosia?
Kingway is a Shenzhen, China, Brewery, and is fighting for market share with the Chinese beer dragon, Tsing Tao, the national brand. Heineken International owns a 21% stake in Kingway. The company also produces a beer called Kingway Super Fresh. (aside: that would be a great hip-hop name: MC Super Fresh).
Sorry: Is it the Chinese beer equivalent of ambrosia?
In a word: No. But I am trying to eat healthy. Drinking regular non-super-light beer while eating sandwiches made with tinned meat containing dangerous levels of saturated fat and sodium would not have been especially healthy.
I’m giving serious consideration to translating Monty Python’s Spamalot into Chinese and starting a small theatre company to perform the show. I adapt the script to incorporate Kingway Super Light.
I remember spam…my mom used to pack it in our lunches. That and “potted meat”. It’s handy. I don’t have any but I’m thinking I should keep a couple of can on hand for emergencies…like last December when I couldn’t get out of the drive way for two weeks because of the snow!
.-= Corina´s last blog ..Xuan =-.
The Chinese really do love their Spam. It’s everywhere! Do you have Hans beer in Shenzhen? That’s normally what we drink around here. 3 RMB for a 24 oz bottle of nearly-tasteless beer that provides for a wonderfully severe hangover? Hells yes.
I secretly love SPAM. I grew up eating it, my mom would make it and I thought it was great! I sometimes pick up a can to mix it up, ill have to try it with beer too. 🙂
SPAM in China, too funny. Does the “super light” beer really make up for all the stuff in SPAM?
.-= Shawn´s last blog ..God Is Not Mad At You =-.
Corina: For me, it was canned sardines when I was young. No snow here, but I keep a can or two for typhoon season.
Graham: No Hans beer here. Draft Kingway does cause a hangover that could be used for torture purposes.
Shawn: No, not at all. 🙂
.-= Stevo´s last blog ..Chinese Food: SPAM =-.
who would have thought spam was so big there….
.-= nomadicmatt´s last blog ..Carnival of Blogs #20 =-.
How about: Mild SPAM, Cheese SPAM, Garlic SPAM, BACON SPAM!
http://www.seouleats.com/2009/07/spam-in-can.html
I to am a Spamaholic and was buying it a Carrefour and Market Place in Beijing but, “Whooosh” it disappeared from the shelves and I can only find it at Jennie Lu’s (Spelling). But, a few new Chinese brands sprang up on the shelves and no, nada, cannot compare with good old Spam. To mushy, to much cereal or rice etc. As the old lady said, “Where’s the beef” in this case, “Where’s the pork”? While Spam may be high colesterol, fat and generally not a health food it is on a higher plain of existence than the, “Made in China” stuff. PS I still love hot-pot and Sichuan style cooking, but like you, I want a bit of the old home flavor once in a while. PS again, I like Harbin Beer ice cold and smooth as a cherubs fanny.
Spam seems to have become a hit in many countries, but they really love it in China!
.-= Red Rock´s last blog ..Making Oodles from Noodles =-.