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TheBuzz

BY ERIKA ENGLE

Spam ‘sushi’ now
a Hawaii favorite

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At least, that's what was announced by an Associated Press story heard around the world. OK, the story really was that the 78 McDonald's restaurants in Hawaii have begun offering Spam with eggs and rice for breakfast.

The e-mail spread like, well, spam this week, hitting the pages of the New York Times and Chicago Tribune and the Web sites of other newspapers and television stations from the East Coast to Guam; it was among the most frequently e-mailed items from Yahoo.com.

Melanie Okazaki, marketing manager for McDonald's Restaurants of Hawaii, has been interviewed for upcoming stories in U.S. News & World Report, Nation's Restaurant News and PR Week.

"It's amazing how this thing has been developing a life of its own," Okazaki said. "They all find it fascinating that here in Hawaii ... Spam is viewed as part of our local culture."

Something else got lost in the translation, though. The AP story also said, "A favorite local variation is Spam sushi."

Clearly an inaccurate reference to Spam musubi.

Okazaki told the Star-Bulletin she had explained for the uninitiated that "Spam musubi" is sort of a variation of sushi which may be the origin of the AP's egregious culinary confusion.

It has been said that "there's no such thing as bad publicity," and the case in point may be that due to PR efforts by McDonald's of Hawaii the whole nation knows about the islands' attraction to Spam. Meanwhile, other McDonald's regional specialties are practically unknown.

The chain offers several regional specialties such as Hispanic foods in Southern California; a hot and spicy menu in Louisiana; seafood-related items in the Northeast; and in the South, biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast, Okazaki said.

The Minnesota-made Hawaii favorite will be on the menu through Aug. 1, she said. The possibility of it becoming a permanent offering will be decided by representatives from the Pacific Sierra Region and menu management at the Illinois headquarters.

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Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com