Spam heists in Hawaii prompt retailers to put the wildly popular canned meat in locked cases

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
Last month in the Pearl City community on Oahu, Safeway customer Arlene Sua watched as a man suddenly grabbed eight cases of Spam and headed for the door. She thought “‘Okay, this isn’t real. No, he’s not going to take it, no, no,” she told KHON TV.

But it was real. The man took off with the Spam and disappeared.

Elsewhere on the island at about the same time, three women loaded up shopping carts at a Long’s drugstore with 18 cases of — you guessed it — Spam. They made a rush for the exit. Fortunately, an alert customer, Kurt Fevella, saw the attempted heist in progress, stationed himself at the door on Spam patrol and stopped them in their tracks. They shoved the carts toward at him and took off, Fevella told KITV4.

A shop at a downtown mall wasn’t so lucky. The Honolulu Police Department is now offering a $1,000 reward for a man (and an apparent accomplice) who entered a store on Oct. 3, grabbed a case of Spam and punched a security guard who attempted to stop him.

Police reported that the thief “fled in an unknown direction.”

These Spam snatchers are not hungry people desperate for Spam, said Tina Yamaki, president of the Retail Merchants of Hawaii. They are most likely part of a Spam black market that’s taking off in a state where the demand for Spam knows no bounds.

“It’s a staple,” Yamaki told The Washington Post.

The thefts have proliferated to the point that some businesses are putting Spam in plastic cases under lock and key, she said, along with the more conventional and more expensive shoplifting targets such as electronics, Gillette Power Fusion razor refills and, as it happens, canned corned beef, also popular in Hawaii.

Yamaki thinks Spam has become a form of currency, particularly for drug addicts in need of quick cash. With Spam selling for roughly $2.50 per 12-ounce can (depending on where in Hawaii you look), a thief who paid nothing for an 8-pack or a case of 12 can turn a decent profit underselling the retailers from whom they stole.

“It’s organized retail crime,” said Yamaki. “It’s not like ‘I’m going in to steal Spam to feed my family. I’m going in with a list of things I want to steal.’”

The thieves work in teams, one to distract onlookers, the others to “run out with Spam.”

“We hear a lot of rumors where it’s going,” Yamaki said. “We’ve heard they work through middlemen. We’ve heard that they’re selling it from the back of their cars. We’ve heard all kinds of rumors. Whether they’re true or not, I’m not sure.”

To some mainland Americans, this may all seem funny. But mainlanders often think of Spam either as junk email or a cheap meat that comes in a can and has no taste, which is true if you just eat plain Spam from a can. After all, how flavorful is a mixture of pork with ham, salt, water, potato starch, sugar and sodium nitrite?

But in Hawaii, nobody eats it plain out of the can. They eat “Spam fried rice,” or “Spam and eggs” or a Korean spam stew called budae jjigae and especially Spam musubi, a sushi-like snack of cooked rice, Spam and often teriyaki sauce all wrapped in seaweed. (Try it in Hawaii, you’ll like it, Anthony Bourdain once advised. “They love it,” he said. “They’ll make you love it.”)

And they eat it in vast quantities and have since World War II, when conventional meat was scarce and the thousands of GIs based in Hawaii ate the Hormel product as lunch meat.

Now Hawaii residents consume more per capita than any other state, some five million pounds a year, “six cans for every man, woman and child,” as National Geographic once noted with a dash of disapproval, commenting that “a 12-oz can is supposed to contain six servings, and each serving includes 25 percent of the U.S. recommended daily fat intake and 33 percent of a day’s sodium.”

But in Hawaii, they don’t make fun of Spam. They celebrate Spam, literally, with an annual “Spam Jam” in Waikiki.

But thefts of Spam in bulk, by the case, appear to be a relatively recent phenomenon, Yamaki said. She attributes the thefts to a state law enacted last year that changed the definition of a felony from a theft worth at least $350 or to one worth at least $750.

So a thief could make off with about 300 cans before risking a felony charge. “They steal right under” that $750 cutoff, Yamaki said.

That’s why the Oahu online publication, Honolulu Civil Beat, found cans of Spam locked up in a case at a Walgreens this week.

“Items electronically monitored for theft,” said the sign.

Psst...wanna buy some Spam?

:lmao: :lmao: :lmao:
 

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
Black market SPAM. :lol:

I know, right? Drugs for Spam. :killingme

I lived in Hawaii when I was very young but Spam was one of the things my dad fell in love with and we had it quite often growing up elsewhere. Usually fried Spam sammiches or Spam-potato hash although I am sure there are some dishes I have blocked from memory, thank goodness! :lol:
 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
Black market SPAM. :lol:

Wasn't Obama a Hawaiian import? Didn't his Grandma raise him there from the age of 10?
How come we never heard of him eating Spam in the WH?

Guess you lose your taste for it after eating really expensive Wagyu steak
 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
I know, right? Drugs for Spam. :killingme

I lived in Hawaii when I was very young but Spam was one of the things my dad fell in love with and we had it quite often growing up elsewhere. Usually fried Spam sammiches or Spam-potato hash although I am sure there are some dishes I have blocked from memory, thank goodness! :lol:

I like Spam sandwich's and it's great for breakfast, but for something that is merely the trimmings and waste from other ham products , it's too damned expensive.
 

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
I like Spam sandwich's and it's great for breakfast, but for something that is merely the trimmings and waste from other ham products , it's too damned expensive.

And why they steal it. Black market gold. Back then in the 60s on an enlisted man's salary with a wife and 3 kids living in Hawaii, I am sure it was very cheap at the commissary and a big part of us having it.
 
sspam_spamcanopener_100-100.gif
 

gemma_rae

Well-Known Member
I like Spam sandwich's and it's great for breakfast, but for something that is merely the trimmings and waste from other ham products , it's too damned expensive.

Watch the sale ads, about once a month you can catch a BOGO sale. The salt content is a natural preservative and it will keep until the rapture!

Ever grilled it with a pineapple juice/brown sugar glaze, or marinated in teriyaki?:drool: Mmmm
 

Hijinx

Well-Known Member
Watch the sale ads, about once a month you can catch a BOGO sale. The salt content is a natural preservative and it will keep until the rapture!

Ever grilled it with a pineapple juice/brown sugar glaze, or marinated in teriyaki?:drool: Mmmm

To be honest I never thought of trying to make a gourmet meal out of it.
I just fry it.
But maybe I will give a try to some of the more interesting menus for it.
 

DEEKAYPEE8569

Well-Known Member

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member

jazz lady

~*~ Rara Avis ~*~
PREMO Member
No I didn't. I did know about the bacon and jalapeno though.

I wonder if the teriyaki flavoring is very strong? Sometimes too much can get a little overwhelming so I don't marinate it long, more like a baptism.:lol:

I do the same when I use teriyaki for chicken. No clue on how strong the Spam teriyaki flavor is and I don't intend to find out. :lol:
 
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