Spam first appeared in 1937, a processed combination of pork shoulder, ham, water, starch, salt and preservatives.
By the end of WWII, the US army had purchased almost 75 million kilograms of Spam for its troops, and its the continued distribution of the small tins of ham during military action that have seen Spam make a culinary impact in some unusual places.
Spams presence in South Korea is even more intriguing. Towards the end of the Korean War, displaced locals in many decimated villages were given intermittent handouts of food from US Army bases.
Koreans developed a dish that combined these ingredients with their own gochujang (Korean chilli paste), rice noodles, tofu and kimchi. Called budae jjigae, or troop stew.
Today, Koreans value Spam as a luxury rather than a necessity. Celebrities appear in television commercials for the tinned meat, and markets even sell gold-trimmed gift boxes full of tins of Spam - considered the ultimate lunar thanksgiving gift.
