BBC report: The perfect gift for your South Korean faves

[abra]

In South Korea the annual lunar thanksgiving holiday, Chuseok, is celebrated this week. It is celebrated by visiting family, paying respects to ancestors... and the giving and receiving of gifts.

 

BBC recently published a report on one of the most popular yet bizarre gifts, Spam!

 

Read a shortened version of the report below:

 

Chocolat's Tia in a traditional Chuseok costume.

 

 

The pre-cooked tins of pork meat are the stuff of jokes, lunch boxes, wartime memories and, here in South Korea, a low-key, national love affair.

Spam has become a staple of South Korean life, and the country is now the biggest consumer of it outside the US.

Since Spam was launched in the US before World War II, more than seven billion of these chunky little cans have rolled off production lines - like the ones at Spam's South Korean factory in Chuncheong Province.

Here you can find Classic Spam, Mild Spam, Bacon Spam, Garlic Spam…. "If you've got Spam" the slogan on the can proclaims, "you've got it all!"

 

Spam

 

Humble origins

Spam, and its home-grown competitors, are prime gifts for the lunar thanksgiving holiday, and they are displayed with verve, in lavish gift-boxes, sometimes topped with ribbon.

 

 

The premium Black Label hamper will set you back around $75 (£50).

"It has Andalucia Olive Oil, and nine tins of Spam," the company's brand manager, Shin Hyo Eun, explains.

"Spam has a premium image in Korea. It's probably the most desirable gift one could receive, and to help create the high-class image, we use famous actors in our commercials.

 

"Anyone who gets a Spam gift-set also gets a warm feeling in their heart."

Spam does have a different image here, compared with the West. Where else would television commercials show a young couple ditching their romantic dinner to head home for a plate of Spam?

But its origins here are much more humble.

 

Smuggled spam

Spam was introduced to Korea by the US army during the Korean War, when food was scarce - and meat even scarcer. Back then, people used whatever they could find to make a meal.

 

But the appeal of Spam lasted through the years of plenty and it's now so much a part of South Korean food culture, that it's the staple ingredient in one of the country's favourite dishes: budae jigae or army stew.

There are lots of restaurants specialising in it, but the most famous line one particular street, just around the corner from a US military base.

One of the restaurants there is run by Ho Gi-suk.

She claims to have invented Army Stew back in 1954, when someone brought her smuggled spam, sausages and bacon from the local army base. Mrs Ho made them into a spicy soup, and the rest is history.

"Back then," she tells me, "there wasn't a lot to eat. But I acquired some ham and sausages… the only way to get meat in those days was to smuggle it from the army base.

"We had to make do with whatever the soldiers had left over; sometimes it was turkey, sometimes Spam. We'd make a stew with whatever came out, and my recipe was copied and spread throughout Korea."

Army Stew is now well-established as part of South Korea's culinary landscape - as traditional here as Spam gift-sets for thanksgiving.

"It's salty, and greasy, and goes very well with the spices," one customer told me. "Korean soup and American ham - it's the perfect fusion food."

 

Army stew

 

 

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-24140705

 

 

TL;DR:

Your biases ultimate dream gift is a can of processed food looking like ugly ham which is really popular in Korea but considered lower class food in the rest of the world. All of this due to the Korean war. So next time you wonder what you want to send your biases, make their day and send them 100 kilograms of spam!

[DragonFury]

Just like how Pabst Blue Ribbon is supposedly the most expensive beer in China.

[wiz109]

reported for spam

[Hero Kim Jaejoong]

Gross

[AdzPower]

I tried spam once, it's GROSS.

[Schitstainz]

SPAM is fucking awesome. 

 

The only people who don't like it are the ones who don't know how to eat it.

[ksxtryker]

i want spam musubi now...

[heuieuu]

<3 Spam (well Lite Spam)

 

The brand Spam is pretty expensive in Korea (they have other processed hams)

[GodBot]

Spam in Korea is made up of very high quality ham. I want to try them.

[americaneaglelover91]

Spam is super cheap here. I like spam though. Good stuff.

[Holke]

Just like how Pabst Blue Ribbon is supposedly the most expensive beer in China.

SERIOUSLY?

[mistakesweremade]

Just like how Pabst Blue Ribbon is supposedly the most expensive beer in China.

Til China is filled with hipsters.

[DHenchanted]

i've never tried spam

[KBeatZ]

Spam Lite is kinda good 

[plur]

I like army stew

 

It tastes good.

 

And spam!

[Midna]

i freaking love spam/luncheon meat w/e it's called <3

[Your Juan and only]

Spam os amazing seriously though us dominicans love Spam. ♥♥♥

[bab0gum]

but considered lower class food in the rest of the world

 

 

Not really.

 

I love Spam! And Spam in army stew...ugh yum.

[DocumentaLy]

Spam is gross.

[Vanilla21]

I love Spam. I would fry it up and eat with salad or rice

[Someone actually]

I like eating spam sushi :O since I can't stomach the original sushi, my mom makes spam sushi for me whenever we have family gatherings.