Hawaiian Steak

I have been off food this week as it appears that there is a stomach bug doing the rounds, or at least in the circles that I frequent.

My normal workload involving visiting other people's houses can expose me to a variety of domestic germs and with an upsurge in appointments over the last couple of weeks I seem to have had more than the usual dosage of maladies, either airborne or from general contact with the general public.

I did harbour some bad thoughts about a takeaway meal in the preceding 24 hours of my feeling a bit peeky but kept them to myself. In fact it was a very nice meal and I had posted a most complimentary review on the ordering website just after cleaning out the foil tray.

Family members have fallen by the wayside and a work colleague has also been struck down and so the source of the outbreak must after all be a virus rather than anything self inflicted through greed or gluttony.

Feeling averse to eating anything is not a problem.

The main issue is when your body decides to return to normal and gives reassuring signals that it is time to take on some sustenance to revitalise energy, metabolism and wellbeing.

It is not that a full plate of food is required but just a gentle easing in with a bit of a snack although providing good nutrients to aid recovery.

Still feeling a bit delicate and wary about venturing too far from the home in case of a relapse of symptoms I decided to make a search through the most infrequently opened food storage cupboard in the kitchen for something to eat.

The cupboard concerned has a content to be found in just about every household.

It is a place for stock tinned foods such as tomatoes and a variety of beans, impulse purchases of an adventurous culinary nature ie foreign origin, dried pastas mostly in alphabet shapes, canned fruits and custards, small ring pull containers of sardines or anchovies, packets of soup, cous-cous and savoury rice and jars of gifted jam and honey. Collectively, these are enough to fashion something of a meal but not, in my post-upset frame of mind sufficient to satisfy the early stages of a craving.

Sticking my head into that dark space I spied, right at the back, the distinctive shape and labelling of a tin of SPAM.

That canned pre-cooked meat product and me have a bit of history.

Growing up in the 1960's it was a regular and favourite tea time menu item but not only was it a utilitarian food but in a sandwich with crisps, sat in the back of a crowded family car looking out to a wet and windy seaside scene there could be nothing better to catch the moment.

SPAM is an interesting thing.

It was first introduced to United States consumers  in 1937 and may not have been able to find a global market had it not been for its widespread distribution and use amongst the Allied Forces in the Second World War.

It met, in those austere times, the brief for an affordable foodstuff with an extended shelf life and even though its nutritional content would be frowned upon today there will not have been many other as efficient methods for fighting troops to get fat and protein in such a concentrated form. In the wartime years some £150 million was spent by Governments on SPAM.

The original producers did insist on using good ingredients of pork shoulder meat blended with ham and bound together with potato starch, natural flavourings and a preservative. This contrasted with competitor products who used lips, tongues and snouts.Ugh nasty.

Numerous legends and misinformations revolve around SPAM, no more so than the derivation of its very name.

Actually meaning "SPiced hAM" it was also reputed to be an abbreviated version of "SPAre Meat", "Shoulders of Pork and hAM" or in the ubiquitous military context as "Specially Processed American Meat" or "SPecial Army Meat".

Even after being used as a staple of rations in wartime , SPAM remained in production achieving the milestone of seven billion cans sold by 2007 and is still going strong today.

Hawaii is currently the largest consumer with baby boomers and subsequent generations absorbing it into their food culture after US Forces stationed there in the 1940's brought it to the attention of the nation.

In other global markets SPAM has retained similar nostalgia with Margaret Thatcher whilst Prime Minister of Great Britain referring to it as a "wartime delicacy".

Retrieving my lone tin from the aforementioned larder cupboard and recalling the heritage of the product I made a point of checking the sell by date. It was sufficiently well into the 21st Century to give me confidence in opening it up.

What to do with it was a challenge.

There is a regional delicacy in my area of a SPAM Yorkshire Breakfast.

How about a positively exotic SPAMish Omelette?

Mashed up with cooked potatoes makes for a good SPAM Hash.

Not for me those delicacies. I just went for my absolute favourite. SPAM fritters.

Just the thing to get me back on my feet and fighting, if not actually, fit.