On Saturday, April 25, 2009, visitors to Waikiki will get a big helping of Hawaii’s unique culinary tastes when the 7th Annual Waikiki SPAM® Jam returns to the 50th State.
On that Saturday, from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., the Waikiki SPAM®; Jam will fill Kalakaua Avenue in the heart of Waikiki with one of the largest street festivals in honor of Hawaii's love affair with the lovable luncheon meat.
Do you like SPAM® so much that you'd consider trying it in just about any form? Well, consider SPAM® Katsu, SPAM® Won Ton, SPAM® Pan Lau Lau, SPAM® Ravioli, SPAM® Tacos, SPAM® Poke … They're dishes worked up by participating restaurants in last year's SPAM Jam®.
Hawaii's most talented chefs will staff food booths serving unique SPAM® menu items to more than 20,000 SPAM® fans expected to attend this annual event. Food booths include: Cheeseburger Beachwalk, Chibo Okonomiyaki, Coconut Willy's, Doraku Sushi, Duke's in Waikiki, Frank Pai's Deli, K's Restaurant, Gordon Biersch, Jimmy Buffet's, Murphy's Bar & Grill, PF Chang's and Shack Waikiki.
Throughout the night, revelers will enjoy live entertainment on two stages with Hawaiian music accompanied with traditional hula halaus.
There will also be a variety of craft booths and the always popular SPAM® memorabilia - that includes Spam Jam t-shirts, slippers and cookbooks.
Booths will have been set up by volunteers to help collect donations of for the Hawaii Food Bank. Bring a can of SPAM® and drop it off at either of two Foodbank tents. Then you can enter to win a trip for two to the neighbor island of your choice, Waikiki SPAM Jam® merchandise, restaurant gift certificates, and other prizes. Organizers hope to collect a can of SPAM® from each attendee – which could easily be 20,000 cans of SPAM®!
The Hawaii Foodbank is the only nonprofit 501(c)(3) agency in the state of Hawaii that collects, warehouses, and distributes mass quantities of both perishable and non-perishable food to 250 member agencies as well as food banks on the Big Island, Maui, and Kauai. The Hawaii Foodbank forms a vital link between the food donors and its member agencies by providing services in collecting, sorting, salvaging, and distributing food. The Hawaii Foodbank also supports its member agencies through financial and educational assistance. Last year, the Waikiki SPAM Jam® garnered 6,849 pounds of SPAM® for the Hawaii Foodbank. Since 2004, it has donated more than 10,000 pounds of SPAM® to the Hawaii Foodbank.
Sponsors include Queen Emma Land Company, Outrigger and Ohana Hotels, Mokulele Airlines, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin/MidWeek and Hormel Foods.
Introduced in 1937 by Hormel Foods, more SPAM® is consumed per capita in Hawaii than any other state in the U.S. More than seven million cans of SPAM are consumed in Hawaii each year, making the Aloha State the unofficial SPAM® capital of the U.S. SPAM® is manufactured in the U.S. by Hormel Foods Corporation, based in Austin, Minnesota.
Additional information regarding SPAM® is available at spamjamhawaii.com.
