I only had it recently for the first time. Despite being widely seen in the US as a "poor people" food, inflation seems to have hit Spam pretty hard--I'm pretty sure the tin was over $4!
That said, while it looked rather unappetizing in its canned loaf shape, it's mostly pork shoulder, and after I cubed it and pan-fried it for a bit, it tasted like a crunchier ham steak. It was quite delightful when mixed into fried rice.
I remember being called in to make my screaming little brother (he was 5 to my 9) eat this horrible crap. My brotherly advice - "Eat it or I will kill you". Frankly, it didn't work, and I could hardly eat the stuff myself.
I didn't eat semolina for literally decades after the UK school dinner experience. When I finally had some that was properly prepared it was delicious. Who knew.
And the spam fritters - that is a nightmare I had totally suppressed until it was just mentioned up above.
> that is a nightmare I had totally suppressed until it was just mentioned up above
Sorry! Perhaps I can defuse the situation a little bit by mentioning the hard brown tiles (of shortbread?) with the pink 'custard'. These weren't nauseating, just merely inedible.
That said, while it looked rather unappetizing in its canned loaf shape, it's mostly pork shoulder, and after I cubed it and pan-fried it for a bit, it tasted like a crunchier ham steak. It was quite delightful when mixed into fried rice.