A new limited-edition design on a SPAM can has hit the shelves of grocery stores this week.
The makers of SPAM have partnered with local artist and muralist Kamea Hadar for the limited-edition label. Hadar said he wanted to pay homage to Maui residents impacted by the Aug. 8 wildfires.
The latest Hawai‘i collectors can features the yellow hibiscus, Hawaiʻi's state flower, and the lokelani rose, Maui's flower.
On the back of the can is a rosebud, which Hadar said he designed to be a message to people in Lahaina that they’re not forgotten nearly eight months since the fire.
“I wanted to show one rosebud in full bloom, which is the island of Maui as a whole,” he said. “The rosebud is a nod to Lahaina as a city and how it has a chance to be reborn and regrow into its old grandeur.”
In response to the Maui wildfires, Hormel Foods donated more than $1 million worth of SPAM products — totaling over 264,000 cans — to the affected areas.
Hawai‘i has a unique relationship with SPAM as it is part of the state's main delicacies — dubbed the "darling of local foods."
The canned, spiced ham’s roots go back a few years before World War II when the Minnesota Company Hormel Foods debuted it. SPAM was a World War II ration for soldiers and a nonperishable, inexpensive food choice at the tail-end of the Great Depression.
With its growing popularity, SPAM has been on the shelves of Foodland and 7-Eleven and has been incorporated into menus at fast food restaurants across the state.
It’s been several years since Hawai‘i had a limited-edition collectors can, according to Scott Gamble of LH Gamble Company, a long-standing broker of Hormel Foods in the state.
Past designs featured a car dashboard hula dancer and a shaka holding a SPAM musubi.
Gamble said the collaboration with Hadar happened about six months ago.
“It’s been a lot of fun to see the process unfold and have it in the stores now,” he said. “It’s pretty rewarding."
About 30,000 cases of the limited-edition cans will be available only in Hawai‘i, which Gamble said will be out for a few months.
The average price of SPAM is $3.19, although it’s about a dollar cheaper if retailers promote it.
Hadar said to be on the lookout for the limited-edition cans in a pop-up vending machine at the annual SPAM Jam in Waikīkī on April 27. Some cans may have a golden ticket for people to win a special prize.
