SPAM. Not the sort of spam that you get in your inbox, but the kind that one finds in America. Okay, okay, the other kind is prevalent in America too! The first time I had SPAM that I liked was when it was fried and served with rice. SPAM is more popular in Hawaii as a result of the its introduction to Hawaii during WWII.
SPAM as a canned meat product was invented by Hormel in 1937 as “SPicy meat and hAM” and the use of spam for unwanted junk mail is from a 1970 Monty Python sketch partially quoted here:
Waitress: Well, there’s egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam …
Chorus of Vikings (chanting): Spam spam spam spam …
Waitress: … spam spam spam egg and spam; spam spam spam spam spam spam baked beans spam spam spam …
Vikings (singing): Spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam!
SPAM is best eaten warm and fried, but it is also good in a sandwich or a soup. SPAM is a potted meat sort of like a sausage encased in metal instead of intestine. People have strong feelings about SPAM but I think of like sausage. Another thing that should be fried and warm when eaten. And like sausage, you do not want to think too much about what is in it or how it is made.
In the way of urban legends, there is also that idea that SPAM tastes like human and that is why it was so popular in the former Sandwich islands (Hawaii) where the original inhabitants did eventually boil up Captain Cook… such an unfortunate name…
Poke, pronounced “poh-key”, is a Hawaiian raw fish salad, usually made with tuna. In Hawaii, this salad is made with raw tuna cubes, soy sauce, onion, garlic, sesame seed oil, and chili flakes. With endless variations.
Poke is similar to carpaccio (Peruvian style from Santo Domingo above), tartare salad (the one in the photo has a poached egg on top), or donburi (similar to donburi, 
Here in Peru, I’ve had poke in Jeronimo’s (see photo above)and I expect to see the appearance on many more menus in the future. Lima has all the necessary ingredients: fresh fish, Japanese cultural influence, and a flourishing gastronomic scene.
