I want a spam gift set.

I grew up eating spam, as I mentioned in class on Thursday. When my family wanted something warm and spicy, my parents would always make kimchi jigae with spam. Sometimes my mom gave my brother and me spam because I think she believed that children needed to have their meat protein intake. But when we couldn't make dishes like bulgogi or kalbi (another Korean bbq dish), she would whip out the spam. It's funny because the only other people I could connect with and talk about spam during high school was other Koreans and Korean Americans. But aside from all the cultural, social, political implications spam has in American society and abroad, I thought it was absolutely hilarious that in Korea they had spam gift sets.

According to CJ Corp., a South Korean spam distributor, Korea is the only country that sells spam in gift sets (article link). While I think it's hilarious that Korea has it in gift sets, the fact that there is so much spam in Korea makes me kind of sad. While I love the salty and crispiness of spam, and am not ashamed to admit that I love the mystery meat, I can't help but be reminded that spam is a mark of the United States military during the Korean War and after--a mark that continues to influence people in Korea and Koreans abroad.

A friend once told me, while enjoying a slice of flan at a fundraising event for Southeast Asian Alliance, that she couldn't help but see the influence Spanish colonization that was so evident in the flan that she was eating. I am also beginning to see the effects of colonized, occupied countries like Vietnam by the French, Philippines by the Spain, Korea by Japan and (although arguably) by America, etc. But at the same time, although foods like spam was something that was brought over by American military influences, it has still become a part of Korean culture, and especially Korean American culture. To what extent is it evidence of colonization and to what extent is it just a part of culture? These are questions that I ask myself all the time and probably will not be able to answer for a long time.

But while I wait, I think I'll buy myself a spam gift set.