Konbini Kinyoubi: Spam Chips
Welcome to Konbini Kinyoubi, where every Friday (Kinyoubi) we visit our local convenience store (Konbini) and buy something delicious. This post contains affiliate links. For more information, please read our affiliate disclosure.
The moon landing. The invention of computers. The polio vaccine. Every so often, an event happens that affects all of humanity, altering the breadth of our perception and imagination. When these historic events happen, it’s important for those with a gift for chronicling the collision of the everyday and the cosmic to tell the stories of the great individuals who were at the forefront of these innovations but also those who operated behind the scenes, making history as they improved the lives of everyone on this planet. Today, I count myself among those great chroniclers who were able to cement their place in history by marking humanity’s entry into a new era.
I give you: Spam-flavored potato chips.
That’s right, Spam chips
We were just minding our own business, strolling into a Family Mart in Azabu-Juban to buy some hard candy to help with my heartburn, when we stopped in our tracks at the sight of a magnificent wall of potato chips. Now, my wife LOVES potato chips, so when there’s a new kind, we notice. But these weren’t just any new chips: they were SPAM kind.
From Calbee, they come with a bright pictures of sliced Spam and a can of Spam to let you know they’re meant to taste exactly like the tinned meat product you know and love. Do you know and love it? If you do, you’re probably like me, which means you grew up white trash. Spam gets kind of a bad rap in America, and an ironic one among Monty Python fans. But in Japan it’s a perfectly normal product, and is found in items like Spam musubi, a popular Hawaiian treat.
We were intrigued by the Spam chips, and knew they would make a good blog post. We didn’t buy them because we thought we’d be able to get them at any Family Mart, such as the one near our apartment. We were dismayed a few days later to find that not all Family Marts currently offer this item. But a recent walk of our cute new doggy brought us far from home and to a Famima that offered the mythical Spam chips. Finally, we could take them home and try them to regale you with stories of whether they do, in fact, taste of Spam.
How do Spam chips taste?
As you can see, Spam chips are the classic Lays kind of greasy crisps as opposed to thicker kettle chips or the crunchy ruffled kind. They didn’t look too different from normal chips except for a slight pink hue.
The first bite had a decent crunch, and was nicely salty. But it didn’t really taste of Spam… oh wait… there it is! Just a hint of porky ham flavor. I’d been worried they’d be so overwhelmingly porkalicious that it’d be too much, but that wasn’t the case at all. It was refreshing. Even if you’re an American who’s not used to meat-flavored chips, these could be a nice introduction to the genre. Both Eriko and I liked them and found they had just the right amount of Spam to make them something we’d try again.
We then plastic-wrapped the remainder and waited until the next day. Eriko got them out and took off the wrap, and OH MY. The smell was MUCH more powerful the second day. The taste was too. For whatever reason, the ham flavor and stank were much more potent after letting them sit a day. It was, as we had feared, too much.
“One day is enough,” concluded Eriko. We’d flown too close to the sun and gotten burned. But I shall always remember that first bite and the way it opened me up to bloom as the beautiful rose I always knew I could be.
Are Calbee Spam chips good? A final verdict
Should you buy Spam chips? Spend lots of money to import them to America?
I’d say yes. They’re really good if you eat them all the first day. We like this kind of potato chip, and they’re basically regular crisps with just a little more salt and a tiny sprinkle of Spam flavor that reminds you of sad breakfasts after your parents’ divorce… or whatever it is you associate Spam with. Waikiki? Matt’s house? I had Spam in both those places and it was delicious. It was delicious here as well.
In conclusion: if you’re a Spam fan, you have to try these. If you’re a novelty potato chip flavor fan, you have to try these. If you just enjoy potato chips and don’t care so much about Spam, I still think they’re worth trying, so if you’re lucky enough to find yourself in a Family Mart that carries them, don’t be shy.
