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For a four-letter word with only six components, spam is a complicated food. American reporters commented on its unique high and low appeal here in the United States-spam is both a cheap food and a trend of fake food. However, although our relationship with US spam is complex, its impact is even greater. Spam has become a staple food in many Asian countries, but for the older generation, due to the repeated deployment and subsequent occupation of the United States during the war, the existence of spam has left people with an aftertaste of US imperialism. OmniFoods, headquartered in Hong Kong, is clearing this slab. Its OmniPork Luncheon (aka vegan spam) eliminates the cruel and complicated history of pig-based spam. Now that it has been launched in the United States, OmniPork is setting out to satisfy our cravings in a more compassionate way. Here is what you need to know about spam and its vegan successors. 

When OmniPork was launched in Hong Kong in 2018, the vegetarian world stood up to applause. This plant-based pork product is the first of its kind-the victory of OmniFoods. This food technology company belongs to the project of Green Monday Group, a multinational sustainable development organization founded by entrepreneur David Yeung in Hong Kong. 

In 2020, the brand launched a vegetarian luncheon meat, aimed at fighting the spread of spam in Asia. Although deeply ingrained in Asian culture, the food technology company responsible for creating this product is not Asian—it's Canadian. The slogan of OmniPork is "Western Innovation x Asian Applications". 

Yang assured us that although the development took place in Canada, many Asian Canadians were also part of this process. Yeung explained: “We are fortunate to have a very experienced R&D team of food scientists who have an Asian background and understand how Asians use meat in cooking in different ways. [Green Monday Group] is headquartered in Asia , So from the very beginning, our R&D direction has been to develop new innovations that suit our cooking and eating styles."

Green Monday Group has clear instructions to its R&D team. The product not only needs to taste like spam, but it also smells like spam. Yang said: "Luncheon meat has a unique fragrance. It evokes childhood memories of many people. Therefore, to do this well, of course texture and nutrition [is] vital."

There is no doubt that vegetarians object to animal-based spam for a variety of reasons. There are animal slaughter, environmental degradation, social justice issues caused by CAFO, and harm to human health. However, in the case of spam, another pressing factor is the pressing problem: imperialism.

Created by Hormel in 1937, the original pig-based spam (and turkey option) was a mixture of processed pork and ham, water, sugar, modified potato starch, and sodium nitrate. American soldiers carry it as a convenient, high-calorie food during wartime deployments and occupations. However, soldiers stationed in Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and other Pacific island countries do not always like this salted pork product. It will eventually enter the hands of local communities and obtain food through American alms. The soldier proposed. 

As a result, local residents began to incorporate spam into their dishes. In South Korea, there is budae jjigae; in Hawaii (not a state of the United States during World War II), spam musubi; in Guam, spam fried rice. Once the occupied American troops left these areas, the spam did not disappear with them—it exploded and changed from a food equivalent to struggle and wartime to a real delicacy. Today, South Korea is the second largest consumer of canned pork after the United States. Guam, a small country, wins with an astonishing 16 cans of junk food per capita per year. Overall, Spam ranks sixth in the canned food category of the Asian Top 1,000 Brands of the Year, and has become a part of the cuisine of many Asian countries, as well as Asian American tastes. 

Fast forward to today, like many other industrialized processed meat products, spam is being censored. In 2015, a Hormel slaughterhouse was selected to participate in a pilot program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that would remove the upper limit of the hog slaughter rate. Prior to this plan, the slaughterhouse was restricted to 1,106 pigs per hour. According to the new modernization guidelines for pork slaughter, this upper limit was lifted, allowing unregulated slaughtering at an alarming rate. Although the animal outlook secret investigation documented severe animal abuse and workers scrambling to keep up, the plan was completed in 2019 and expanded to all pig slaughterhouses across the country. Hormel and other pork businesses are now killing pigs faster than ever before, regardless of the welfare of animals or workers. No matter how many Michelin stars or James Beard awards a chef has won, this is a terrible taste that cannot be cooked by a chef. 

Although the speed of slaughter is unregulated, pork production has unexpectedly declined in recent years, falling by 15% from 2019 to 2020. Given that plant-based meat sales have increased by 45% over the same period, it is reasonable to assume that vegan meat products are at least partly responsible for the decline in pork production. The plant-based shift appears to be largely due to the increased availability of vegan meats such as OmniPork. 

Currently, OmniPork is available in more than 300 restaurants in Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Macau and Hong Kong. Consumers can also find OmniPork at hundreds of retailers in these regions and parts of mainland China. Just like the integration of Beyond and Impossible Burger into American fast food culture, the OmniPork option gives customers the opportunity to reduce their meat consumption while still enjoying their favorite food and restaurants. After all, as long as customers get their pork dumplings, whether they are made of plants or not. As long as dumplings evoke the same sensory experience, most people may not mind that they are not made of animals.

If OmniPork can further suppress consumers' taste for meat, let the vegetarian luncheon meat come. The launch of OmniPork in the United States is limited to 10 restaurants (see below), but plans to launch retail stores nationwide this summer. Given that these restaurants are making juicy OmniPork buns, layered OmniPork sushi, and sweet and sour Bora Bora OmniPork meatballs, Americans will soon be fascinated by this vegetarian spam. 

OmniPork is launched in these US locations:

Tanya Flink is the digital editor of VegNews and a writer and fitness enthusiast living in Orange County, California.

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