Seven things from American that are insanely popular overseas, including Pabst Blue Ribbon in China, Kit-Kat candy bars in Japan, 7-Eleven in Taiwan, David Hasselhoff in Germany and my favorite, Spam in Guam:
It is somehow considered a part of Guam's traditional native cooking, despite only being invented about 70 years ago, with an average of 16 cans per year consumed by every man, woman, and child on the islan
You'd think there must be a story behind that, and there is. Spam's very cheapness made it an ideal military ration during World War II, where U.S. troops stationed in Guam and other Pacific Islands were sometimes forced to eat it for three meals a day.
The Guamanians snapped up the habit, because they weren't exactly stinking rich during the war either. But once the war was over, the American soldiers went home and probably vowed to never look at another can of Spam again, while the people of Guam didn't really have a native Guam diet to go back to.
I almost hate to admit it, but I do like the taste of fried spam, which I sometimes have with my scrambled eggs. It's not a "picked up in the Army" habit, though; it's just one of my strange tastes. There was one year in the military in which rice was served every day, and Kool-Aid was the most available drink, so those are two things you won't find on my menu.
