One summer when I was in London and shopping for groceries, I came across “Zwan”, a spiced turkey-based canned meat. It seemed to be marketed as a “halal” (Islamic analogue of kosher) version of Spam. I didn’t try any (but, being Muslim and denied the forbidden Spam-fruit, I was extremely tempted), so I’m wondering if any UK-Dopers have ever seen and tasted this bizarre thing…
Sort of reminds me of a long-standing theological debate I’ve had with a cousin: if you keep halal/kosher, can you eat Bacos?
Here is Israel we have what I can only imagine is a Kosher version of Spam, commonly known as “Loof”. I’m not exactly sure what’s in there, but it’s less pink than I understand spam is. Loof is mainly served in the military, and has become quite an icon in that capacity.
So if anyone’s interested, I’m quite sure I can round up a few boxes and send it to you to taste and/or chemically analyze…
It’s actually rather good when you get a break during a 4 hour patrol…
Dubi
In high school, I used to go to the corner deli at lunch time and order a Chicken roll sandwich. Chicken roll was sliced from a huge meat tube. It looked like white bologna. My understanding was that it was composed of processed ungodly chicken parts.
I know you’re thinking “McNuggets”, but it didn’t taste like that crap at all. It was actually really yummy. It tasted like turkey but it was very lean and it didn’t make me sleepy.
I went back to the deli a few months ago and Steve the owner told me that Chicken Roll is no longer being produced. I was shattered. Seems like that’s the closest we’ll get to “Spicken”.
Funny, I was just thinking about Loof yesterday.
Haven’t had that either, but I keep trading tales about Spam-substitute run-ins with an Israeli friend.
When my roommate and I first moved out to Los Angeles–and didn’t yet have a fridge or microwave–he would make fried Spam sandwiches. And baked Spam sandwiches. And boiled Spam sandwiches. At that point, I was ready to decorate the apartment with rotting eggs if it would improve the aroma…
Anyone know if I’m correct in remembering hearing that Spam was once a standard part of GI emergency field rations? If so, was there a high-calorie substitute for non-pork eaters?
Five: There are many decent veggie pates available, made out of all sorts of luscious green things. Check out Les Trois Petits Cochons, pate makers to the stars. Of course, you’ll be paying pate prices rather than Spam prices. Alternatively, you could try a good vegetarian gourmet cookbook, which will probably include instructions for mashing eggplants and peppers and squash and garlic into yummy paste and gooshing it into a terrine pan.
Alphagene: Mmmmmmmmm. Chicken Loaf. A guilty pleasure of my youth. Haven’t had any in years, so your post saddened me for about fourteen seconds. I’ll betcha it’s still around; you’re just looking in places that are too upscale to keep it in stock. Get out and mix with the People, man.
One thing that’s always bugged me about delis in New York is the limitation to roast beef, turkey, salamis, hams. When I visit relatives in Cleveland, I enjoy the cross-pollenization of Mitteleuropeans and poor folks, which results in many zany meat byproduct combinations. Like Dutch Loaf, a slicable beef/pork mixture. Probably has a lot of snouts and tails in it, but damn, it’s good. Up in saltwater Maine there’s also a lot a poverty, and a wide selection of Meat Food In Tubes.
Alphagene: You’re always welcome to Israel, where Chicken Rolls are always on sale everywhere.
That’s what you get when you’re not allowed to raise pigs on Holy Land.
