Spam Is So Beloved in Asia That One Company Has Invented a Meat-Free Version
Nobody loves Spam more than people in Asia. In fact, it accounts for 39% of luncheon meat sales, with China, South Korea and Japan being the top consumers. Now, Hong Kong-based OmniFoods has invented a plant-based alternative to Spam. The Omni-Spam is visually indistinguishable from spam, and when the pink slabs are put into a hot pan, they give off the same intensely meaty aroma. As for the taste, Omni-Spam tastes exactly the same: salty, fatty and rich. The biggest difference is that the plant-free product comes in frozen packs of six, rather than as a canned block of meat. Given the popularity of Spam in Asia, the company was confident that there was a market for its meat-free alternative, but they had no idea it would explode in sales the way it has.