[wideopenjake]

As far as Spam Musubi - the US military brought Spam to the islands during WWII, and it quickly became available off-base. Combined with wartime fishing restrictions on the islands, the quickly became the easiest meat source available to locals. They made do with what they had, and spam sushi was invented along the way. Eventually, it took on a cult following of its own, and the rest is history - but Spam's place on the Hawaiian Islands originally comes from hardships imposed by the US military occupying the islands during WWII.