
MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – The Philippines already holds the record of social media capital and selfie capital of the world, and now it is aiming for yet another Guinness honor — that of SPAM capital of the world.
Filipinos are using social media platforms 53 hours a week. That’s a whole 11 hours more than the global average of 42 hours according to a global study.
Now, Filipinos want to be recognized for SPAM, not the annoying, unsolicited mail or posts one gets on email or social media accounts. Rather, the canned SPAM meat manufactured by Hormel Foods.
Right now, the U.S. territory of Guam is recognized as the SPAM capital of the world, followed by the state of Hawaii (thanks to the enormous popularity of SPAM sushi). The Philippines is unofficially in third place. Filipinos want their SPAM for breakfast (with fried rice and eggs) and as special food fare when they have visitors.
So, might as well aim to be No. 1 in SPAM consumption, right?
In order to achieve this honor, the Philippines’ Department of Tourism and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) have launched a joint program to encourage overseas Filipinos, especially those in the United States, to double or triple their SPAM shipment via Balikbayan boxes to their relatives in the Philippines.
“If each overseas Filipino worker sends at least a case of SPAM to their Filipino relatives twice a year, we can easily break Guam’s and Hawaii’s records,” the POEA said.
Oh, and make that SPAM Tocino, please!
