I Can't Believe It's Not Luncheon Meat!

By Lee Yu Kit

Jan 6, 2021

Luncheon meat was a staple of my early years. I ate enough of it to keep the local distributor prosperous, if not tilt the trade balance with China. Luncheon meat came in cans from China, although the original product is actually SPAM, by Hormel Foods of the US. It was the right product at the right time, meeting a need for an inexpensive source of meat during the Great Depression, and becoming globally popular after WW2, thanks to its wide distribution wherever US troops went.

Luncheon Meat is still hugely popular, although we now know that it’s a highly processed meat, high in saturated fats, carcinogenic preservatives and low in nutrients, and even protein. But it tastes good, being a mainstay of chap fan (economy rice) vendors and a cheap and tasty, if nastily unhealthy food. 

The Failure of Innovation

First Published in  The Star, Malaysia  March 26, 2015

Is it enough to be innovative to be successful?

Innovation … it’s a frequently encountered buzzword, appropriated by everyone from politicians to CEOs and all the way down the pecking order.  That’s understandable.  Enormous economic value is attributed to the innovativeness of companies and governments. The glitterati of the tech world – the Googles, Facebooks and Apples – are widely perceived to be innovative companies.  The poster child for innovation is often held up to be Silicon Valley, which has created a multibillion dollar industry affecting all aspects of our lives, from what was essentially land under fruit orchards.