Why Spam is part of Asian-American cuisine

Plus: Arlington Cemetery and the meaning of walls |

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. SUBSCRIBE to TIME Magazine May 30, 2019 By Lily Rothman Spam gets a bad rap as a food, but the ingredient is undergoing something of a renaissance thanks to a new generation of Asian-American chefs giving canned meat a high-end culinary twist. But how did Spam make its way into Asian cultures in the first place? The story goes back to World War II and the deployment of American troops in the Pacific. To this day, the food still carries the complex history of that era. Click here to learn more, and to meet the chefs who are writing the next chapter of that story. Here's more of the history that made news this week: HISTORY ON TIME.COM Why Do People Build Walls? The real story of Jericho offers a surprising answer Why the History of Navassa Island Matters The U.S. and Haiti both lay claim to the land The Origins of Arlington National Cemetery The first national Memorial Day celebration held at Arlington National Cemetery took place in 1868. Here's how the tradition has evolved A Long-Lost Account of the Communist Takeover of Shanghai A recently rediscovered diary recounts the harrowing final days of the fighting that brought the Communists to power Remembering the Military Brothers Lost at Pearl Harbor Among the USS Arizona dead at Pearl Harbor were 63 brothers who had chosen to serve together FROM THE TIME VAULT Today in 2005: The Class of 9/11 “Whatever their image of West Point when they applied, their expectations of a peacetime Army were just another casualty of 9/11. Less than a month into their first semester, the world changed, the mission of the U.S. military changed, and the academy that produces its leaders, a place so dense with ancient tradition and ceremonial weaponry that it feels more like the Harvard of Sparta, would have to reinvent itself as well.’” (May 30, 2005) Read the full story This Week in 1976: Paul McCartney “Beatles are legend. McCartney, 33, is here, right now, in barnstorming triumph, making his first concert tour of the States since he and his three noted mates sang their last song together at San Francisco's Candlestick Park in the late summer of 1966. McCartney still draws many of the Beatles faithful, to be sure. He has also found a whole new audience, his audience. They have come to hear him, not history.” (May 31, 1976) Read the full story This Week in 2000: Last Letters Home “The mundane details of life in the U.S.—the score of Friday night's football game, the pattern of a soft cotton dress bought special on Main Street—have always been the rare joy of American soldiers far from home. For every Dear John letter serving notice that a soldier had been dumped by his best girl, a thousand others served warm reminders of Mom's cooking for a holiday picnic under the oak tree in the backyard. And it was in this home-and-hearth spirit that the doughboys, G.I.s and grunts wrote back.” (May 29, 2000) Read the full story HIGHLIGHTS FROM AROUND THE WEB What Remains Richard Fausset reports for the New York Times on the latest beat in the hunt for the last ship to have brought enslaved people to the U.S.: Historians in Alabama now think they’ve found its wreckage. School Paper A very particular slice of culture history comes to life at Esquire in Lili Anolik’s oral history of Bennington College in the mid-1980s, when writers like Donna Tartt and Bret Easton Ellis were students there. Drink Up NPR’s Rae Ellen Bichell interviews a “self-proclaimed beer archaeologist” about his experiments recreating ancient brews for present-day drinkers. Controversial Past In the wake of publishing a book that challenges the stereotypical narrative about Jack the Ripper, historian Hallie Rubenhold has suffered “constant trolling,” reports Mark Brown at The Guardian. (And here’s TIME.com’s coverage of the book from its release earlier this year.) In Remembrance The sudden death this week of historian Tony Horwitz shocked his colleagues and readers. Here, Jill Lepore remembers him for The New Yorker. To Unsubscribe Unsubscribe here if you do not want to receive this newsletter. Update Email Click here to update your email address. Privacy Policy Please read our Privacy Policy. TIME may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. For Further Communication Please email history@time.com TIME USA, LLC 225 Liberty Street New York, NY 10128 Connect with TIME Find TIME on Facebook Follow TIME on Twitter Subscribe to more TIME Newsletters Get TIME on your Mobile Device Get TIME on your iPad Subscribe to RSS Feed