Chef Roy Choi, of the famed Kogi BBQ food truck in Los Angeles, felt an instant belonging when he visited Hawaii for the first time as an L.A. teenager. It was a cultural epiphany of sorts.

"I was 16 when I first went to Hawaii, and as soon as I touched down, everything came together for a moment," he recalled recently via phone from Los Angeles.

At the time, Choi was struggling with his identity, caught between Korean and American cultures, to the point where he was having trouble staying in school. But when he walked off the plane, he suddenly found himself surrounded by people who looked just like him who were completely comfortable in their own skin.

Part of the ownership of who they were, he said, was what they ate. "They ate food like I did, and there was no need to explain. I ate Spam at home, too, but it was a secret. When I went out into the world I ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. And it was, like, ‘Man, this is awful!’ "

Now Choi’s lifelong relationship with Spam is paying off, literally. Choi has been hired to craft recipes for Hormel’s newest Spam varieties, black pepper and jalapeño. The recipe for the latter, a jalapeño Spam quesadilla, might pique the interest of some local palates. But it’s his fried rice with black pepper Spam that will probably be most appealing to folks here.

Choi also suggests using black pepper Spam to top fried noodles and saimin.

Choi is not scheduled to attend this weekend’s Spam Jam, but look for samples of another new teriyaki variety that will be featured.

The new varieties, he says, provide extra interest, but "they all retain the Spam identity — everything locals love about Spam."