HONOLULU (KHON2) — When visitors come to Hawaii, there is one staple food item that is not found in many spots on the mainland–musubis.
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This item is similar to the Japanese food item onigiri, which is typically a triangle shaped ball of rice wrapped in a piece of nori (seaweed).
A musubi is a rectangular block of rice with a slice of spam or any choice of meat on top, wrapped with a piece of seaweed according to L&L Hawaiian Barbeque.
This dish became popular in Hawaii during World War II as troops ate this high calorie ration that had a long shelf life.
According to L&L, once this became available to the public, musubis were in every grocery store.
Today they are still sold in grocery stores and some have opened musubi shops.
Here is a list of places to get a musubi near town on Oahu:
- Grocery stores: Foodland, Safeway
- ABC stores
- Zippy’s
- L&L
- Nana Musubi
- 7-eleven
- Musubi Cafe Iyasume
When looking for a musubi in any grocery store, ABC store or 7-eleven, they are typically found in the food warmers.
Musubis can be cold however, so sometimes they will be in the refrigerated ready-to-go meal section.
There are different types of musubi as well. L&L sells grilled SPAM saimin, Portuguese sausage musubi, chicken katsu musubi and BBQ chicken musubi. The most popular musubi is the SPAM musubi.
Musubi Cafe Iyasume is located in several spots in Waikiki and one spot in Kahala Mall. Customers can find many different options of musubi. They also have merchandise and an at-home musubi kit.
