To prepare SPAM, according to the can,...

To prepare SPAM, according to the can, cut it into several slices, spread on a baking dish, pour on a favorite sauce or glaze, then bake, microwave, or pan fry to brown on the edges.

But at the Hawaiian Community Center Assn.’s SPAM Cookoff Picnic on Saturday at the Torrance Recreation Center, 16 chefs will show just how

versatile the luncheon meat can be.

To the strains of Hawaiian music and with plenty of entertainment, the chefs will concoct SPAM appetizers and main dishes.

This is the second year that the association has sponsored the cook-off. Last year, looking for ways to raise money for its building, the community center decided on a SPAM cook-off as a goofy way to get money, said Ken Dickmann of the center.

“It really started out as a joke,” he said. “But it was so good we decided to do it again.”

Last year, the 4-year-old nonprofit association raised about $1,500 for the center and a 3-year-old boy with leukemia. This year the proceeds will go toward the building and a member of the community who has cancer.

Why SPAM?

Because, Dickmann said, Hawaiians are crazy about the stuff (Hormel, which makes SPAM, says Hawaii leads all states in SPAM sales).

“That was the main staple of Hawaiians during (World War II),” Dickmann said, noting the heavy military presence (SPAM was part of soldiers’ field food). “I was a war baby and I remember SPAM from the war days even though no one on the mainland would touch it.”

SPAM T-shirts, sweat shirts, baseball hats, aprons, watches, and slicers also will be on sale.

What: Second Annual SPAM Cookoff Picnic, a fund-raiser for the Hawaiian Community Center Assn. and cancer patient Daniel Murphy.

When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

Where: Torrance Recreation Center, 3341 Torrance Blvd.

Admission: Free.

Information: (310) 327-5542.