Aubry Walch grew up on Guam and moved with her family to Minnesota when she was a teenager. Her memories of the island include the tropical temperatures, the fiestas and a dinner table filled with five different kinds of meat.

I didnt eat my first vegetable until I was 10, Aubry says. I got a cold cut combo salad and that was first piece of lettuce Id ever eaten in my life.

By the time she turned 18, however, shed become a strict vegetarian. And her younger brother, Kale, is now a vegan. Yes, Kale is his real name, but he wasnt named after the vegetable.Kale wasnt even available on Guam at the time, so the family had no idea what it was until they saw it in the produce aisle in Minnesota.

Both siblings stopped eating meat in their late teens, but their choice was motivated by environmental and ethical reasons, not because they didnt like the taste. They missed meat so much that they set out to try to make vegan alternatives for their favorites. The first recipe they perfected was bologna.

Growing up, one of my favorite foods was bologna and rice, Kale says. My dad would pan fry bologna with fried rice and I really missed that. So bologna was the first thing I made when I went vegan.

Vegan bologna turned out to be just the beginning. The siblings now sell a wide variety of meatless meats at Minneapolis farmers markets: ribs, salami, bacon, pepperoni, hot dogs, beer brats, pulled pork, Italian sausage, teriyaki beef jerky and more. Their business is called The Herbivorous Butcher, and they sell out every week even the bologna.

We tell everyone: this is the only bologna in the world where you actually know whats going in, Kale says.

Their meatless meats are made with vital wheat gluten, assorted spices and different ingredients to mimic the texture and taste of real meat pinto beans and sun-dried tomatoes for Italian sausage, pineapple juice for ham.

The meat they have yet to perfect, though, is Spam. Its something of a white whale for the pair.

Spam is a big favorite on Guam. Its estimated that the average Guamanian consumes 16 cans of Spam per year. US troops first brought the canned meat to the Pacific island during World War II, and the indigenous population, the Chamarro, incorporated it into many of their dishes. Its even available at McDonalds on Guam. Spam is also ever-present in Minnesota, home of Spam Town, USA Austin, Minnesota, where Hormel is headquartered.

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A sister and brother dream of making the perfect vegan Spam