Toast Hawaii

Toast Hawaii or Hawaiian Toast is an open sandwich consisting of a slice of toast with ham and cheese, and a maraschino cherry in the middle of a pineapple slice, broiled, so that the cheese starts to melt. It was invented, or at least made popular, by the German TV cook Clemens Wilmenrod and became popular in West Germany in the 1950s. It is likely that it was adapted from the "Grilled Spamwich", a recipe published in a Spam cookbook by Hormel in 1939 and brought to West Germany by American G.I.s. Spam was not available in Germany's grocery stores so Wilmenrod replaced it with a slice of cooked ham and Toast Hawaii was born.