CANTON, Ohio. (WISH) — Legendary former Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri and former Purdue star Drew Brees are being enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

All ACcess Indy: The Hall of Fame has it all covered, including a one-on-one interview with Vinatieri, a one-on-one interview with former Colts head coach Tony Dungy, and more.

Watch the full 30-minute special in the video above.

An unfortunate consequence of the “I’ll try anything once” approach to dining is that, every once in a while, you will end up absolutely nuking your stomach.

While I have so far managed to stay cyclospora-free, I did have a recent ill-advised encounter with some demonically hot chicken, leaving me yearning for a meal that would pass through my digestive tract a bit easier than a glowing hunk of pure plutonium. So for this week’s INdulge, I took a trip on the mild side with:

The next dish you should try in Indy

I’m a firm believer that plain, even unattractive foods can be incredibly tasty. And arguably no food represents that gulf between form and flavor like Spam, the famed (or in some cases, notorious) canned ham that stars in such dishes as the Spam musubi from KauKau Hawaiian BBQ in Speedway.

Spam musubi is about as straightforward as cuisine gets: a sponge of short-grain white rice, a slab of the dish’s namesake meat product and a snug sleeve of seaweed to keep everything cozy. The result is a delightfully digestible brick of salt and starch with some nice griddled flavor from the Spam.

The chief source of textural contrast in Spam musubi comes from the nori (the Japanese term for edible dried seaweed), which stretches and snaps between your teeth en route to the musubi’s soft center. Nori also packs a flavor that can be a bit overwhelming for some in large doses, bitter and earthy with the high level of salinity that comes from a lifetime at sea.

While Spam musubi is a Hawaiian creation, you could probably guess from the rice and seaweed that it has roots in Japan. Demand for labor on Hawaiian sugarcane plantations, combined with dicey economic conditions in Japan, drove a mass influx of immigration that led to people of Japanese descent comprising roughly 40% of Hawaii’s population by 1920.

The Japanese brought dishes such as onigiri, also called omusubi, with them. The islands already grew a substantial volume of rice, and seaweed wasn’t hard to come by, either, what with Hawaii being in the middle of the ocean and all.

Spam, however, didn’t enter the picture for another few decades and came courtesy of haoles, aka white people. After the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States military’s already looming presence on the islands rapidly grew, and the freedoms of Japanese Hawaiians substantially shrank.

Among other restrictions, Japanese Hawaiians were prohibited from fishing, forcing thousands of people to drastically reshape their diets. Their solution came from the same group that disenfranchised them.

Portable, pre-cooked and blasted with enough nitrites to last somewhere between three years and three lifetimes, Spam was the go-to protein for hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, including those stationed in Hawaii. The Minnesota-based Hormel Foods Corporation introduced Spam in 1937 as an everyday “convenience meat item” (gotta say, already off to a rough start reputationally), essentially rebranding Hormel’s less successful canned spiced ham.

The Japanese population quickly incorporated the nigh-immortal foodstuff into their diets out of necessity, though historical records suggest Spam musubi took some time to emerge. Restaurateurs Mitsuko Kaneshiro of Honolulu and Barbara Funamura of Kauai are both frequently credited with inventing the dish, and it’s entirely possible they arrived at the now-iconic dish independently of one another. Regardless of its precise origin point, Spam musubi quickly caught on at restaurants throughout Hawaii.

Elsewhere, Spam’s reputation has been far less gilded. While other U.S.-occupied areas including the Philippines, Guam and South Korea embraced the canned ham amid debilitating postwar economic conditions, those in the comparatively prosperous West largely ridiculed it as a low-nutrition poverty food.

That said, Spam has recently enjoyed something of a resurgence in the States as diners are increasingly exposed to global cuisines and realize that a slab of griddled pork, however processed, tastes quite nice. The still forgiving price tag doesn’t hurt, either. It’s a turnaround that really makes you believe in the underdog, the underdog in this case being the Hormel Corporation.

If it’s been a while, I encourage you to refamiliarize yourself with the curious canned meat commodity via KauKau’s Spam musubi. The dish truly is a fascinating intersection of Japanese tradition, hardship-induced culinary ingenuity and – if you glance past the fact Spam had to travel about 4,000 miles from Minnesota for someone to turn it into anything remotely pleasant to eat – pure Midwestern greatness.

What: Spam musubi, two for $6

Where: KauKau Hawaiian BBQ, 5808 Crawfordsville Road, Speedway, (317) 390-4590, kaukauspeedway.com

In case that’s not your thing: KauKau’s menu offers a glimpse at Hawaii’s many culinary influences, like Japanese-style chicken katsu ($12), Korean-style short ribs ($17) or the smoky-sweet kalua pork ($12) whose origins trace back to indigenous Hawaiians and early Polynesian settlers. Most dishes come with rice, broccoli, cabbage and macaroni salad, the last of which rivals Spam musubi for the title of most fascinating quirk of Hawaiian cuisine.

Contact dining reporter Bradley Hohulin at bhohulin@indystar.com. You can follow him on Instagram @BradleyHohulin and stay up to date with Indy dining news by signing up for the Indylicious newsletter.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Applications are now open for the Orr Fellowship’s 2027 cohort in Indianapolis and Evansville. The two-year program gives college graduates a fast track into full-time roles with more than 70 Indiana companies.

“It’s about building careers and strengthening our local businesses,” said Catherine Mazanek, senior director of engagement at Orr Fellowship. “We want high-achieving graduates ready to jump in and make an impact.”

The fellowship, started with Angie’s List in 2001, matches grads with companies like Stitch, Heritage Group, and Ryan Fire Protection. Graduates from December, May, or August with a GPA of 3.5 or higher are encouraged to apply.

All it takes to get started is a simple resume drop.

Jaqui Fernandez, a 2023 cohort member and now director of operations at Stitch, said the program changed her career trajectory.

“This program opened doors I didn’t even know existed,” Fernandez said. “The experience, mentorship, and networks have been invaluable.”

Fernandez, originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma, learned about Orr Fellowship during her senior year of college.

“I really wanted to not just apply to a job, but like a community,” she said. “That’s really what Orr allowed me to have.”

Application Timeline

Applicants should mark September 25 on their calendars. That’s the deadline to apply for the 2027 cohort.

The process includes:

• Resume drop (simple application on website)
• Interview rounds (fall 2026)
• Networking reception (October 2026)
• Finalist day (December 2026) – candidates interview with companies

Fellows work full-time at partner companies while participating in professional development programming, learning opportunities, and community building.

Partnerships with Indiana University and Butler University offer MBA credit and scholarship opportunities through the fellowship.

Currently, 150 fellows are contributing to Indiana’s business growth across sectors including marketing, sales, consulting, and engineering.

“We have 150 fellows who are doing a little bit of everything across this city,” Mazanek said. “The likelihood that we have somebody similar to you within our current cohorts is pretty high.”

Fernandez said the program pushes participants outside their comfort zones.

“You get an opportunity to connect with CEOs at companies within Indianapolis that maybe others don’t get the opportunity to,” she said.

She now works alongside 20 Orr alumni at Stitch, where her entire team is comprised of fellows.

“I met my husband through Orr Fellowship,” Fernandez added. “Lifelong friends through it. So there’s really nothing to lose.”

How to Apply

To apply for the 2027 cohort, visit orrfellowship.org. The application requires a resume and takes about two minutes to complete.