Chiefs player chowed on Spam after preseason game. It was a familiar food | Opinion

Before the Chiefs flew home from Glendale, Arizona, after a preseason game against the Cardinals, Kansas City wide receiver and return man Nikko Remigio told his wife Maureen Remigio that he didn’t anticipate being hungry once the team landed back home, Maureen said in a recent TikTok video.

Sure enough, Maureen said, by the time the team returned home in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Nikko was in need of something to eat.

“Who doesn’t get hungry at 3 a.m.?” Maureen said in the video. “I would have been hungry at 3 a.m. too.”

Maureen went to work. By 4:30 a.m., the couple was chowing down on a bowl Maureen described as kimchi Spam fried rice topped with two sunny-side up fried eggs.

“I quickly made him some comfort food we already had in the fridge,” she said. “I didn’t have time to defrost some meat so I made Spam fried rice but added some kimchi.”

I did a double take. Did she say Spam fried rice? I was intrigued. I sometimes like to make homemade fried rice in a wok I have in my kitchen. I typically use chicken or shrimp as a protein.

But Spam? I hadn’t eaten this canned concoction of processed pork and ham in decades.

Here in the States, my family often ate fried Spam sandwiches topped with processed cheese issued to low-income families by the government. We called this hard-to-digest blend “government cheese.”

Back then, we had little money and depended on government assistance just to put food on the table. But who am I fooling? Those sandwiches conjured up fond memories of my childhood growing up in St. Louis. My mother could fry Spam like no other. And she’d top the charred meat with gooey melted government cheese and serve it on toasted slices of white bread.

In our little poverty-stricken world, a side of nacho cheese-flavored potato chips like original Doritos was considered a luxury. Nevertheless, Moms did her best to make those meals complete.

I could relate to some of what Maureen said on video. But Spam fried rice? I did not know Spam was considered a comfort food in the Pacific and Southeast Asia until I stumbled upon Maureen’s TikTok video while scrolling through the app late Monday night — or doomscrolling, as folks call it these days.

According to Smithsonian magazine, Spam is made of pork, sugar, salt, potato starch, water and sodium nitrate and is a staple in places such as Hawaii, the Philippines and South Korea, which would explain why Nikko and Maureen, both of Filipino descent, had it in their pantry.

Nikko wrote about being Filipino American and Black in a personal essay while in college at the University of California-Berkeley. Maureen, formerly Maureen Schrijvers, is an accomplished track and field athlete from the Philippines.

Because the dish — introduced to Pacific Island nations by U.S. armed services members during World War II — is affordable and nonperishable, I could see why it’s considered a delicacy overseas.

The article from Smithsonian magazine reiterated the worldwide appeal of Spam in Southeast Asia, South Korea and other regions. Spam is produced by Minnesota-based Hormel Foods.

“Spam was born in America but raised around the world,” Jennesa Kinscher, a senior brand manager of Spam at Hormel Foods, told the magazine.

Back in Kansas City, Maureen continued: “If you’re Filipino, you know for a fact, Spam is just comfort food. We were munching on this at 4:30 a.m.”

The camera then zooms in on a smiling Nikko.

“I really married my best friend because look how happy he is for this bowl,” Maureen said.

After watching the video, I was just as happy as Maureen and Nikko. Who knew Spam could remind me of a favorite childhood dish I hadn't thought of in ages? Life was much simpler then, I mused.

What do you say, Chiefs fans: Does Kimchi Spam fried rice sound like a meal that you’d try?

Let me know your thoughts at tporter@kcstar.com