Bypass or Buy - Omni Vegan Pork Luncheon Meat

Do you guys remember Spam? That like, cringy, block of meat substance that came out of a can? It was always covered in like, gelatinous fat, and honestly, looked like dog food or something. With that being said, it was well liked by most in my household despite its rather unappealing appearance lol.

My mom used to like it fried up with melted American cheese and yellow mustard and honestly, so did I. It was especially good on toasted bread. You got that intensely savoury pork like flavour, that melty, familiar cheese, and sharp mustard. The combination just worked and it's honestly something I never thought I'd try again until I spotted this porkless luncheon from Omni foods. Let's dive in!

Right out of the package, I was concerned over the smell. Almost immediately, I was struck by the odour and was worried that not only would it not taste like Spam, but wouldn't taste good at all. Visually, it was kind of giving sliced Spam, so I got to work on getting it fried up like mom used to make. I cooked it according to the package, which suggested frying it from frozen on both sides for 5 to 6 minutes. As it cooked, the smell was persistent, but I think I kind of convinced myself I was smelling spam. I don't know lol. Anyways, one thing I did not love was that it was producing a red like liquid, almost mimicking blood. Spam never bled. Spam was about as processed as anything you could imagine, so the "bleeding" felt wholly unnecessary.

It certainly got very golden brown and crisp which was enticing. I slapped on some cheddar because I don't keep creepy American cheese in my household, and melted that on top. I quickly grilled some bread but didn't grill it long enough, that's my own problem. I slapped the cheesy fried Spam on my bread and gave it a healthy drizzle of yellow mustard. How'd it taste?

Taste Test <3

Original stench aside, it was actually freaking delicious you guys. It was giving major nostalgia for me and it really took me back to my fried Spam days. It didn't taste how it originally smelled, although I can't say it exactly tasted like Spam. Although it's been over 24 years since I've consumed Spam, I can almost still smell it, so I knew what I was looking for.

It was good though. The meat was savoury and salty against the rich cheddar, and the yellow mustard was sharp and cut through the fattiness while also contributing to the flavour. Honestly, had I toasted the bread a little better, it might have been like, an 8 our of 10. The bread was entirely my fault so I can't blame the product for that one lol 

Bypass or Buy?

GIVE IT A TRY BUY - There were a few things I didn't love. First of all, the smell out of the package was unfortunately off-putting lol. I didn't appreciate the bleeding, which felt incredibly unnecessary to me. I also couldn't understand why there were only 5 pieces in the package. 5? I needed three for my sandwich, so you're kind of left with an uneven amount. That didn't make sense to me. 

Now, what I did love was the nostalgia, and once everything was put together, the flavour of the sandwich was actually pretty delicious. Would I buy it again? If I had a hankering for my mom's fried spamwhich, I'd definitely buy it again, but I don't think it would be something I always have on hand. If you were a SPAM lover back in the day, I'd urge you to give it a try for nostalgia's sake.

Omni Foods is a Hong Kong based company with a variety of plant-based products ranging from seafood to pork and beefless burgers. This was the only product I've seen from them thus far, so I'll keep an eye out for others. Peep the link below to their page and take a peek at what they offer and where to find it!

omnifoods.co/hk-en

HAPPY VEG