Matt Ortile is the author of the essay collection The Groom Will Keep His Name. He is the managing editor of Catapult magazine and was the founding editor of BuzzFeed Philippines. He is a MacDowell Colony Fellow and has written for BuzzFeed News, Vogue, Condé Nast Traveler, Self, and Out, among others. He lives in Brooklyn.
The thing about spamsilog is that it’s every Filipino’s recipe. There’s no trick ingredient or secret sauce; no “my lola’s famous,” etc. Or maybe your lola does have a special spamsilog she whips up. Let me know. I’d love to try it. But at its most basic, spamsilog consists of three basic ingredients: rice, fried eggs and Spam — yup, the kind that comes in a can.