u/Camera_Hobbygirl

What they always write about is the shortage and dwindling supplies. These are concerns especially for the long term.

But too many products in the US are not made of ube but of sweet potato. The fake ones don't even try to imitate the taste. Oishi Ube Pillows is fake ube but it mimics the taste so well. If their gonna fake it, at least get the taste correct.

The US media needs to write about this as a public service announcement. This will also entice the public to look at the ingredients list and direct them to Filipino businesses

Digressing a bit: what I noticed is *mainland* Europeans are better at crediting Filipino cuisine with Ube than Americans who just usually say "a tuber from the Philippines". No many mention how it is deep in Filipino cuisine.

This is a continuation of why we should push for Ube to be associated with the Philippines. Part 1 can be found here.

The content of this post is based on my observation in social media and some of what I do to help keep Ube associated with Filipino cuisine.

I noticed some Southeast Asians are trying to discredit Filipino cuisine from Ube by saying "Ube is not just Filipino", "Ube is not just from the Philippines but also in Southeast Asia" or we should not insist how ube tastes like. That is not the point of Ube being associated with Filipino cuisine. It makes me suspect that they are stripping Ube of its Filipino heritage because the current craze does not fit the popular narrative that "Filipino food is bad".

The points of Ube as Filipino are

• How ube is being used now worldwide came from our cuisine. Ube as a dessert and pastry flavor is a Filipino innovation. The West is treating Ube as a flavor, not as an ingredient in a Vietnamese soup.
• Other countries trying to discredit Filipino cuisine hardly utilized Ube as a flavor. They mostly used it as subsistence crop or a filler ingredient akin to how we add taro (gabi) in sinigang or potato in nilaga and adobo. They never bothered about anything ube-flavored before ube became a trend in the West. There were no ube donuts in the Vietnamese/Cambodian/Thai-owned donut shops before Ube became popular.
• Some are starting to claim that Ube is not popular in the Philippines before it became popular in the West. This is false. Ube has been a staple in Filipino cuisine for decades now. Eng Bee Tin rose from the ashes because they "invented" Ube Hopia. And this was decades before the West "discovered" ube. The Ube Jam in Good Shepherd easily gets out of stock. And it is Filipinos who are buying it. Good Shepherd Ube is not exportable because it contains zero preservatives so its shelf life is short.
• The current ube trend is actually the second wave which is bigger than the first one. It originally became viral when a Filipino chef in Manila Social Club created a $100 ube donut covered in edible gold. So, it is a Filipino creation that first made it go viral.
• The "ube flavor" does not refer to the taste of the raw crop (which is very faint)but the halaya. It is the halaya that accentuates the flavor of the crop bringing out its nutty taste. So ube halaya is Filipino. And this application of ube is what is the trend. Not the ube in the Vietnamese soup that just has ube (again, similar to how we use taro in Sinigang). So why are our neighbors de-Filipinizing Ube as a flavor? If they want to talk about their soup that has Ube, they should not insert it in the current Ube fame. Inserting the Vietnamese soup with Ube in the Ube dessert/pastries topic is like a Filipino inserting Sinigang that uses taro in a conversation about Taro Milk Tea.
• We need to tell the story how ube halaya became a widespread in the Philippines. The version as we know it today came from Baguio. Most prominently, Good Shepherd. It is the ube halaya that made the crop adaptable to many kinds of food especially desserts and pastries.

There is an overpriced Ube Powder product brand (Ube Superfood) that is promoting their ube powder but the only credit to Filipino cuisine is they *supposedly* used "Philippine Ube" but it is processed in China. Given the shortage in the Philippines, the ube they process is likely from China.

They use guerilla marketing. At first, the posts look innocent but once you see other posts, you will see the patterns. What I do is reply to these posts and point out that their product is overpriced at $22 for 4oz and is not pure ube. It is mixed with vanilla. I encourage people instead to purchase the Giron Powdered Ube which is pure Ube and just $8 in Amazon for 4oz.

We need to keep insisting ube is ours on the internet so it can influence the algorithms and make Ube undeniably Filipino. For the diaspora, we need to keep recommending Ube products imported from the Philippines.

No one is saying that only Filipinos can utilize Ube. What we are asking is to not strip it off its Filipino heritage and to not call purple sweet potatoes and taro as "Ube".

Without the development of Ube Halaya in the Philippines, there would be no ube craze.

> the United States, she said authenticity is harder to find and the shift changes how people understand the ingredient. 
“Many commercial ube products fail to capture the authentic taste and instead focus more on appearance saw and aesthetics. It is important to represent real ube because it holds deep cultural meaning for Filipinos, not just as a flavor but as part of our identity and traditions,” Oxeño said.  

>The issue is not that non-Filipino businesses are selling it, but that many fail to acknowledge its origins. Ube often gets treated as a trend rather than something with cultural significance.” 

>Howard said the trend also raises concerns about authenticity and supply. Ube is not an abundant crop and increased demand has led many companies to rely on artificial flavoring.

>“I wish companies would label things as ube-flavored or ube-inspired instead of presenting them as the real thing. There is not enough real ube to meet the current demand and that affects the farmers who grow it,” Howard said. “If we continue to treat it as a trend without thinking about where it comes from, we risk losing the meaning behind it. Food in Filipino culture is about connection, not just profit.” 

>So while ube may feel like it’s suddenly everywhere in America, it’s not new, and it’s not just a trend. It’s an ingredient deeply rooted in Filipino culture—one that generations have grown up with, cooked with, and celebrated long before it appeared in lattes and cookie aisles, heavily marketed across the U.S..

>As ube continues to gain popularity, it’s worth taking a moment to support the Filipino bakers, storytellers, recipe developers, and small businesses who have been carrying this ingredient and its traditions forward all along.

>The next time you see something purple labeled ube, remember—it’s more than just a trend. It’s a beautiful ingredient that’s been here all along.

>To appear casual to the security guard tailing him, he asked an ice cream vendor about their best-selling flavor. When she answered ube, the proverbial light bulb went off in Gerry’s head — ube hopia!

>But the first ube to go viral did so without TikTok or an influencer circuit. It spread the old-fashioned way: from person to person, jar by jar, generation by generation. It spread because it was made with care and without shortcuts. The nuns at Good Shepherd were trying to keep their students' school fees paid. In doing so, they made a jam the whole country would come to love.

>It is 2026 now, and it has been years since I stood in that line in Baguio. Maybe it's the same for you. Maybe you're having ube in London, or ordering it in New York, or watching it swirl through your morning coffee. But it always circles back to Gibraltar Road—to a convent kitchen that smelled of butter and freshly pounded yam. This ube jam was made with care for something practical. For a generation of Filipinos, it became the ube standard.

While ube the crop is not exclusive to the Philippines, it is Filipino cuisine that developed the signature "Ube flavor" and innovated/revolutionized how the crop is used. Some of our neighbors complain that we are claiming it, but what have they really done with Ube as a flavor?

The Philippines created the "Ube flavor" by making it into a halaya. When we say Ube flavor, we do not mean the flavor of the raw crop (which is super mild that it comes off as tasteless to other people) but the Ube Halaya.

Before the Ube Halaya, Ube was pretty much considered a subsistence crop, like sweet potato. But when some folks in Baguio decided to mix grated ube, milk, butter and sugar and turn in into a "jam" (more of a pudding or paste though). And it is this jam that created the well-loved ube flavor.

Some even say that ube became popular in the Philippines when it started to trend worldwide. That is not true. One proof is how Eng Bee Tin became popular. They created Ube Hopia decades ago and Ube became their signature flavor and color.

Ube has been a staple flavor in Philippine cuisine. It just happens that ube trending worldwide came at the same time as the PH middle class grows and have time to experiment where the flavor can be applied to.

Back to the question. Why is it important to push for association of Ube with the Philippines? Filipino culinary culture "invented" the ube flavor and we deserve credit for it especially that Filipino cuisine has been maligned for so long. Ube, back in the 2000s, was actually looked down on by foreigners because it was a "weird color" for a food. We should not allow our culture to be erased from what we made and held dearly before the trend. No, it is not gatekeeping. No one is saying only Filipinos can utilize ube. It is asking for due recognition and to not be erased while other people profit from it.

It is our "invention" of Ube Halaya that made ube flexible.

Hear me out. Despite the PH being an importer of Ube, the Philippines can still have the upperhand.

As I said in one of my controversial posts earlier, Filipinos are more creative with Ube because of the "secret weapon" called Ube Halaya. Pretty much every ube dessert and pastries are derived from the halaya. Most westerners don't even bother to make the ube powder they buy into a halaya. They straight out put it in the drink or batter and then complain about the texture and "lack of taste"

What the DTI should really do is work their assess off to get Filipino exporters and Filipino Americans have their products in major grocery stores like Walmart and Target and brand it as **authentic** Philippine Ube to shade those camote products pretending to be Ube.

Outside of Filipino businesses, all you see are Ube Latte, Ube Matcha, Ube Hawaiian bread and usually is only paired with grated coconut.

Meanwhile, Filipino ube products are like:

• Ube Hopia-Langka
• Ube Cheese bread
• Ube crinkles
• Ube roll with macapuno
• Ube leche flan
• Ube Cheesecake
• Ube Oishi (imitation Ube though)
• Ube Shake
• Ube Pie
• Ube Biko
• Ube Champorado
• Ube Macapuno Ice Cream
• Ube Polvoron
• Ube Pastillas

I'm planning to drive to SB this memorial weekend. Are there hole in the wall places that serve Filipino cuisine and Ube?

I don't want Ube from non-Filipino businesses because most turn out to be using purple sweet potato and not Ube (they are different crops).

I know there's the 100-300mm but the reviews don't seem to be great

I have been looking at the Official Charts in Southeast Asia and I am quite surprised that BTS songs slid down the top 5 of the charts in most of Southeast Asia. The initial steam and curiosity seem to not have staying power. It's the same with the Black Pink latest EP.

https://www.officialseacharts.com/

Do SEAns feel alienated by K-pop's focus on the West?

Hindi makanumber one ang Kpop at K-pop adjacent sa PH Charts

Di nakanumber one ang Golden last year dahil sa Multo. Ngayon, di makanumber one ang Swim ng BTS dahil sa Lifetime ng Ben&Ben

Official SEA Charts