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The new bae of baked goods: Are Americans ready for ube?
FIlipino food is, pun intended, taking root overseas. Ube (purple yam) is slowly gaining ground and finding its way into more and more menus across the US.
Matthew Moll tracks the "ube invasion" for GQ, pointing to Brooklyn-based restaurant Manila Social Club's donuts as the reason for the increase in the number of purple-hued desserts across the city.
"There aren’t tons of purple foods and this color is so intense and deep. It is something people really like. It’s striking. When you cut ube open you see a color you can kinda get lost in. It’s natural marketing," Moll quotes Björn Dela Cruz , chef at the Manila Social Club.
New York, of course, is no stranger to ube. One of the more famous modern Filipino restaurants in Brooklyn is literally called Purple Yam and owners Chef Amy Besa and Chef Romy Dorotan have been serving up Pinoy flavors since 2007. The House of Inasal on Queens serves ube ice cream sandwiches.
Recently though, non-Filipinos have began using the flavor as well. Moll shares that Danny Bowien of Mission Chinese Food and Sam Mason of Oddfellows Ice Cream Co. have created their own ube ice cream sandwich.
Most Filipinos don't need convincing that more ube is a great idea—we've been enjoying its deliciousness for years. Americans, though? Mason says that a little sample is all it takes for people to be won over. The pretty color also helps to draw them into having a taste of ube.
Dela Cruz notes that now that Filipino food is hitting the mainstream, "ube is being identified as ube."
We'd like to correct the article on the pronunciation, though: It's oo-beh, not oo-bae. — Aya Tantiangco/BM, GMA News
