Filipino resto in Houston holds lumpia-eating contest

Lumpiang shanghai? At this event, you could have as many as you can handle!

According to Kuya Kim’s report on “24 Oras” on Tuesday, a popular Pinoy restaurant in Houston, Texas organized a lumpia-eating competition to promote the dish. The winner, Chris Nguyen, ate 52 pieces in 10 minutes.

“The goal was to invite some fellow businesses over to create an event that can help increase sales to those businesses,” organizer Giovan Cuchapin said.

The well-loved Filipino dish may be called lumpiang shanghai, but it actually didn’t originate from China. It was just called such since it looks similar to the Chinese spring roll.

The word "lumpia" comes from two Hopian words: “lun,” which means soft, wet, or moist; and “pia,” or pastry cake. It means “soft cake” when put together.

Previously, lumpiang shanghai and tortang talong were ranked the best Southeast Asian food by Taste Atlas, getting ratings of 4.8 out of 5. — Franchesca Viernes/BM, GMA News