Filipino cuisine just has that flavor that hits different.
It’s no secret that the way to a Filipino’s heart is through their belly. If we’re talking spices and flavor, the Philippines has it all and then some. Every dish has that warmth and vivid color that most cuisines don’t, almost like it came straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. With the eclectic yet palatable food combinations that we come up with, even international celebs couldn’t get enough of the food. From Cardi B to Selena Gomez, here are some of these stars’ favorite Filipino dishes. Really, who doesn’t have one? We’ll take ube jam anytime of the day in one sitting.
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VANESSA HUDGENS – PANCIT, LUMPIA, HALO HALO, ADOBO
Name a person who doesn’t love adobo, we’ll wait. For the part Filipino actress, she knows it wouldn’t feel like Christmas without dishes like lumpia and adobo served at a party. She even said in a past interview that she eats rice everyday like an average Filipino.
OLIVIA RODRIGO – LUMPIA
For rising pop-rock star Olivia Rodrigo, her guilty pleasure is lumpia (spring rolls). “My dad grew up in a house where they were always making Filipino food, his grandpa always spoke Tagalog,” shares Olivia in a past interview.
CARDI B – LUMPIA, BUKO SALAD
Thanks to her Filipina aunt-in-law, rapper Cardi B is now part of the lumpiang shanghai fan club. “I don’t know WTF this shit’s called, but this shit is good as hell with some motherf*cking barbecue,” she says on her Instagram stories before. Cardi also tried buko salad and like most of us, never looked back since.
FLORENCE PUGH – LUMPIANG SHANGHAI
Growing up with a best friend who’s half Filipino certainly has its perks. Florence Pugh’s favorite Filipino food? Lumpia. “Her mum was a master at cooking. She knew I loved them and would make a batch, freeze them, package them up for me to take home after our sleepover,” the Midsommar star says.
HALSEY – TURON
When everyone else was making dalgona coffee during the height of the pandemic, Halsey was out here making turon “all the time.” She revealed this during a Twitter Q&A when someone asked if she’s ever tried to cook any Filipino food.
I make turon all the time! https://t.co/LewG3BSobA
— h (@halsey) April 23, 2020
SAWEETIE – SINIGANG, SILOG, PANDESAL
Rapper Saweetie has always kept it real when it comes to her Filipino heritage. She’s a big foodie and a picky eater at the same time, but dishes from home will always be her top one. Everyday, she has a Silog breakfast platter which includes pandesal, garlic rice, fried eggs, Longganisa sausage, which is loaded with carbs. Saweetie’s soul food on the other hand is sinigang and adobo.
ANTHONY BOURDAIN – LECHON
For the late Anthony Bourdain, he once said during one of his No Reservations series episode back in 2009 that Cebu’s Lechon is the “best pig, ever.” Only Cebu has the thickest, juiciest and most mouth-watering pigs in the world and we couldn’t agree more.
H.E.R. – SINIGANG
The new Belle has called it: Sinigang is officially the best Filipino dish ever made. So much so that she even made the nickname “Sinigang Gang” for her and fellow Fil-Am musician, Saweetie, when they promoted their song, Closer. H.E.R. also had a Filipino food crawl video in the past and she was able to name most of the dishes that they ate.
SELENA GOMEZ – ADOBO
Selena Gomez’s cooking show is unsurprisingly chill. On one of the episodes for “Selena + Chef,” her guest was Filipino-Canadian chef Jordan Andino. He owns Flip Sigi, a Filipino-Mexican fusion restaurant in New York and they bonded over making the fan-favorite dish, the adobo.
DARREN CRISS – CASSAVA CAKE, BIBINGKA, LUMPIA
Fil-Am actor Darren Criss is a big lumpia and cassava cake fan boy. When he went back to the Philippines for a tour, he tweeted that he was hoping they’d “serve lumpia on the plane.” In another interview, Darren also mentioned that his Filipino aunts and uncles would ask him to eat because he looked too thin. (The usual, TBH.) Now, he’s heavy on lumpia, pancit, cassava cake, bibingka, adobo, and even calamansi juice.
LANA CONDOR – LUMPIA
Vietnamese-American actress Lana Condor discovered lumpia through her Filipino friend’s mom. A huge Asian foodie, she shares, “I became so obsessed that I would force my friend to force her mother to make me my own private batch.”
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