Halo-halo with gummy bears? Definitely doesn’t sound like the halo-halo we all grew up with.
The Asian-American community is once again, up in arms over yet another apparent boo boo by Bon Appétit. If the name rings a bell, they’re the same website that was in hot water earlier this year after the controversial pho incident, where they claimed that “Pho is the new ramen” featuring a white chef as an authority on the dish instead of the dozens of Vietnamese-run pho shops in Michigan.
Now, an “assault” has been made on the Filipino-American community this time, featuring a rather different take on the traditional dessert, halo-halo.
The article, entitled “Ode to Halo-Halo”, opens with this:
“It doesn’t get any cooler than halo-halo, the Filipino treat with a base of fluffy shaved ice. Our reimagined version plays off the original with store-bought toppings like coconut flakes and gummies. Macerating the fruit makes it extra juicy and saucy, but you could just throw in any unadulterated berry. The key to this dessert (as with any sundae) is a mix of textures: icy, creamy, chewy, crunchy.”
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
- Kosher salt
- 6 ounces fresh blueberries (about 1 cup)
- 6 ounces fresh blackberries (about 1½ cups), cut in half if large
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ¾ cup unsweetened coconut milk
- 2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
- 4 cups shaved ice
- ½ pint vanilla or coconut ice cream
- Toasted unsweetened coconut flakes, gummi bears, and/or popcorn (for serving)
Not only did the website fail to include some key ingredients that makes halo-halo the Pinoy dish it is (red beans? pinipig? nata de coco?). Naturally, this earned the ire of the Filipino and Asian community in the States, who noted that the article came out on Filipino-American History Month.
Filipino-American activist Ranier Maningding, who is behind the Facebook page “The Love Life of an Asian Guy”, posted the following on his page:
Dear Bon Appétit Magazine,
One question: WHY?
Why do you continue to butcher ethnic food? Why do you feature recipes that you know NOTHING ABOUT? And why the f*** did you come for Filipino food on Filipino-American History Month?
I get it: your team of writers and producers is whiter than Betty White riding on the back of Matt Lauer’s flatbed pickup truck with Willie Nelson cranked to 11.
I GET IT.
But I DO NOT get this whitewashed halo-halo recipe.Halo-halo is an ICONIC Filipino dessert. It’s OUR version of shaved ice. It’s OUR milkshake. It’s what WE use to bring all the boys to the yard.
Halo-halo was that refreshing dessert mom would make on a Sunday afternoon after church. My mom would grab a handful of ice from the freezer, churn it through the ice shaver, and sprinkle palm fruit, coconut gel, and adzuki beans over ube ice cream. She’d drizzle condensed milk and hand me a tall spoon.
This depressing, Craigslist orgy of bulls***that you folks made is NASTY AS F***. Bananas? Blueberries? Popcorn? Gummy bears? FOOL. That s*** will get SOGGY. That’s why you use beans and fruit and gel — you don’t want the toppings to get lost in the ice cream sauce, you dense MF!
YT food writers ALWAYS do this. They take ethnic recipes that they don’t understand and they assume that the ingredients are interchangeable. They can’t comprehend the importance of onions and cilantro on a simple taco, or sriracha and hoisin in pho, so they ASSUME that you can remove them completely and swap them with meatloaf and a jar of a** butter.
Bon Appetit is whitewashed trash. Complete trash.
Thankfully, back home here in the Philippines we’ve got lots of yummy, authentic halo-halo to enjoy. Take this one from Chowking:
photo taken from: www.essshiii.com
Now that’s some all-Pinoy, tropical sarap.
Thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments!
