Prior to the new year, California-based T. Hasegawa USA declared in its 2024 Food and Beverage Flavor Trends Report that ube will be the flavor of the year. The bright, purple tuberous root hailing from the Philippines has enjoyed a surge in popularity in recent years. But this isn’t the first time the ingredient has been superficially lauded — existing merely as something punchy and not anything more than that.
Back in 2014, Filipino cuisine as a whole was thrown around as the "next big thing” thanks to Andrew Zimmern. The “Bizarre Foods” host claimed the trend was “just starting” and would officially take off two years later in 2016.
