2019, sliced and diced

SHAKE Shack burgers and fries. FACEBOOK.COM/SHAKESHACKPH

A lot can be said in the year that was for the food industry in the Philippines. A couple of things became apparent: first, the consistency of the milk tea craze, then came foreign franchises, the rise of online food shops, childhood snack comebacks and Filipino cuisine taking on the international scene.

As we welcome the new year in a few days, it is just fitting to take a look back at some of plate-pleasing trends that rocked Filipinos this 2019.

CHACHaGO milk tea. FACEBOOK.COM/LESCURELAB

You could say that Serenitea, a local milk tea brand which opened its first branch in San Juan back in 2008, may have started the milk tea craze in the Philippines. A few years later, foreign brands like Happy Lemon (2011), Gong Cha (2011) and Dakasi (2013) entered the Philippine market.

Even as the country is yet to recover from the sudden surge of the popular drink that originated from Tainan and Taichung in the 1980s, a new wave of milk tea brands entered the Philippine market this year, with the likes of Taiwan’s Cha Cha Go, Alishan, Xing Fu Tang, Tea 18, Oh My Tea and I’Milky with Thailand’s Brown Cafe and Singapore’s vegan milk tea brand, Joy Bean. Well, we can say that the craze is far from over.

• Resurgence of burgers and fried chicken

It was the year for burgers and fried chicken as Shake Shack, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and Panda Express all opened its first branches in the country to serve Filipinos with menus similar to what they offer abroad. Much to the delight of Filipinos, there’s no need to travel to the United States anymore to sample these crave-worthy food that took fast food service chains by storm.

Le Scure Lab, makers of the Chocolate Dreamcakes which grew popular in 2018 until this year. FACEBOOK.COM/LESCURELAB

In this age of technology, we thank food delivery apps for bringing deliciousness closer to us. It has altered how food businesses work, especially startups or small companies which operate on social media platforms like Instagram. Among the most notable this year was the rise of home bakers whose artisanal breads, desserts and the popular decadent cakes in tin cans were a sweet, sweet note in 2019.

Kids at heart couldn’t be happier when ChocNut, Haw Haw, White Rabbit, Butter Ball and other favorite childhood snacks reappeared as flavors of soft-serve ice creams by The Lost Bread and Black Scoop Cafe. What could be better than enjoying ice cream while taking a trip down memory lane? These ice creams, however, were made available for a limited time only.

Homegrown fast food chain Jollibee together with McDonalds earlier released pies in Buko and Ube flavors, respectively. McDonalds also introduced in May its version of milk tea which is available in Classic and Wintermelon flavors. Both drinks are served with sundae on top.

Fans of streaming app Netflix were treated to an episode which featured Philippine local street food. The said episode, which aired last April, received criticism particularly from director Erik Matti, stating it was “badly researched.” Later on, he was tapped to direct an episode for HBO’s Food Lore. He immediately cleared that this was not in any way his answer to Netflix’s Street Food, furthermore saying it was a mistake of him to tweet that comment.

Fast food giant Jollibee is slowly taking over the world by opening more branches in Canada and in United States this year. The brand is expected to rake in more global expansions next year.