Holiday Gift Guide | Food Edition 2022

If you’re Filipino, you know very well that there is no stronger love language than that of food. Our collective holiday memories are filled with the sweet aroma of Christmas treats like puto bumbong, sweet and salty bibingka, and if you’re lucky, some ginataang bilo bilo, among the normal fiesta spread of pancit, lumpia and lechon. Our latest list boasts both our tried and true favorites as well as some new twists with familiar flavors, all from some of our fave modern bakers and chefs across the country. If you are looking to order some mouth-watering snacks for friends and family or wanting to gift yourself some soul warming desserts for the holidays, look no further than our Foodie Gift Guide below.

1. Sarap Now’s Holiday Snack Box

Sarap Now was founded in 2018, by Katrina and Kenny Camarillo, to help the Filipino diaspora gain access to their favorite goods without having to trek and scour for the closest Filipino Towns in their city. While they have all your favorites from back home and growing up, they also pride themselves in purveying the newest brands and products from the Filipino community and beyond. If you follow their Instagram, you’ll also find inspiration for fusion recipes that are sure to be instant classics like this month’s Boozy Ube Tiramisu.

For the holidays, we’re loving Sarap Now’s Holiday Snack Box Set, perfect for your cousins in college who love a good munchies box, your co-workers that obsesses over Filipino bought snacks or maybe for yourself to stash away for a rainy day. The box features Sanzo, House of Polvoron, Calbee and Sun Tropics brand treats. The box is sure to bring a smile to anyone who opens it!

2. Kasama Rum x Oodaalolly Chocolates Holiday Collection

Two filipino favorites in one festive collab? We’re in. Kasama Rum and Oodalolly Chocolate come together again for their second collection collaboration for the holidays. This time, their offering a trio of premium hand-crafted Philippine cacao chocolate bars infused with Kasama Rum in three tropical flavors. Each bar is joyfully crafted to celebrate the spirit of the Philippines and highlight the flavors of Kasama:

· 70% Dark Chocolate dusted with golden coconut sugar

· White Chocolate dotted with sweet pineapple chunks

· Coconut Milk Chocolate sprinkled with Ilocano sea salt

Event better, $2 from the sale of each set of chocolates will be donated to Hospicio de San Jose, a charity in the Philippines that houses an orphanage, shelters women escaping domestic violence, and offers a skills training program for the homeless.

3. San and Wolves Bakeshop Vegan and GF Cakes

San & Wolves Bakeshop is the first established vegan Filipinx bakery. Founded by Kym Estrada in Brooklyn, NY in 2017. Now operating in Long Beach, CA. They offer traditional and new vegan Filipino baked goods and all products are soy free, nut free, palm oil free and made with organic sweeteners. Every ingredient is scratch made, right down to their house made coconut oil based butter.

If you’re in the Los Angeles or Orange Country areas in California, you don’t want to miss San and Wolves’ pre-order spread of vegan and gluten free desserts. Between delicious cornbread bibingka and macapuno layer cake, you’ll be wishing you learned about them sooner. Pre-order for holiday pick ups are no open for pick up on Dec. 23 and Dec. 24 in Los Alamitos.

4. The Lumpia Company’s “Best Wrappers Alive” Frozen Variety Box

KH Fam The Lumpia Company has gathered a collection of their greatest hits from their everyday menu inside a shipping box for you to cook up and enjoy with friends and family. Shipped with dry ice with 2 day shipping so it gets to you asap, the box has a variety of 6 famous fusion Lumpia Flavors that you can cook at home (including Bacon Cheeseburger, Chicken Tinola. TLC Veggie and Peach Mango to name a few).  A specific dipping sauce is added with each of the Lumpia flavors for the ultimate paring.  Also included is their Adobo Seasoned Chicken Wings & Sinigang Pork Belly Chips. Cooking instructions are included to make sure you cook everything to a golden crispy perfection.    

The Lumpia Company was founded in 2015 by food entrepreneur Alex Retodo, channeling his mother’s Filipino cooking but with some flavor twists, such as the best-selling Bacon Cheeseburger Lumpia. After sampling Alex's unique spin on his beloved lumpia in 2019, Rapper E-40 became co-owner and champion of The Lumpia Company, and the rest is history. With a food truck in San Francisco, its first brick and mortar in Oakland, at a fan-favorite stand at the San Francisco Giants' Oracle Park, The Lumpia Company has pioneered this favorite Filipino snack across the Bay Area.

5. Sweet Condesa’s Pasko Pies (Bibingka, Queso de Bola, Puto Bumbong)

Inspired by the traditional rice cakes and treats during Christmas season and Noche Buena, Sweet Condesa is offering nationwide 2 day shipping on their Pasko Pies: Bibingka Pie, Queso de Bola and Puto Bumbong. A new twist on traditional flavors, we’re sure you’re going to love these pies, perfect additions to all your family parties.

In 2017, Melody Lorenzo launched Sweet Condesa, but it remained a side hustle until February 2020, when she finally quit her job to pursue her passion. Sweet Condesa now boasts a large menu reimagined Filipino desserts and prices itself in being a kick of nostalgia for the transplanted and second to third-generation Pinoys of the Bay Area (now nationwide thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign that’s allowed them to set up shop in their new production space.

6. Sweet Delights Chicago Sylvannas (or anything on their menu!)

Founded by Eina Kathlyn, Chicago based Sweet Delights offers traditional and unique Filipino style pastries and desserts. They are known for their delectable Sylvannas in both familiar and new flavors as well as modern twists on Filipino treats like their Mango and Ube De Leche Float, Ube Mooncakes, Flan Donuts, Ube Cake Bombs and Ube and Mango Mochi Donuts to name a few.

Their Holiday Menu/Gift Boxes are still available for pick up in the Norwood Park Area. Their holiday spread includes the above favorites as well as Ube Biko Leche Flan, Ube Oreo Cheesecake bars, Beef Empanadas and more. Check out what’s available and DM them or head to their website to make an order.

7. Wanderlust Creamery’s Pasko Pilipino or Noche Bueno Pack

Wanderlust Creamery’s Pasko Pilipino or Noche Buena Pack is the holy grail of all Filipino treats. If we ever imagined the most complete compilation of all our favorites, we could not even fathom such a perfect pack. And needless to say we didn’t need to since Wanderlust Creamery did all the work for us. While you can order these nationwide while supplies last, you’ll be in better shape to get yours via local delivery or in person if you live in the Los Angeles Area. If you don’t you can still order online-your ice cream purchase arrives perfectly frozen in an insulated shipping box packed with enough dry ice to maintain a below-freezing temperature during transit.

With flavors like Ube Malted Crunch, Wanderlust Halo Halo, Sapin Sapin, Brown Butter Sans Rival, Kalamansi Creamsicle, Turon, and Coconut Sampaguita, not only will you be the hit of the party, your titas and titos MIGHT just forgive you for not going to nursing school.

8. Daniel Corpuz Chocolatier Bon Bons

Daniel Joseph Corpuz is a pastry chef and chocolatier based in New York City and has worked in several fine dining restaurants in New York City, of which include The Modern at MoMA, Manhatta, and One White Street, but some of you might know him from Netflix’s show, ‘School of Chocolate’ with world renowned Pastry Chef Amaury Guichon. 

Daniel Corpuz Chocolatier utilizes Filipino and Asian ingredients and flavors to make chocolate works of art such as his Kalamansi Caramel, Mango Coconut and Roasted Corn Bon Bons.

Currently, his chocolates are only available via pop up shops located in New York at the 3 holiday markets: Union Square Holiday Market, Columbus Circle Holiday Market and Canal Street Market. His bon bons are the perfect holiday treat for your foodie friends, besties and basically anyone on your list that has a sweet tooth.

9. Cafe 86 Ube Anything

Established in 2014 - Cafe 86 prides its self to be the front runner of all ube centric desserts and pastries- from flan ube cupcakes, to ube cream cheese muffins and ube babka- founder Ginger Lim Dimapasok’s extensive list of ube-infused desserts is an impressive one. And ff you don’t know her from her stores or events, you may remember her from Food Network’s “Chopped Sweets.”

With 6 locations in California and one in Las Vegas, there is undoubtedly a location near you so you can pop on over and grab a few boxes for your holiday parties!

10. B Sweet Desserts by Barb Batiste

Six of B Sweet’s freshly baked, moist, delicious, beautiful cookies showing off three of their favorite Filipino flavors: Ube (Filipino Purple Yam), Buko Pandan (Young Coconut), and Matamis Na Bao (Sweet Coconut Jam) are available for nationwide shipping through Goldbelly. Among other treats offered by the platform are B Sweet’s famous Ube Cheescake, Bread Pudding and Vegan Cheesecake Jars, so we’re pretty sure everyone’s palette on your list is covered!

Growing up, B Sweet’s Barb Batiste spent her weekends helping her mother cook for gatherings of her close-knit Filipino family. She founded B Sweet in 2009 in her home kitchen with one recipe – her famous Chocolate Chip Banana Bread – and it grew to become a popular catering operation, followed by two dessert trucks (B Sweet Mobile), followed by a brick-and-mortar dessert shop (B Sweet Dessert Bar), and finally a fast-casual Filipino restaurant named Big Boi in 2018. B Sweet has been featured on CNBC's The Profit with Marcus Lemonis, BuzzFeed's Bring Me, and Bravo. B Sweet has been also featured on by LAist, Guest of a Guest, Refinery 29, and TeenVogue. Chef Barb has also been a featured chef at the LA Food and Wine Festival.

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