Ube Industrial Complex

Welcome to Ube Industrial Complex, a food-motivated limited podcast series that explores culinary scenes and broader pop cultural appetites from a Filipino American and Canadian POV. Co-hosted across three cities by Karen Tongson (L.A.), Adrian De Leon (NY), and James Zarsadiaz (SF), the show boasts both local perspectives, and a worldly sensibility across generations, migration routes, foodways, trends and tastes. In episode 1, we talk about ube, its origins, its role in food trends and why we think it has evolved into an "industrial complex" in Filipino food cultures. Plus, we offer scene reports about the places that have our attention in L.A., N.Y. and S.F., while bringing in some observations from our recent travels beyond our home cities.