GUCCI blazer and collared shirt, JACQUEMUS straw hat. Photography by SHAIRA LUNA
Multi-award-winning musical phenomenon H.E.R. takes a walk down memory lane as she talks about everything from her lola’s sinigang to her favorite Filipino snacks.
Filipino food connects us to our heritage, to memories of our lolas’ cooking, and to the future as well, as seen in the renaissance of our dishes in the international scene. No one is immune to the charm of our regional fare—certainly not Filipino-American singer and songwriter H.E.R.
Born to a Filipina mother and American father, Gabi Wilson, who goes by the stage name H.E.R. is on the cover of Vogue Philippines’ February issue. She shared with the publications her Filipino food favorites.
Clad in her signature sunglasses, Gabi reveals her after-school snacks to be Chocnut and palabok. Adobo, she adds, reminds her of her Tita Joan, who she claims makes the best version of the dish, complete with saging. She also likes her suman sweet, and will add sugar if needed.
The talented musician and actress also shares how the Skyflakes containers were always a “trick box” because you think “there’s more Skyflakes in there, but wala na. Or it’s something else being stored in the box,” she says, mimicking a Filipino quirk of using cookie tins as random containers.
The 25-year-old likewise shares how sinigang is her favorite food, and that her grandmother makes the best one. Chicharon, on the other hand, fondly reminds her of her Papa. “He’s always eating chicharon!” she quips.
She gets giddy at the thought of polvoron. “It just melts in your mouth,” she says, in between mouthfuls of the Filipino treat.
And if all this wasn’t proof of what a fan she is of authentic Filipino cuisine, the multi-award-winning songstress also digs excitedly into some balut. “I had to take off the glasses ‘coz this is serious business right here. Balut is no regular food,” she notes with a smile, before she teaches everyone how to eat it with just a little bit of salt. “Konti lang.”
“Masarap!” she then pronounces, of the piece of our culinary heritage many in the West would consider a delicacy.
And as this global musical phenomenon happily slurps her balut with gusto, we are reminded about how gloriously multi-faceted our culture is, comprised not only of the sweet, savory and sour, but of tastes so complex and uniquely Filipino, that you really just have to try it to enjoy it.
