Eng Bee Tin, now in its 112th year, announced that it will be holding the first, ever “National Hopia Day” in the Philippines.
The event, slated on July 19 to 21, 2024 at the Mall of Asia Music Hall, will also be held to honor Filipino-Chinese heritage, of which ‘hopia’ is such a large part.
Gerik Chua, Eng Bee Tin’s chief operating officer and his sister Roche Chua, who is the company’s finance manager, guaranteed that the event will bring lots of fun and excitement as well as star sightings, along with games and surprises for the whole family and chances to win prizes that would include a lifetime supply of Eng Bee Tin products.
Gerik shared that the history of hopia in the Philippines dates back to the early 1900s when a wave of Chinese immigrants from Fujian province in China first came to the country.
“Hopia is a staple snack and pastry for the Chinese, it’s their version of puff pastry. They brought this culture with them as they lived in the Philippines. Chinese families would bake this at home or sell it in their small neighborhood bake shops catering to the Chinese community,” he said.
Gerik also said that ‘hopia’ came from the Fookien Word “Ho-Bia” which, when directly translated, means ‘Good Biscuit’.
Traditionally made up of a flaky pastry exterior with a sweet mung bean paste filling, the pastry gained popularity over the years, among mainstream Filipino consumers as a tasty snack and cheap everyday treat. Flavors such as Hopia Mongo, Hopia Baboy and Hopia Hapon were crowd favorites.
Roche meanwhile said that it was only in the late 1980s that the very first ‘Ube Hopia’ was made by their patriarch himself, Gerry Chua. And the rest is history.
Today, she said that Eng Bee Tin boasts a wide selection of hopia flavors, all featuring distinctly Filipino flavors and had become synonymous to the word ‘pasalubong.’
“Extremely grateful and honored to be able to serve the Filipinos for 112 years, and with our commitment to quality and innovation, we are excited to serve you more great flavors for the years to come,” says Gerry, the deli’s president and CEO.
