Mama & Sons in Kentish Town reports rising demand for ube smoothies and other purple treats. Photograph: Jon Clements/The Guardian View image in fullscreen Mama & Sons in Kentish Town reports rising demand for ube smoothies and other purple treats. Photograph: Jon Clements/The Guardian Food Purple reins: Philippine export ban casts shadow over UK’s love of ube As Britain goes mad for yam, shortage of planting material and concerns over control of crop prompts sales halt
Sarah Marsh Consumer affairs correspondent Sat 26 Sep 2026 10.00 CEST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google I n a corner of north London on a weekday morning, Filipino cuisine is thriving: diners at Mama & Sons in Kentish Town are making their choices, and one of the most popular items on the menu is the ube ice-cream sandwich. It’s easy to see the appeal of the light, fluffy bun encasing a purple scoop of ice-cream.
The owner of the cafe, Omar Shah, says ube – a vibrantly purple root vegetable long-beloved in the Philippines – has exploded in popularity in the UK . Just when he thinks it has reached its peak, it becomes “even more popular”. And this year, he says, has been no exception.
View image in fullscreen Omar Shah, owner of Mama & Sons, says he is having trouble getting hold of ube right now. Photograph: Jon Clements/The Guardian The purple yam has found its way into lattes, pastries and desserts, earning comparisons with the global matcha craze. Pret A Manger introduced the Ube Brûlée Iced Latte in May 2025 as a limited-edition summer drink featuring ube’s sweet, nutty flavour. Starbucks and Costa Coffee, two of the world’s largest coffee chains, introduced ube-flavoured drinks this year, marking the yam’s mainstream adoption.
Which is why the Philippines’ ban on fresh ube exports is causing such a stir. A shortage of planting material, coupled with concerns over maintaining control of the crop, has prompted the government to halt the exports.
View image in fullscreen José James enjoys an ube cookie. Photograph: Jon Clements/The Guardian “We severely lack planting material ourselves, and we don’t want to export it to countries that could use Philippine ube varieties to compete with us,” said the agriculture secretary, Francisco P Tiu Laurel Jr, in a statement .
The export ban will not restrict sales of processed or frozen products, which are the primary ingredients used in the US and Europe.
However, Shah, who also owns London’s oldest Filipino restaurant and five other eateries, says that he cannot get hold of any ube at the moment, although he has enough stock to last a year. “Has the price [of ube] gone up? Yeah, I mean, but it was always up anyway … if it goes up any more it’s going to be considered a luxury product,” he says.
Jonas Salvador, 25, is at the cafe on Thursday and says he likes how experimental ube has become, with lots of “creative takes” on how it can be used. His friend, José James, 22, agrees that “ube is having a moment”. He is from the Philippines “so it’s a taste from home”.
Ube production in the Philippines rose 17% in the first half of this year to 5,660 tonnes, according to the national statistics authority. But Tiu Laurel said the industry was “growing faster than its ability to produce”. The government wanted to expand domestic production before developing ube into a larger export earner, he added.
Guillermo “Ige” Ramos, a food scholar and founder of the Ugnayan Center for Filipino Gastronomy, argues in a position paper that…