HOUSTON – Houston-area business Be More Pacific: Filipino Kitchen & Bar showed its support for the Filipino community with its third lumpia-eating contest in an effort to give back to small businesses.
The contest started in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic as a way to help small businesses that are struggling to get visibility and customers.
Be More Pacific invited restaurants to come and participate in hopes of getting a prize while sharing about their businesses.
Each contestant was tasked to eat as many lumpia as they could within the designated timeframe.
Chris Nguyen, representing local business Seaside Poke, won this year’s contest.
Nguyen ate 60 lumpia in 10 minutes. He’s a three-time champion.
“Last year, I ate 52. This year I ate 60. I honestly didn’t have a goal in mind. I just kept going and I had the competition next to me that kind of pushed me, so it was good,” Nguyen said. “I’m very full. I’m not eating until July 4th!”
Organizers said it is about celebrating Houston’s small businesses and its rich diversity.
“We’re hoping to promote other businesses. That’s number one. Number two, it brings everybody together during the Fourth of July… bringing people together, have some fun and also at the same time introduce Filipino culture,” Be More Pacific Filipino Kitchen & Bar Owner Giovan Cuchapin said.