Celebrate Filipino American History Month with a scoop from Wanderlust Creamery, an ice cream chain in Southern California.
Many of Wanderlust Creamery’s flavors are inspired by the Filipino American roots of its owners. ABC7 News recently highlighted the businesses as a part of Filipino American History Month.
Adrienne Borlongan, a co-founder, told ABC7 News she harbored dreams of attending culinary school but faced the familial expectations that come with being the child of immigrants. Her mother had hoped she would become a nurse.
Yet, Borlongan defied the conventional path and pursued a degree in food science. Her love affair with ice cream began in 2014 when she developed an insatiable fondness for it. The following year, her co-founder and husband, John Patrick Lopez, stumbled upon an abandoned ice cream shop, complete with unused equipment.
The couple opened the first Wanderlust Creamery in 2015, The Orange County Register reports. The first brick-and-mortar location was in Tarzana, a Los Angeles suburb in the San Fernando Valley. It offered a total of 24 different flavors.
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An unexpected revelation came when one of Borlongan’s uncles sent a congratulatory email, ABC 7 reports. He pointed out that she was following in her grandfather’s footsteps, who happened to be a flavor chemist for Magnolia ice cream.
Wanderlust Creamery expanded to eight different locations across Southern California. The most recent location opened in May in Irvine. Customers can enjoy unique flavors like “Ube Malted Crunch” or “Sticky Rice + Mango.”
Borlongan found that ice cream was an accessible medium for introducing unique flavors to a diverse audience, especially those less adventurous with their culinary choices.
In a special commemoration of Filipino American History Month, Wanderlust Creamery has joined forces with social media sensation Bretman Rock. Together, they’ve concocted an ice cream flavor inspired by one of his cherished childhood treats, the Filipino fruit salad.
Through this collaboration, Lopez told ABC7 News, “We’re meeting more and more people like us.”
“My experience as the daughter of Filipino immigrants, born and raised here in Los Angeles, I feel is such a unique and really cool experience,” Borlongan said to ABC7 News. “You get to have the best of both worlds, and I think the month is about celebrating that.”
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