Saweetie's McDonald's meal gives new meaning to "halo-halo"

McDONALD'S

Saweetie creates a new dish using ingredients from her McDonald's meal.

Filipino American rap artist Saweetie's McDonald's meal is a big meal. The idea, the rap star recommends, is to mix it up to create a new dish.

It's kind of like halo-halo, (literally translated: "mix-mix") the Filipino dessert made up of several ingredients like ube ice cream, sweet beans, jello, heart of palm, flan, evaporated milk and crushed ice, then topped with something crunchy like nuts or Rice Krispeys.  To eat it properly, one has to mix all the ingredients together.

RELATED: Saweetie on the cover of 'Cosmopolitan'

The Saweetie Meal, features a Big Mac®, 4-piece Chicken McNuggets®, medium World Famous Fries®, a medium Sprite®, Tangy BBQ Sauce and "Saweetie 'N Sour" sauce – the same Sweet 'N Sour sauce you know and love, re-named in honor of the new meal.

"Hopefully, everyone enjoys the concoction because the point of the meal is to remix it in different ways, whether it’s making a crazy burger or combining the fries [with] the nugget box and creating some type of rendition of nachos, so I’m just really excited to see everyone enjoy their meals," the Filipino American artist told Asian Journal.

The Saweetie meal is the latest promo McDonald's using celebrities. The BTS meal with the superstar K-pop group, was featured during Asian American ,Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander Heritage Month last May.

The culinary offering lasts until Sept. 5. It can be ordered through the McDonald’s App, at participating McDonald’s or through McDelivery. McDonald’s. If you order with the app, you are eligible for more prizes including a trip to Las Vegas to watch a  Saweetie concert.

Saweetie has gained quite a reputation for mixing up foods and posting the concoctions on her social media pages. Anyone for ranch dressing on spaghettie withtomato sauce? How about putting Cheetos atop your pizza? Anyone for Ramen chicken seasoning on oysters?

So her McDonald's meal doesn't so strange now, does it?

The fast food chain and McDonald expanded their collaboration Monday (Aug. 23). Saweetie fans can now pair their curated McDonald’s dining experience with pieces from a newly unveiled merch collection.

The pieces will be available for a limited time, with prices starting at $18. Featured are hoodies, a crewneck, a pair of t-shirt designs, a fanny pack, joggers, shorts, a trucker hat, and more.

“Now ya’ll know I stay dipped in the latest fashion, so it was only right I drop some icy merch to celebrate my McDonald’s collab,” Saweetie said in a press release. “There are so many oversized pieces that I love, like my favorites: the Saweetie ’N Sour Hoodie and Fry Tees.”

See more from the collection below. A special site has also been launched, serving as the lone space for collecting pieces from the collection. Find that here.

Saweeite, was born Diamonté Quiava Valentin Harper, with a Filipino Chinese mother and a Black father who is also a pastor. Growing up in the Bay Area, she was exposed to a diverse community and their different cuisines.

“The Bay Area is such a melting pot. You have Asian food and off rip, you have Filipino food, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese food. And then you have Spanish food. And then of course you have soul food.”

With her mom and lola's cooking and encouragement, it is not surprise for her love of Filipino food. “I grew up eating tons of Filipino food. I love sinigang, I love adobo, pancit, lumpia,” she lists off. “Even Filipino breakfast. Filipino breakfast is like a sunny side up egg with spam, Vienna sausage, some white rice. Maybe a slice of mango with some mango juice. That shit is so good.”

“Filipino food makes me happy,” Saweetie sighs contentedly. “If it’s good, I’ll just savor in the moment. And if it’s really good, I start dancing. I just can’t help myself!"

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is not an ad for McDonald's nor am I receiving compensation of any sort for this article.

Ellen Degneres, McDonalds embrace Filipino American pranksters

SCREEN CAPTURE / ELLENTUBE

Christian Toledo, left, and Jevh Maravilla received checks of $25,000 each from McDonalds on the Ellen Show.

WHO WOULD have guessed that pulling a prank on corporate giant McDonalds would land the two Filipino American college students a job working for the world's best-known food franchise?

University of Houston students Jevh Maravilla and Christian Toledo were guests on the Ellen Show Monday (Sept. 17), where the host Ellen Degeneres surprised both students with a $25,000 check from McDonald's. Not only that, but Ellen also shared they would be featured in an upcoming marketing campaign for the hamburger chain.

The two became internet celebrities last month when they created a fake McDonald’s poster featuring them, which they hung on the wall of one of the fast food brand’s outlets in Pearland, Texas.

They told Degneres that they were inspired by the movie Crazy Rich Asians, which portrayed Asians and Asian Americans in a new contemporary light. “Crazy Rich Asians is a big influence on me,” said Maravilla. “I watched it three times.”

“Because we want to be crazy middle class (Asians])” joked Toledo.

Miravilla and Toledo were in their local McDonalds when they noticed that there were no Asians in the posters depicting McDonald employees and customers that were on display in the fast food outlet.

They told Degeneres of their elaborate scheme of making a fake poster featuring the two of them holding McDonald's products, and then surreptitiously hanging it on an empty wall in their favorite McDonalds. 

The imposter poster hung in the restaurant for 51 days before the students revealed the prank through their social media. Instead of taking the students to court and tearing down the poster, the franchise left the poster up and congratulated Toledo and Maravilla for a job well done. 

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