One particular pizza sure is turning heads and racking up views − but not because of the cheese, toppings or sauce. It’s because of the purple pizza crust.
Yes, you read that right.
The uber-popular Pizza Lunare at Pizza Moon restaurant at Universal Orlando Resort’s newest theme park in Florida, Epic Universe, has a deep purple-colored crust. The striking color found in certain Filipino desserts, ice cream and mochi comes from ube or purple yam.
What is ube, and how is it used? Keep reading to learn about the vegetable used in a lot of classic dishes from the Philippines and for more information on that popular purple pizza at Epic Universe theme park in Orlando, Florida.
What is ube? How do you pronounce ube?
Ube is a purple yam that’s iconic in Filipino cuisine, and when it’s used, it tends to pop out, making dishes like ice cream, mochi and cake anywhere from a light violet, pale purple pastel or lavender to a deep dark purple.
When people see green food and desserts, they tend to think of matcha. When there’s purple food, it’s typically because of ube.
In case you’re wondering, ube is pronounced like “ooh-bay,” where the “u” has an “ooh” sound like uber. Though it’s spelled like “cube,” it is not pronounced like “oob.”
What dishes have ube, the purple yam? How do you use it?
The purple yam is often compared to a sweet potato or taro and used heavily in iconic dishes from the Philippines, Hawaii, China and Japanese fusion. Some ube dishes include:
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Ube in halo-halo, which means “mix mix” in Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines. Halo-halo is a shaved ice dessert with evaporated milk, sugar and a variety of toppings from creamed corn, mung beans, chick peas and “macapuno” or coconut with a side of ube or ube-flavored ice cream.
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Ube ice cream, sold in most Asian markets
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Ube milkshakes or pudding
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Ube doughnuts or mochi donuts
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Ube cheesecake, ube pancakes or ube cakes
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Ube bread or ube milkbread
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Ube halaya is made from boiled and mashed purple yam.
Is ube the same as taro? Is purple Boba drink made of ube?
Ube dishes typically have a purple color — and so do ube-flavored drinks.
Some Asian restaurants serve ube milkshakes. Some have purple boba.
However, boba teas or bubble teas are light purple, but not because of ube. Those drinks are flavored with taro, a root vegetable also common in Asian cuisine.
Ube has a sweet, nutty vanilla taste, very similar to taro-flavored boba tea.
Universal Orlando theme park has a purple pizza made with ube. Where to order?
When Epic Universe opened in May 2025, the newest theme park in the Universal Orlando Resort family had a, well, epic opening. And since “epic” is in the name, that applies to the food and drinks served there, whether it’s on a specific holiday or a random day at the park.
“It’s important for us to always listen to guest feedback so that we can further improve our offerings,” Chef Jens Dahlmann, vice president and executive chef of culinary operations at Universal Orlando Resort, said in an email to the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida.
“With the addition of Universal Epic Universe, we are able to celebrate new and unique holiday stories this year. The food and beverage portfolio at Epic Universe already does such a great job with immersive storytelling, and we wanted to continue that for the holidays,” Dahlmann wrote.
One non-holiday must-try dish from Epic Universe theme park in Orlando, Florida? That would be the Pizza Lunare from Pizza Moon restaurant. The pizza with a roasted garlic bechamel, pancetta and ricotta has that extra “theme park flair” with its purple crust. Ube, a purple yam similar to taro root or sweet potato used in Filipino cuisine, is responsible for the pizza crust’s show-stopping purple element in this Epic Universe favorite.
To see what people online are saying, check out the Instagram photos or Reels with the hashtag #PizzaLunare or #purplepizza on instagram.
Ube food photos, what the purple pizza from Orlando theme park in Florida looks like
An ube latte steamer has a purple hue at Kabylia Baguette in Akron.
Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Ube a purple yam used in halo-halo, ice cream in Philippines
