Miss Universe 2022 R’Bonney Gabriel embraced the Filipino tradition of eating food with one’s hands as she enjoyed feasting on local cuisine while in Boracay.
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The Filipino-American beauty queen on Wednesday shared a video of her eating Pinoy meals laid out in huge banana leaves while in a Boracay hotel.
“Everybody is doing it with gloves, but I washed my hands, and I feel like I can’t do it with gloves. I just gotta do it with my bare hand,” the half-Pinay said to her viewers in a conspiratorial tone.
R’Bonney was referring to “kamayan,” or a boodle fight, a Filipino tradition in which various foods are laid out on a table in banana leaves and then eaten by hand.
She was spotted eating itlog na maalat or salted egg, bangus or milkfish which she “loved,” and sliced ripe mangoes.
R’Bonney also ate the mango by opening it up to let the sliced cubes pop out.
The fruit was initially sliced in half, with its cheek then cut in a grid pattern. It only needs to be pushed from its skin so its sliced cubes can stick out and be eaten.
“This is the only way to eat mangoes. I did it, whoo!” she exclaimed in the video.
She was referring to the dicing of mango, which is among the popular ways Filipinos eat ripe mangoes.
“Collecting my Filipino points one by one #BoodleFight #kamayan #Filipinofood @coastboracay @chachasboracay,” R’Bonney wrote on Instagram.
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Her video has received over 21,700 likes and several comments from social media users, with some praising her for her no-fuss attitude toward eating with bare hands.
“I really [love] R’Bonney, the most down-to-earth Queen ever!!! Walang kaarte-arte, very natural but the most talented!” an Instagram user wrote.
“A true Filipina Queen… eats with her hands!” another user commented with clapping hand emojis and heart emoticons.
“We are so proud on how genuine you are vin connecting with your Pinoy roots!! May you be rewarded favorably,” commented a different user with a smiling face emoticon.
R’Bonney has been in the Philippines since last month for “special projects,” which include modeling and guesting appearances.
She recently hosted the Miss Universe Philippines 2024 coronation night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena on May 22, along with Emmy award-winning TV personality Jeannie Mai, actors Alden Richards and Gabbi Garcia and multi-media personality Tim Yap.
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The beauty queen previously caught attention for eating bagoong or shrimp paste on its own.
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