TBT | Black Sticky Rice Ice Cream
As someone who grew up on an island on the East Coast of Canada with a diet that I jokingly refer to as “boil everything to mush in a big pot, and then throw in some meat (or salt if you’re trying to appease the weird veg person coming back from university for the holidays)”, I can safely say that I’ve tried plenty of interesting things during my travels that I never would have tasted at home.
Hell, it wasn’t until university that I discovered what a chickpea was, and soon after I realized said wonderful thing was also the reason for hummus. Needless to say, that was one of the most important things I learned while I was studying in the next province over. Sorry, Mom and Dad, but it’s true.
From being surprised by just how spicy papaya salad (“som tam” in Thailand) can be to learning how great it can be to eat food off a banana leaf with my hands, my dining experiences have been a very important part of every place I’ve visited and lived, and being vegan hasn’t limited them nearly as much as you would think.
In fact, I would argue in some ways that being vegan has led to me trying things I might not have even considered back when I ate flesh, eggs, dairy, etc. Since I became vegan over a decade ago, my motto at the time was “if it’s vegan, I’ll try it”, and I’ve stuck with that in many ways over the years. Sure, now that veganism is more in the mainstream, I can be a little pickier, but at times I’ve simply had to go with whatever the vegan option was in order to avoid going hungry.
And that brings me to the throwback I’m doing today.
I’m not sure how long ago it was that I tried the black sticky rice ice cream from a 7-Eleven in Thailand, but I know that they are a go-to choice for me whenever I go back to the country. Maybe it’s because I’ve been living off of a mainly beans and rice diet, or maybe it’s because a chance to eat something cold in 40+ C weather will make plenty of things taste good, but I am a fan of rice in my dessert.
Side note: I am not a fan of durian or black beans in my dessert, and, yes, these are both options as well. There’s also corn and sweet potato (I think?), but I’m not even going to talk about those.
If you told high school me that at some point down the road I would be writing a blog post to proclaim my love for cold rice in frozen coconut cream, I would probably laugh at you. Hell, some of you are probably laughing at me now.
However, don’t knock it until you try it. Seriously, the first round’s on me.
