Drowning in Sweetness

For some time now I have been wondering why I have sweet cravings, because I never have this in my country, Kenya. Then I realize it’s the food I’m eating that is different. I hardly eat anything sweet for days. Unlike when I’m in Mombasa Kenya, there is always something sweet for breakfast and sometimes for dinner because we eat very light in the evening like in the morning.

I like ice cream and have found few Caribbean brands here (in Belize) which I like. Then a Belizean told me I have to try a particular USA brand because it’s the best of all
the brands. I gave it a try, was a bit sweeter than the normal ice cream in my country and the caribbean. I thought maybe it’s because of the flavor, so I decided to try another flavor. Bought 2 favours; one had cherries inside and the other had cookies inside. I did not like the idea of cookies inside an ice cream because it sounds like a junk food but decided to give it a try.

Of course I first opened the cherry one, and the look inside was not inviting, I expected it to be white and maybe bits and pieces of red cherries but instead it was brown so it was clear it’s chocolate flavoured. When I tasted my first scoop, my taste buds exploded and collapsed, I felt pain in my brain because of the sweetness. It felt like I’ve just eaten a ball of sugar. The cherries inside the ice cream were not real; they were soaked in sugar until they also became sugar balls. The taste of sugar was so strong and overpowering everything that I could not even taste the ice cream.

The ice cream was blended with chocolate and had very sweet chocolate chips inside. Chocolate flavoured ice cream with chocolate chips and cherries? Wow! what a combination.  I felt like my taste buds were being terrorized and had to stop, threw away the remaining ice cream to relieve myself.

What an experience! Ironically this was one of the most expensive ice creams in the store's freezer; really? I have never eaten anything so sweet in my life before except in the American Airlines plane when I had a cookie. I’ve also tried other US ice cream brands and they’re all very sweet but the latter tops the list. Why do Americans consume so much sugar? I now ask myself. Can something be moderately sweet?

This incident made me miss the ice cream in my home town. We have several brands but my favourite is from an Italian company. Clean flavours, you can taste the flavours and enjoy the ice cream too. If it has cherries inside then they are real, few and tasty not sugary. You can taste the milk richness in the ice cream and not a single ice crystal inside, just smooth.