Ice Cream Frenzy

While we were on holiday in Saint Jean de Luz we spent a fascinated ten minutes or so watching some ice cream makers perform.

They were equipped with frozen metal plates which they loaded up with fresh fruit at the customer's request. After frenetically chopping the fruit to a puree a swirl of sweetened cream was added. More mixing, scraping, chopping and spreading ensued. Finally the ice cream was spread out thin then scraped up into four or five curls. These were deposited in a cup, whipped cream squirted over the gaps and the customer's selection of lollies (candies, sweets, bonbons) sprinkled over.

I'm not quite sure how this sort of performance snack ever makes money. It takes a long time to hand over each completed ice cream creation so relatively few customers are served. The price reflects the fact that customers are paying for the performance and time taken more than the value of the ingredients and many people will be put off by how expensive they seem.

We probably would have tried one each, except that we only discovered the place while walking back to our apartment after dinner. Apparently it's called Thai rolled ice cream.

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