Seen in Bangkok - Unholy Ice Cream Topping
Monday, December 28, 2009 at 9:45PM 
Thai food is, after Indian food, my all-time favorite cuisine in the world. Many people would call me crazy for even saying that, as Thai food is usually seen as the end-all, be-all food in terms of sheer taste bud-exploding goodness. Fair enough. But there is one thing that Thais have not yet nailed, and that's their desserts. Oh sure, the sticky rice and mango is to die for and here and there you'll find certain dishes that are okay, but the efforts often don't make it to what we as westerners would call 'palatable'. Exhibit A: an ice cream sundae with corn topping.
I snapped this a while ago at a KFC joint on Silom Road. After being here for a while, I've seen and tasted my fair share of strange Thai desserts, from hunks of black jelly floating in ice water and covered in brown sugar to a plate of frozen whipped cream and sweet potatoes, but I'm not sure I could imagine the thought process that went into making this monstrosity. Probably the same thought process that went into making clamato juice. Now, ice cream is pretty awesome, but there are certain things that you'd just assume would not be paired with it. Ketchup. Boiled carrots. And corn!
Note the double-layer of niblet goodness. The Green Giant would FREAK OUT if he saw this.And no, shamefully, I didn't try it. As a guy who's eaten raw horse and duck's tongue, maybe I was being a bit too picky, but there's just something creepy about this. Then again... there's something creepy to adding clam juice to tomato juice, but I still used to steal 1L cans of it from our pantry as a kid and gulp them down like they were Coca-Cola. Still so much to learn...
Reader Comments (7)
You should try it. It's not that bad. ;)
Maybe you should try coconut ice-cream with sticky rice and corn. That's Thai classic!
You're right Chutchapol, I should have tried it. Next time! Coconut ice cream and sticky rice is pretty good...but still with the corn, huh? Can never escape. :P
Maybe Thais think we are messed up eating carrot cake (which is an all time fav). I am down for going for some Indian food and then hitting up KFC for a corn sundae. You in?
I've actually had the coconut ice cream with sticky rice and corn (wife insisted) and I will be going back for more. The corn surprisingly melds well with the ice cream (maybe something about the starches?) and gives it a nice texture.
The ice cream pairing I've never understood and have never been able to enjoy is the Thai "ice cream sandwich". You know, scoops of ice cream served in a hot dog bun...ick! The first bite is ok, until the ice cream starts to melt and the bun gets all soggy. I may yet grow to like it, but somehow I doubt it.
I dunno Steve, I kind of like the ice cream on bread thing, it's like eating a soggy ice-cream sandwich. It's weird at first, but I came around. Maybe they should add an ice-cream sub at Subway?
Depends on what you grow up with, I guess.
I'm not sure why the things Thais do with corn are so objectionable to us, but maybe it's because corn is such a staple, whereas Thais seem to prefer it only as a snack or dessert. Sure, we've got popcorn, but they've got corn on their ice cream, waffles with corn in the batter, corn and shredded coconut mixed with low-quality melted margarine, even corn-flavored Pretz (those pretzel-ish snack sticks -- the corn variety is pure evil).
Like corn, chili peppers are native to the Americas, and yet Thais have done utterly brilliant things with those. We love Thai food probably because chilis aren't a traditional staple of white man food in the Americas in the same way corn is. Which makes us more open to experimentation and variety.
I like your site, Greg. Hope all is well with you. Hugs, Shirley