In This Globe-Trotting Dessert, Many Immigrants Find A Taste Of Home
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If you're the type of person who has a hard time deciding what to get for dessert because, well, everything looks good, you might want to try a falooda.
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Falooda is a treat that dates back, most likely, to ancient Persia. And it's beloved in many parts of Asia. It's not so easy to find here yet. NPR's Rhitu Chatterjee has the story of a mother and daughter who are trying to get Americans to embrace falooda, too.
JOCELYN LAW-YONE: Hi. Nice to see you again. Come on.
RHITU CHATTERJEE, BYLINE: This is my second visit to Jocelyn Law-Yone's falooda stand in D.C.'s Union Market. She's from Myanmar and looks tiny under the big poster hanging above her like a flag. It shows a tall glass filled with what looks like a brightly striped milkshake. This is falooda.
LAW-YONE: It's a layered drink. So it's not something that you gulp down.
CHATTERJEE: At the bottom are cubes of green or red or pink fruit jellies. Next - a layer of sprouted basil seeds, black and gooey.
LAW-YONE: And then I have a layer of noodle pudding.
CHATTERJEE: It's like rice pudding - only with vermicelli noodles. Then, on top of that - sorbet or ice cream, flavored milk and the most important ingredient of all.
LAW-YONE: This is my syrup that goes in most of the faloodas.
CHATTERJEE: It's thick, dark pink, like pomegranate. And the recipe is a family secret. Law-Yone says when she was growing up in Burma in the 1950s and '60s, this was her favorite dessert.
LAW-YONE: It was my first food crush.
CHATTERJEE: And eating it was always a family outing.
LAW-YONE: Everybody would say, you know, well, let's go to have some falooda. We'd have to pile in the car and go into the city and see all the bright lights and, you know, have a lot of fun with all the noise.
CHATTERJEE: And, at last, buying that glass of cold, pink deliciousness from a street vendor.
LAW-YONE: The falooda-wallahs used to say to us, you know, tell me that this is the best falooda you ever had. And if it isn't, you can slap my face (laughter).
CHATTERJEE: Law-Yone moved to the United States in 20s. And falooda was nowhere to be found. It was several decades before she got to eat it again. She was on a family trip back to Myanmar with her two adult daughters, who were born and raised here in the United States. And they got to taste falooda for the very first time.
SIMONE JACOBSON: I just couldn't believe how exciting of a food experience that was. It was so memorable.
CHATTERJEE: That's Simone Jacobson, Law-Yone's older daughter.
JACOBSON: I just remember everybody kind of looking at each other. When you eat falooda, you sip the straw. And you just look at whoever is nearest to you - like, can you believe this is happening (laughter)?
CHATTERJEE: She says it was partly the taste and texture that made it special. But more than that, it was sitting down at the end of a hot, exhausting day and enjoying its cold sweetness with her extended family. Jacobson told her mother, we have to bring falooda to the U.S.
JACOBSON: Everywhere else we've traveled in the world, whether it's France or in Africa, in Asia, in South America, there's always some sort of pause in the day. There's the siesta time. You know, in French, they call it apero. In other places, it's tea time. But it's really not about drinking tea. It's about sitting with people unlike you and like you and being able to enjoy something together.
CHATTERJEE: But here in the U.S., she says...
JACOBSON: Coffee and snacks in America are usually something you do on the go or privately.
CHATTERJEE: Jacobson and her mother opened their falooda stand earlier this summer, eight years after that trip to Myanmar. When I visit the shop, people are hanging out in groups of two or three, taking time to enjoy their faloodas. Jacobson says that's the magic of the dessert.
JACOBSON: You can't just toss back a falooda. It demands your attention.
CHATTERJEE: Two friends, Orissa Samaroo and Brandon Leonard, are sharing their glass of Mango Mogul Falooda. They pause as they taste each spoonful.
ORISSA SAMAROO: It's good. It's not very sweet.
BRANDON LEONARD: It has noodles in it?
SAMAROO: It's like a health food in a dessert.
CHATTERJEE: And there's a long line of people waiting to try it.
LAW-YONE: Are you ready to order?
CHATTERJEE: Rhitu Chatterjee, NPR News.
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