ROSE LOUKOUM & ROSE ICE CREAM
For some, the flavor of rose, rose water or rose jam is an instant flashback to their grandmother– and they don’t necessarily like it. Your grandmamma may be English, Italian, French, Persian, or Middle Eastern, all are lovers of this fragrant flavor.
How can anyone not adore his or her grandmother? After all she showers you with absolute love unconditionally, and entertains you endlessly. My maternal grandmother Maria showered me with hugs and kisses not to mention constant cheek pinching. She knew she had a kindred food-lover in me and took it upon her to introduce me to the lexicon of Middle Eastern delicacies. One of my favorites was Turkish Delights, Loukoum, a rose flavored variety that she would press between two butter cookies as my afternoon snack. A treat that marked my youth.
Recently I was visiting Beirut, which is in all of its glory once again and my sister (who is a culinary philistine, and isn’t blessed with the DNA to pass down any recipe aside from boiled potatoes) put an elegant square container of Oslo ice cream in front of me and served me Rose Loukoum Rose ice cream.
Upon opening the container, the fragrance of cold roses filled the air; the ice cream was a warm pink color with embedded pieces of translucent rose Loukoum suspended within. With one brow raised I tasted a spoonful as if the personal taster of the Queen. Suddenly a creamy texture of light rose flavors well calibrated as not to overwhelm, landed gently on my palate. As each Loukoum piece warmed it had a soft and mild jelly-like consistency that increasingly became intense; and a well-rounded rose flavor, dare I use the wine metaphor bouquet? To describe this ice cream as succulent is to underplay its effect on me and anyone I know who has tried it. The sophisticated interplay of the two rose flavors from different textures with a light sweetness had a deliciously calming effect, and somehow the metaphor of ‘seeing life through rose colored lenses’ was now clearer to me.
This creation is attributed to none other than Nayla Audi, one of the contributors of Poetry of Food, whose dedication to reviving our collective youth with recipes and ingredients is evident in everything she touches. Once you have tasted this ice cream, and it is one of my favorites in her collection, you simply feel like you are part of the palate-elite with a different understanding of how the sense of smell and taste are so integral to one another and their importance to our personal memories.
Sitting around the table not only did my grandmother’s goodness fondly reappear for my sister and me, it brought back numerous childhood memories. Every spoonful became a prompt for a series of anecdotes; exchanging one-for-another, each with their own meaningful version.
Rony Zibara
Editor-In-Chief and the gourmand-gourmet behind Poetry of Food; a food memoir which has been in preparation since he was a child. His earliest memories are in the kitchen with his mother cooking French and Lebanese dishes, and with his South American grandmother making Spanish dishes as the cook prepared a repertoire of salsas and sauces. Having grown up in Beirut and lived between Paris, Toronto and now New York, Rony’s food and travel experiences have always been part of his personal cuisine. An avid storyteller, he believes it’s not about the size of the catch, but about the day. It’s the experience, the setting, the people, and most importantly, the ingredients that turn the meal and the flavors into a memory. While not a professionally trained chef, Rony is a cook by all counts; his life revolves around the culinary joys of food, searching out new ingredients, new recipes, and new cultures. And while he loves the restaurant scene, he is not an obsessed follower. Rony’s food passions lie in the poetry of the everyday meal and not in the pursuit of the absolute ‘best’ or perfect meal. His extensive career in innovating and branding new products and experiences has been a great support and backdrop for his passions in food culture and is evident in the overall design and presentation of this food memoir.