Thailand's Ice Cream Innovation

With less than a week remaining in February, the temperatures have begun to creep up in Bangkok. This is of course, a sure sign of one thing and one thing only—the approach of the Hot Season. Gone are the tolerable eighty-degree days when a welcome breeze might stir the bougainvillea on a quiet soi in Ari. Slowly but unquestionably they're being replaced by oppressive humidity and baking heat. Needless to say, this isn't good news for anyone, least of all those of us who break a sweat just thinking about the long walk to the SkyTrain. 

Fortunately, like the people themselves, Thai street food has adapted to the climatic extremes of Southeast Asia. And so, where a lemonade or a granita might do in another city, there's only one warm weather treat that can offer adequate relief for Bangkok's steamy afternoons: Coconut Ice Cream. Served in a cake cone or (preferably) on a hot dog roll, this inexpensive, frozen confection is typically cold enough to make your teeth ache with their first frigid bite. For the full experience, order it with roasted peanuts, sticky rice, sweetened gelatin, candied sweet potato, and to top it all off, a generous pour of condensed milk.