In New York City, Chinatown, is the hallmark neighborhood for diverse and traditional Chinese cuisine ranging from won tons, Peking duck, Shanghai buns, dim sum, etc. It is located in Lower Manhattan bordering the Lower East Side, and contains one of the largest Chinese populations in the Western hemisphere. The neighborhood began growing in the mid-eighteenth century when Chinese traders and sailors began to settle, they mostly lived in the neighborhood temporarily, but a few did remain to settle down permanently. In the mid-nineteenth century significant numbers of Chinese immigrants arrived due to the California Gold Rush and the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. Historically, Chinese immigrants faced racial discrimination from other groups since they were willing to work for cheaper prices. Thus, other ethnic groups believed Chinese immigrants were taking away their jobs and livelihood. Chinese immigrants often times were pushed out of west by mob violence and discrimination to larger cities in the east. The discrimination made Chinese ethnic enclaves like Chinatown to be more self-serving, and the members in the neighborhood all worked together to provide services to each other including businesses, economic aid, jobs, social services, and protection. Chinatown continued to grow even through the end of the nineteenth century by providing contracts living arrangements like two room apartments that housed 5-15 people.
The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943) halted the growth of the Chinese immigrant population since the federal law barred further Chinese immigration to the United States. In addition, Chinese immigrants living in the United States could not become citizens, Chinese laborers in the United States could not be reunited with the wives and children abroad, and only merchants with special working permits would be permitted entry. The law was only repealed to mend relations during World War II (1939-1945), because China allied with the United States against Japan. Once the act was lifted the Chinese immigrants were given a small immigration quota, and the population steadily began to grow in the 1940s and 1950s. Immigrants took jobs involving restaurants, the garment industry, and the hand-laundry business. As the quota was expanded in 1968 more Chinese immigrants flooded in from mainland China, and the population in Chinatown expanded. Members of the neighborhood also bought buildings with cash for the garment and business industries, and the neighborhood stretched towards Little Italy in the north. As a result, Chinatown is the tightly packed neighborhood it is today serving as a residential area and tourist attraction with its many restaurants, medicinal shops, fish and fruit markets, and other businesses that sell Chinese products and goods.
In recent years (2015-2017) there have been new store fronts that have opened in the area, and these stores all concentrate in fusion desserts. Fusion cuisine fuses two culinary styles from different cultural backgrounds to produce new culinary innovations. It is no surprise that these new dessert store concepts emerging in Chinatown are fusing Asian dessert elements such as matcha, black sesame, purple yam, mocha, Pocky etc. with more American elements like Fruity Pebbles, Coco Puffs, marshmallow, Teddy Grahams, etc. Some notable new dessert attractions include Eggloo, Soft Swerve, and 10Below. Each location respectively offers ice cream on a Hong Kong Waffle Cone, special Asian inspired ice cream flavors (purple yam, matcha, and black sesame), and Thai rolled ice cream. The desserts from these locations made a huge splash on social media as patrons shared their purchases on Facebook, Instagram, and food blogs. These food sites have also received extensive media coverage from newspapers and online magazines.
Green Tea Thai Rolled Ice Cream with Lychee, Condensed Milk Drizzle, and Whipped Cream
Most patrons spend on average 1-3 hours on line depending on the location and dessert they wish to sample in order to capture an ‘Instagram worthy’ shot. News outlets such as the New York Post call the Thai rolled ice-cream from 10Below “whacky” and Eye Witness News declared that the purple ice-cream from Soft Swerve was “winning people over in NYC.” However, it is evident from the interviews and missionary statements that the owners of these sites were not merely looking to building their businesses purely for profit by creating these ‘aesthetically pleasing’ or as some would say ‘exotic’ desserts. Mike Tan, one of the co-founders of Eggloo, had grown up around the corner of his new business on Mulberry Street. He reminisced over the memories of his mother taking him to the only Hong Kong egg waffle cart on Mosco Street. The waffle maker from his childhood never showed up again after a one-day absence, and Tan says it “left a void” because it was his favorite treat. He experimented with his friends David Lin and Jessica Tam to create their three flavors of Hong Kong waffles, homemade ice creams, and topped them off with a different colorful toppings including American breakfast cereals. After successfully gaining popularity in street fairs they opened up shop in February of 2016, and soon hope to expand to savory waffles with Chinese sausage or pizza. Tan had hoped to bring an uncommon street food he valued to the streets of New York, and although most patrons may see the dessert only as ‘Instagram-worthy’ the Hong Kong waffle holds a greater sentimental meaning him.
Eggloo’s Hong Kong Egg Waffle Cone with Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Drizzle, and Strawberry Pocky
One of the co-founders of Soft Swerve, Michael Tsang, shares a similar thought process as Tan when developing the concept for his dessert fusion shop. Tsang and his friend Jason Liu took inspiration from the roots of their neighborhood, and developed their first dessert Mott and Mulberry. The fusion dessert holds great sentimental meaning since both the owners were born and raised in Chinatown. The matcha soft serve with crushed Oreos represents the cross section of Chinatown (green tea/Mott Street) and the Little Italy since the shops there are known for their chocolate (Mulberry Street). Patrons can customize and fuse Asian dessert elements like red bean paste, mochi, matcha, purple yam, etc. with Western elements like dark chocolate cones, red cinnamon cones, American cereals, and American sweets. Other desserts on the menu were also coined names inspired from the neighborhood, and initial popularity after their grand opening on December 2nd of 2016 forced the shop to close the next day.
Soft Swerve’s Black Sesame Ice Cream with Toasted Coconut on a Dark Chocolate Cone
Despite the social media frenzy over these fusion desserts for the perfect ‘Instagram-worthy’ post, the founding stories of these fusion dessert places illustrate that the desserts are not merely invented for a pretty picture. The founders of these concept stores were not purely set out for profit, but rather they wanted to share with other New Yorkers street foods that are uncommon in America. They also developed fusion foods that represented the cross-cultural upbringing of Chinese American individuals, and took inspiration from their neighborhood which has been historically important to Chinese immigrants. The dessert places also provide exemplary sweets from other Asian countries like Japan and Thailand, thus the cultural fusion is not merely Chinese and American. Hence, the founders of these fusion dessert places have successfully managed to connect with patrons that may come from a different cultural background by introducing them to their fusion desserts. Meanwhile, at the same time the founders may also help re-connect patrons from the same cultural background with sweets that they might have enjoyed as a child as well.
Sources
Goldberg, Haley. “The Freaky New Ice Cream People Wait Three Hours For.” New York Post. N.p., 28 Aug. 2015. Web. 13 May 2017.
Hobbs, Allegra. “Soft Swerve Now Serving Up Locally Themed Cones on the Lower East Side.” DNAinfo New York. N.p., 05 Dec. 2016. Web. 13 May 2017.
Kravitz, Melissa. “Eggloo Is Rolling and Scooping Up NYC’s Newest Ice Cream Waffle Craze.” Am New York. N.p., 08 Feb. 2016. Web. 13 May 2017.
Glassberg, Lauren, Eyewitness News, Wabc-Tv, Channel 7, Abc 7, 7online, New York city. “Purple ice Cream From NYC Is Latest Dessert Trend.” ABC7 New York. N.p., 21 Apr. 2017. Web. 13 May 2017.
Waxman, Sarah. “The History of New York City’s Chinatown.” The History of New York City’s Chinatown. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 May 2017.
