Spaghettieis is a German dessert that fools its eater much like this caterpillar fools predators by camouflaging itself as a viper. And while that’s not an exact comparison, the dish is deceptive, as its ice cream is artfully crafted to look like spaghetti. In the video below from Great Big Story, we learn about the dish’s history, and why it’s so popular.
Great Big Story, for those unfamiliar, is a media company that produces short, cinematic documentaries like the one above. The company has produced numerous other similar videos, including this one documenting all the plants in the world’s “deadliest” garden. But none of them have been as drool-inducing as this one.
In the video, the creator of Spaghettieis (or “spaghetti ice cream”), Dario Fontanella, describes how he came up with the dessert. He notes he had the wildly inventive idea in 1969, when he was just seventeen years old.
Great Big Story
“I did the first experiments in my father’s ice cream parlor,” Fontanella says in the video. The inventor and chef goes on to list out the dessert’s ingredients, which include vanilla-ice cream “noodles,” strawberry sauce “tomato sauce,” and white chocolate as the “parmesan cheese” shavings. All of that comes on a bed of whipped cream as well.
And while this may not come as news to some, Spaghettieis is apparently very popular in Germany. The dessert is available in restaurants across the country—it was soon after Fontanella invented it—and is ordered more than 30 million times a year.
Luckily, Fontanella’s ice cream parlor is still open for business in Mannheim, Germany. And Fontanella himself still, apparently, loves to serve the ice cream himself. Which isn’t surprising as the chef says that Spaghettieis is a “pure invention” that still gives him goosebumps.
Featured Image: Great Big Story