Why are we obsessed with everything frozen?

Momos, dosa, dhokla, khandvi and everything in between is being turned into this frozen dessert — making foodies scratch their heads

Ice-cream rolls, a sweetened frozen dessert, is ruling the internet. Made by using milk, cream, sugar and other ingredients, they have been popular since their origin. This trend of ice-cream rolls started in South-East Asia and soon spread all over the world.

Gol-gappa ice cream roll garnished with aalu masala.

But the recent fusion versions of ice-cream rolls are not going down well with many. As added ingredients, the makers have started using dosa, dhokla, noodles and even momos. Though these experimental reels get viral and are talked about, it seems no one likes to have them. We ask chefs and bloggers in the city about this trend of converting everything into ice-cream rolls.

“This trend was started by some food bloggers on Instagram, wanting to go viral. It’s only to get a number of likes and views. Being the founder of Dilli ke Pakwan food page on Instagram, I am totally against this. By posting such content, you are disrespecting food. Ice-cream rolls can be eaten as dessert, but combining momos, dosa, noodles or any other food items into it makes no sense,” says Aman Singhal, a food blogger from Delhi.

Dosa ice cream roll served with tomato and coconut chutney.

Some believe that even the bloggers who are making such reels would never taste these weird combos themselves. “Negative publicity makes you popular, and that’s how this trend started. Honestly, I don’t feel people prefer such ice-creams. It is just that such videos get a lot of comments and shares which pushes the content further to more people, and this is how this is becoming popular. The only way to put an end to such content is to stop engaging with it,” says Kuljyoti Dhingra, a food blogger from Delhi.

While ice-cream roll is an innovative concept that mixes varies flavours and items such as fruits and chocolates to present something novel, not everything can be converted into an ice-cream roll. “A new food trend gets viral very fast because of its visual appeal, but it sustains only if it tastes good and the ingredients gel with each other,” says Gaurav Malhotra, sr sous chef, The Ashok, New Delhi.

Mixed with dhokla, this ice cream roll took the internet by storm.

“Viral is one thing, but flavour, texture, overall taste appeal decides if it is hit or miss. Paan or gulab jamun ice-cream roll can bring a dollop of surprise, but something like momo or dosa flavoured roll is a no-no,” says Swapnadeep Mukherjee, executive chef, The Metropolitan Hotel & Spa.

Thus, even if ice-cream rolls have become popular as people love watching them being freshly made, whether it will please your taste buds remains questionable.

Rubal Pupneja, sous chef, The Samrat, New Delhi, says, “The variations reflect that today’s diners are ready to explore novel flavours and unique variations, but they must have a creative reasoning.”