My White Whale
I figured since I gave a baseline for “fake” banana flavor, I should also review my crème de la crème of Cavendish confection.
In 2012, I went on a scuba diving trip on the Cayman Islands. For those of you who have never been to the Caribbean, one piece of food advice people will give you a lot of the time is to skip burgers because the beef they get on the islands isn’t very good. This did not stop my family. We decided to look for the best burger joint on Grand Cayman and give it a shot. The Sunshine Grill was that burger joint, and man, that was a tasty burger. And it came with a side of french fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, and fried jalapeños. By Jove was that an excellent meal. The burger came with a huge steak knife driven right through it. Excellent presentation.
But enough of that, we’re here for bananas! After my glorious meal, I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to eat again. When the waiter came around with little ice cream cones, I was resigned to passing up the complimentary dessert. Once the words “banana ice cream” passed through my ears and to the banana-based pleasure center in my brain, however, I immediately became ravenous for a taste.
It was perfect. I’m not kidding. It was the simplest, most delicious thing I’ve ever tasted. It was smooth and creamy like ice cream should be, with no bits of ice or big air pockets. The taste was perfectly banana. It wasn’t vanilla with bits of banana, nor was it a smooth mix of banana purée and some other ice cream. At least, that’s not what it tasted like. It tasted of pure, perfect, Cavendish banana, and since then I’ve not had such a banana based dessert so blatantly bowl me over.
The reason I consider this ice cream to be my white whale is because I’m not even sure it still exists. I don’t know that I’ll ever have the chance to go back to the Cayman Islands, and even if I did, I have no way of knowing if their homemade banana ice cream still exists. There are so many variables involved in me tasting this triumphant treat again that it almost depresses me sometimes.
Perfect, pure, and mythical.
10/10
