Ice cream delirium, sugar cane juice

In my March 18, 2016, post entitled, "Observations of a Polar Bear," I said that ice cream shops haven't caught on too well in Rwanda. Well, times have changed (a bit). Now, two years later, in the new commercial building complex called Kigali Heights, which is close to the Kigali Convention Center, there is a new place that sells, get this, Italian ices. Yego! The ultimate, crème de la crème of ice cream!

Yes, at Delizia Italiana, for the modest (by American standards, at least) price of 3500Rwf ($4.00), you can have two scoops of your choice of 15 flavors.

I had heard all about this place from friends who did nothing short of rave over it. Rave over an ice cream shop? Well, when you taste the kind of ice cream that Africa generally puts out, almost anything is better. Especially these packaged chemical concoctions that come, probably by oxen, from South Africa, with 50 ingredients on the label, no less. I would rather slurp down some sugared battery acid, ha!

But seriously, folks, this new ice cream shop has a special machine that comes from Europe (and no doubt is very expensive) to churn out this smooth, creamy gelato. Mmm, heavenly! Rwandans don't know what they have been missing all these years!

Also, on the list of newly discovered places (for me, at least) is the Ubuzima Cane Juice Bar in the neighborhood of Kimironko. They sell nothing but fresh sugar cane juice that is produced by a heavy-duty juicer, which the lady proprietor said comes from Canada and costs 2 million Rwf (about $2,300). You can get 300ml for 400Rwf, 500ml for 600Rwf, and 1 liter for 1200Rwf. You can actually watch them take long stalks of sugar cane, plunge them into the juicer, and in seconds you have fresh juice. Either lemon or ginger is added for free, and if you want both it costs a little extra. Delicious! And according to several online sources, sugar cane juice has numerous health benefits; it is good for fighting cancer, heart problems, high blood pressure, and amazingly, despite the very sweet taste, it is tolerable by diabetics. It is also good for the skin if applied topically.

This place has me sold! I have chewed sugar cane in the past but always felt it required too much energy. It's one of those foods that has negative caloric value; you know, the amount of calories you expend is greater than the calories you receive.

Are there any sugar cane juice bars in America? If not, there ought to be.