I agree… they’re pretty bad. I live in an area with a heavily Latino population and the stuff is everywhere. I don’t presume to get it.
Yup, they sell them out of carts in NYC everywhere, not just hispanic neighborhoods. 2 for $1 in Astoria, Queens last weekend (a neighborhood known for its Greek population).
I wouldn’t consider a zebra cake to be a pastry any more than I’d consider Orange Fanta to be orange juice.
I just had zebra cakes on the brain at the time. But there are people who would consider it a pastry, even if you don’t.
Since this is about food, let’s send it over to the Cafe.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Here in Panama, bakeries have plenty of non-sweet breadlike snacks, and also somewhat sweet cakes and pastries. But there are also some cloying sweet things too, like jelly rolls with icing.
I think the less sweetened pastelles date to a more medieval mentality and the European tradition of a sparse economy of surga and its expense. Maybe it’s the difference between Hot Cross Buns and Cinnamon Rolls… lots of the influence of the best franco-germanic historic pastry ideas to get to the American Cinnamon Roll.
Refined sugar is also probably rarer in an aboriginal culture that has rich fruit and sucrose/fructose sources. The sweet fruit entirely or partially substitutes for sugar, and the sugar is considered an “accent” or “enhancer”. I like sweet things, but I don’t like my teeth to hurt. There certainly is a middle between sucky Mexican pastries and delicious American pastries.
Two of the biggest Mexican brands of packaged baked goods here in the US are Bimbo (say beam-bo) whose mascot is a white bear with a bakers hat. The other is Mariela. The former makes the stuff you describe, the later makes things similar to Hostess in taste and, IMO, sweetness.
Edited to add: I seem to recall Bimbo has a pronunciation guide next to the logo. I’m surprised they didn’t change their name but things seem to be working out ok.
Between Hostess and Little Debbie, I would rather have a Dolly Madison Zinger.
There is nothing like a good concha. Finding a bakery that makes them right (not Safeway) is a wonderful experience.
The local Costco here sells churros. i always thought of them in the US as being more of a “Disneyland” kind of food.
I’ve never seen them at ballparks, but (1) I only ever go to Comerica Park, and (2) I hate baseball so I spend my time looking for the one Labatt stand amongst the 10 Budweiser stands! I also don’t see them at the other Detroit stadiums. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist; I’ve just assumed they don’t. As for fairs, it seems to be dominated by elephant ears.
And here all this time I thought I was one of the very few gringos who even knew what a churro was! (And probably the only one who’s actually made them at home.)
Fun fact: Bimbo owns the Thomas’ English Muffins brand, and just (in the last couple of days) bought Sara Lee brands. I think that acquisition has made it the largest bakery company in the world.
The possibility of me remembering the name of some stuff I had in 1997 and 1998 ran to zero a while back, but the mass was like the one used in soft trenzas, roscones or in the pastry part of culecas. The crust is soft, the pastry’s white, fluffy heart itself is pretty flavorless; there can be a filling of unsweetened whipped cream or of crema, or glazed fruits. Egg white is used to get sugar stuck to the surface.
(Culeca is a local variant of a term meaning “a hen that wants to nest”, hence the whole egg - the spelling of the general term is clueca).
Maybe it’s regional. I don’t even know what an elephant ear is.
Some of this has to do with not putting sugar in whipping cream, as I recall. German pastries look wonderful, but are usually disappointing to American tastes.
The only place I’ve ever seen a churro is a stand at Downtown Disney’s West Side in Orlando. Which is good, because those things are yucky.
Check out Mediterranean or Greek restaurants if you want slightly sweetened desserts.