Trend Alert: Asian Flavors

Part 2, injecting India’s signature spices into ice cream

In Part 1, published last month, I charted the rise of yuzu, an Asian citrus fruit that wasn’t cultivated in the United States until fairly recently.

For Part 2, I reached out to Pooja Bavishi, founder of Malai, a Brooklyn-based artisanal ice cream company inspired by the flavors of South Asian spices and ingredients.

Pooja’s entrepreneurial journey began while finishing her MBA at NYU. Just eight years ago, she spent her weekdays making ice cream and storing it in chest freezers in her Manhattan apartment. On the weekends, she recruited friends and family within a four-hour driving radius to help her scoop ice cream at street fairs. As any good founder would, she brought surveys and collected lots and lots of feedback on her latest creations.

As luck would have it, one day late in her first summer, a NYTimes food writer tried Pooja’s ice cream and suggested she drop some off at their office. Florence Fabricant was the first person to write about Malai… not a bad debut piece of publicity. Since then, Malai has appeared in every Tier 1 food publication, including a follow up NYT story by Kim Severson in November 2022.

Malai literally means “cream of the crop.” Pooja chose the name to embody luxury. She sees the brand as a way to tell her own story of being a first-generation Indian American. Ice cream, quintessentially “Americana,” is the perfect palette to inject the spices of Indian cuisine.

Though her role is more “CEO” than “founder” these days, Pooja still conceptualizes the flavors. In the beginning, she borrowed from family recipes to figure out unique flavors. Mango and cream was first, which was a spin on a summer dish that her mom made. Freshly sliced mangoes are bathed in milk. The milk takes on the mango flavor. Malai’s Mango & Cream is kind of like “sorbet and ice cream in one.”

An aunt’s corn pudding seasoned with sugar and saffron was the starting point for Sweet Corn Saffron. Masala Chai began with the exact same recipe that her family used to make their chai tea every day. Recently, Malai introduced a Milk & Cookies ice cream based on the childhood “milk masala,” flavored with almonds and saffron.

Observing that her family seemed to have elevated sensibilities with flavors and recipes, I asked Pooja if she comes from a family of foodies. While her family eats traditional Indian cuisine “three of seven days a week,” and Pooja’s comfort food is her “mom’s Indian cooking,” she attributes her family’s influence as one of cultural curiosity. Despite being vegetarian, her Dad always insisted that “we’ll find something” {to eat} on road trips and long journeys. Growing up, Pooja remembers her parents openness to trying other ethnic foods and their willingness to experiment with making those dishes at home.

But cultural curiosity wasn’t the only thing she got from her family. Pooja says that her real luck is her family, who were ready to back any idea she had. Between then and now, they’ve also provided a lot of physical labor. This heartwarmingly reminds me of the time my Dad flew to San Francisco and worked with the Batch team installing a 6-bedroom home while I went on vacation.

When I asked Pooja what kind of customer experience is the most satisfying, she quickly told me that it was the skeptic. While preparing to debut the Orange Fennel flavor, she sold a scoop to a lady at the weekend market. After putting the first bite in her mouth, the customer quickly did a 180 degree turn and marched right back. Pooja already had the money in her hand to offer the customer a refund. But it turns out that it wasn’t a distaste for the product that turned the woman around. Instead, it was the memory of the customer’s late Italian aunt who used to make orange-fennel cookies.

Those flavor associations run deep. They are sensory, and while sound (like music) and scent (like candles or fragrance) can evoke similarly powerful sensations, taste is particularly profound. It comes from a place of nostalgia. If Malai sparks another memory, well… that’s a special moment.

As for what’s ahead for Malai, Pooja is in the midst of raising a Seed Round. Interested investors can ping me (hello@consumerealm.com) for a personal introduction. The round’s proceeds will be used to expand retail outside of New York City (where Malai currently has a brick and mortar location in Brooklyn, an outpost on Pier 57, and a daily presence in the High Line). The product is currently available nationwide through Goldbelly and in grocery stores in the Northeast.

“What I’m Googling has changed,” says Pooja. It used to be “how to ship ice cream” and now it’s “how to move palettes.”