São Paulo – The creations by Alaa Kaseem and Luciana Tucci are flavorful and unusual. The pair brought together the Italian art of gelato and Arab tastes to fund Al Kaseem Gelato. The brand from São Paulo is the result of the Brazilian’s skill mixed with ideas by the Palestinian born in Syria. They met three years ago in the pub Al Janiah, where Alaa works as a manager, and Luciana was a client.
He already worked in the food industry in Syria and arrived in Brazil four years ago. Luciana worked with a friend at a gelateria, where she produced the ice creams. From the encounter came the idea to innovate the market, including an Arab touch to the product. “Flavors I made before were more common. He talked about flavors they eat like dates, apricots, figs, coffee with cardamom. And we don’t see these ice creams around here. I said, ‘Nice, we should mix Italian ice cream with Arab flavors!’” said Luciana, explaining gelato is a lower-fat, more consistent ice cream.
Tests to develop the gelato’s unusual recipes started in 2018. “Some flavors I made in December. We gave our friend ice creams as a wedding gift. I made banana with dates; that was the first recipe,” Luciana said. “Thankfully, the owner of this Endossa (store where the product is sold) was there. She tasted it and tried to discover who created it and said she wanted to put it for sale here,” Alla said.
They accepted the invitation to work as a “food bike” in the store, which operates with collaborative trade. Last March, Al Kaseem Gelato opened in the location in Vila Mariana in São Paulo. “We started here, and people liked and started asking for more, even for delivery. Business grew and I said: ‘Now the bike won’t do it anymore,’” Alla said.
So, around a month ago, the pair opened a kiosk in the same address. Still inside Endossa store, the space serves Arab ice creams, tea, coffee and pastries. The food bikes from the beginning still work itinerantly and attend events. Now Al Kaseem Gelato sells for eight restaurants in São Paulo, including Al Janiah.
Recreating Arab flavors
Out of the parlor’s thirteen gelato flavors, the pair highlights Buza Árabe. “The only place where this ice cream is sold is Damascus, Syria. The store that invented this ice cream is very old,” explains Alaa, referring to the traditional Damascus Ice Cream Parlor. With ingredients like cream and pistachios, but without a recipe to follow, they worked on tests. “He showed me a video on how to do it. I watched over twenty times and really wanted to taste it. I asked, how are going to Syria to eat it? And he said, let’s try to do it, I know how it is, I’ve tasted it!” Luciana recalled.
After a whole day testing it, they managed to reach the flavor Alaa remembered. “We stood at the kitchen from 8 am to 6 pm, trying to nail the flavor,” says the Arab, who took the product to friends who had already tasted the original treat. “They said: ‘Wow, it’s the same!’ We thougth, ‘Well, we nailed it!” explains Luciana.
Having graduated and worked her whole life in the corporate world, making gelatos became a passion. “I started working with a friend in administration, and a year and nine months ago I took the classes and it worked. I started creating. It’s an alchemy making ice creams, a math, and I started creating flavors,” she said.
Now they work on establishing the brand’s name and acquire a physical space just for them. “The goal is to grow, so we give a freezer with Al Kaseem’s logo for the restaurants that buy from us. We want to carry the brand and create a partnership with the restaurants. We are working to get there. We’ll soon have an Al Kaseem’s headquarter,” Alaa said on the plan to buy equipment for production and its own kitchen.
For now, they are working on launching more gelato flavors for the summer. One of the ideas is using “miski,” a plant resin Arabs consume with food and, Alaa says, with many ice cream creations, “nothing tastes like it.” The traditional Alaska Ice Cream Parlor in the neighborhood of Paraíso in São Paulo used to serve miski ice cream.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
