Inspiration can strike anywhere. For Miami pastry chef Aleric “AJ” Constantin, it came while sitting in jail.
“When I come up with my flavors,” Constantin told the Miami New Times, “I like to base them around a scene event.” His most recent “scene event” motivation came when Constantine was arrested for selling ice cream without a permit during a Critical Mass bike ride. As he served over 24-hours in the pokey for serving up scoops from his custom-built bicycle with a built-in refrigerator, it hit him: Why not create an ice cream flavor based on the officer who arrested him?
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In the mix: candied bacon, Krispy Kreme–flavored ice cream, and chocolate fudge, which he will sell (with the appropriate permit) for $4. The so-called Po-Po pops are sweet revenge indeed.
“It’s not making fun of cops,” Constantin, a chef at Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, explained, “but I just thought of the typical clichés — pigs, so bacon; Chief Wiggum from The Simpsons sitting around eating doughnuts and coffee and not doing much else.”
While Constantin will be sitting out vending at the next Critical Mass bike ride, he plans to sell his Po-Po Pops around town while he awaits his court date. Constantin isn’t concerned that his ice cream flavor will ire the cops, noting, “I’m making a funny matter out of a bad situation.”
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