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By Zoe Hsu
Your typical bucket list might include skydiving or traveling to a foreign country. Mine, however, is filled with restaurants and dessert locations—159 of them, to be exact.
My list would never have blossomed if I had not discovered Zero Degrees, a dessert chain that sells Italian ice and drinks. The store’s grand opening advertisement boasted the Mangonada, a drink consisting of mangoes, lime, chamoy sauce and chili powder. The fiery red and golden yellow treat looked unappetizing, especially the sprinkles of chili powder that rested on top of the mangoes.
But one question continued to repeat in my mind: how could spicy ever mix well with sweet?
Although I was not a fan of mangoes or spicy foods, I decided to taste the Mangonada in hopes of discovering why someone had the audacity to pair mangoes with chili. As I cautiously took my first sip, the savory sweetness of the mangoes and the bursts of spice from the chili all complemented one another so nicely that I devoured the entire drink in less than an hour. I cried as I realized I was proven wrong.
That Mangonada acted as the impetus for 61 more food adventures. Since then, I have become best friends with Yelp, spending hours upon hours scrolling through the app, on the lookout for any new exotic dishes and sweets. Regardless if the drive is five minutes or an hour away, my enthusiasm somehow persuades my parents to take me there, and I love the rush of adrenaline I feel on every car or train ride to the next destination.
Expecting the unexpected—whether it was the Hot Cheetos mac and cheese, ice cream burrito, waffle ham and turkey sandwich or the cream cheese toppings on my fruit smoothie—further fuels my desire to taste even more strange creations.
I now embrace the idea of escaping my comfort zone and not letting foreign environments or experiences intimidate me, because I never know when I will stumble upon another Mangonada.